Alexander III, 336-323 BC, posthumous issue Tetradrachm

Alexander III “the Great”, tetradrachm, AR, posthumous issue (336–323 BC), Pella mint, 16.33 g, 26 mm. Obverse with the head of Herakles right, wearing the Nemean lion skin headdress. Reverse with Zeus Aëtophoros seated left on a backless throne, holding eagle and sceptre; legend AΛEΞANΔPOY. Well-centred strike with clear legibility of the ethnic and principal devices. Reference: Price 248a.

Alexander III’s silver tetradrachms were the principal high-value coinage of his empire and became a dominant trade currency across the eastern Mediterranean and Near East. The Herakles/Zeus types linked the king to heroic ancestry and divine sanction while maintaining a widely recognized monetary design that facilitated acceptance in newly conquered territories.