Alexander III, 336-323 BC, Lifetime Tetradrachm

Alexander III (the Great), AR tetradrachm, reign 336–323 BC; Babylon mint, struck under Seleukos I Nikator, c. 311–305 BC; 16.66 g; 26 mm. Obverse: Head of Herakles right, beardless, wearing the lion-skin headdress. Reverse: Zeus seated left on a backless throne, holding eagle on outstretched right hand and sceptre in left; legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ. Struck on the Attic standard at Babylon under the early Seleucid administration. Price 3747.

This Babylon issue in the name of Alexander continued the widespread posthumous coinage that sustained commerce and military pay across the former Macedonian empire. Seleukos I retained Alexander’s Herakles/Zeus type and Attic standard to signal continuity of authority and to ensure acceptability in regional and international trade during the consolidation of Seleucid power in Mesopotamia after the Wars of the Successors.