Alexander III AR Drachm, Heracles/Zeus, uncertain mint, c. 336–323 BC

Alexander III, drachm, silver, reign 336–323 BC, struck c. 336–323 BC or shortly thereafter; 4.25 g, 17 mm. Uncertain mint, Macedonian Empire. Obverse anepigraphic: head of beardless Heracles right wearing the lion-skin headdress. Reverse: ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ; Zeus seated left on a backless stool-throne, eagle on outstretched right hand, long sceptre in left; control marks not discernible. Struck on a compact flan, centered; considerable circulation wear with surface porosity; legend partly legible. References: cf. Price, Coinage in the Name of Alexander the Great (1991) for the standard drachm type; cf. SNG ANS Macedonia; precise mint and Price number undeterminable due to worn symbols.

Alexander’s Heracles/Zeus silver coinage established a uniform Attic-standard currency used to pay troops and facilitate trade across the territories conquered from Greece to the Near East. The genitive legend “of Alexander” denotes issue in his name, while the Heracles portrait and Zeus reverse expressed royal ideology and claims of heroic ancestry. Because many mints continued the type after 323 BC, coins lacking clear control marks—such as this example—can be difficult to classify firmly as lifetime or posthumous.