Alexander III, 336-323 BC, Lifetime issue, Tetradrachm

Alexander III “the Great”, tetradrachm, AR, lifetime issue (336–323 BC), Akre or Tyre mint, struck under the authority of Azemilkos (dates uncertain), 16.31 g, 25 mm. Obverse with head of Herakles right, wearing the lion-skin headdress. Reverse with Zeus Aëtophoros seated left on a throne, holding eagle and sceptre; AΛEΞANΔPoY in the right field. Well-centred strike on a broad flan with clear legends and primary devices. Reference: DCA 737.

This tetradrachm belongs to the principal silver denomination disseminated across the eastern Mediterranean in the late 4th century BC and remained an important international trade currency due to its consistent weight standard and widespread acceptance. Struck in the name of Alexander during his lifetime and attributed to a Phoenician mint operating under local dynastic authority, it documents the administrative integration of established coastal mints into the Macedonian monetary system and the continued production of Alexander’s coinage types that facilitated military payment, taxation, and long-distance commerce.