KINGS of MACEDON. Philip III Arrhidaios, 323 – 317 BC AR Tetradrachm

KINGS of MACEDON. Philip III Arrhidaios, 323 – 317 BC AR Tetradrachm (25.5 mm, 17.21 g, 2 h). Amphipolis mint. Struck under the regent Antipater, c. 322 – 320 BC; issued in the name and with the types of Alexander III. Obv.    Head of Herakles right, wearing lion-skin headdress; tiny die break on cheek; dotted border. Rev.    ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ – Zeus Aëtophoros seated left on backless throne, right leg drawn back, holding eagle and long sceptre; in left field Athena Promachos advancing right, brandishing spear and shield.  Price 109; Troxell, Studies Issue G²; cf. ADM I 73. Lustrous silver beneath light golden-grey tone, sharply struck from fresh dies on a broad flan; minor traces of die rust in the fields, otherwise superb.

After Alexander’s death, his half-brother Arrhidaios became Philip III, sharing a purely ceremonial kingship with the infant Alexander IV while real power devolved to the Diadochi. To finance armies and buy loyalty during these volatile years, Antipater kept the mints of Macedon humming—yet all silver still carried Alexander’s portrait and name, signalling an unbroken (if fictional) imperial legitimacy.

The Athena Promachos symbol at left fixes this piece to Amphipolis Issue G², struck while Antipater suppressed the Lamian War and prepared his final campaign into Asia. Coins of this series are scarcer than the earlier 324 BC “Victory” issue and mark a subtle stylistic shift: Zeus now sits in a more dynamic, three-quarter pose, while Herakles’ portrait adopts the heavy jaw and upward gaze later copied by Seleucid engravers.

Superbly preserved, this tetradrachm embodies the first phase of the Successor Age, when control of Alexander’s treasure meant control of the army—and, by extension, the fate of an empire stretching from Pella to the Punjab.