Coins of the Macedonian Kingdom

Coins of Philip II

Prior to the reign of Philip II, only Persian kings placed their portraits on coins - dariks . It was believed that the deities could save the coin from damage, because it is unlikely that anyone would decide to chop off part of the coin, knowing that this can anger the god, therefore, the choice was made in favor of the image of the deities. Images of Philip can be rarely seen on coins, ^{[2] the} type of coin was mainly distributed - the head of Hercules on the front side ^[3] . Having captured the Pangean gold mines, Philip II was the first to mint a gold coin. The most common coin of Philip II is considered to be a stater, the front side of which is decorated with the head of Apollo, and on the reverse side there is a warrior in a two-wheeled chariot drawn by two horses ^[4] . Coins minted during the reign of Philip II (359–336 BC):

• Silver tetradrachm of Philip II. On the obverse is the head of Zeus, decorated with a wreath, turned to the right. On the reverse is a young man who rides a horse to the left with a long branch in his hand;
• Silver tetradrachm of Philip II. On the obverse is the head of Zeus, decorated with a wreath, turned to the left. On the reverse is a young man who rides a horse to the right with a long branch in his hand;
• Golden stater of Philip II. On the obverse is the head of Apollo, decorated with a laurel wreath to the right. On the reverse - a warrior on a chariot to the right, in his hands he has reins and a stick with a pointed end. Below is a tripod. The legend is Philip, which is located horizontally.
• Golden stater of Philip II. On the obverse is the head of Apollo in a laurel wreath to the right. On the reverse - a warrior on a big to the right, holding reins and a centron in his hands. Below - a tripod and a legend horizontally: “Philip” ^[4] .

Coins of Alexander the Great

During the reign of Alexander the Great , the coins began to mint on the back of the image of the gods, who were the ancestors of the kind of ruling kings ^[6] . At that time, there was a custom of coinage, which involved placing the head of a king or god on the front side, and on the reverse side an image of a deity. So on the coins in the Macedonian kingdom began to appear the heads of gods and goddesses. In Macedonia, Heracles' head was mainly minted on coins - the hero was portrayed with a baton and a lion's skin. In the first issues of coins, the traits of a king were often given the traits of a king. Under Alexander the Great, as with his father Philip II, coins of the same type could be minted at the same time, but in different mints, which were also located at a considerable distance from each other. Therefore, the same ideas in the design of coins embodied in different ways ^[7] . In this regard, it became necessary to mint coins in such a way that they have characteristic distinctive signs that would make it easier to control and help to differentiate issues between different mints ^[8] .

Tetradrachms were issued - the first coins in the kingdom of Macedonia, on which were quite reliable, and not deified portraits of kings. On the obverse side of such a coin was depicted the head of a young king, he was wearing a lion skin ^[7] . The head of the king gradually replaced the image of the head of the deities, which before that was located on the front side. Coins were also issued, on the front side of which Hercules's head was depicted in the lion's skin, and on the reverse side was Alexander the Great on a chariot that was harnessed by four elephants. Some coins instead of a portrait of Heracles contained images of his attributes, for example, a club. Also on the reverse side of the coins were placed those items that belonged to the daily life of the Macedonians: they were a lyre , an anchor, an amphora , a fish, a quiver, a bull’s head, and a bow ^[7] . Under Alexander the Great, gold staters and silver tetradrachms and drachmas were minted according to the Attic system. The issue of coins took place both during life and after his death, and even in subsequent centuries. According to the Greek monetary system, in addition to the Macedonian kingdom, coins were minted in Syria, Phenicia , Cilicia, Thrace, Peloponnese , and in Egypt . They were also minted in Miletus , Odessa, Istra, Babylon , Sipot ^[2] .

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  Stater of the Kingdom of Macedonia, on the obverse - Apollo ^[1]

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  Stater of the Kingdom of Macedonia, on the reverse - a big with a charioteer

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  Obverse stater. Alexander the Great. Posthumous coinage ^[5]

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  Reverse stater. Alexander the Great. Posthumous coinage

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  A quarter of the stater. Macedonian kingdom. Alexander III (obverse) ^[5]

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  A quarter of the stater. Macedonian kingdom. Alexander III (reverse)

Coinage in the 4th century BC e. - II century AD e.

In the era of the diadochi , the minting of coins continued on behalf of Alexander the Great, with his type and legend, because the diadochi did not have the right to mint coins, since they did not have a royal title. Until 306 BC e. the design of royal coins is almost unchanged. Diadochus Kassander still left the name of Alexander on the tetradrachms, printing his name on copper coins. Ptolemy, Antioch, Lysimachus, Seleucus minted coins on his behalf, but did not put the title. In 306, Antigonus took the title and began to mint the royal coin. After that, Ptolemy, Lysimachus, Seleucus declared themselves kings and also began to mint coins. Although the names of the following kings appeared on coins, their portraits were still very rarely seen. Demetrius Polyorket (294–287 BC) placed his portrait on coins ^[9] . The king’s head was depicted on the front side of the coin, Poseidon with a trident and the king’s name on the other, but still such coins were very rare, there was no portrait on most of Demetrius’s coins. But on the coins was depicted a winged Nick, who holds a trophy rod in his left hand, and a pipe in his right hand. On the reverse side, Poseidon was depicted with a trident in his right hand, below was the signature and name of the king. King Philip V and Perseus put their portraits on coins. On the obverse of the coins minted under Philip V (220-179), the king’s beardless head in a radiant crown was minted. On the back are lightning and an oak wreath. Sometimes coins were minted with the head of Hercules in the lion's skin or with the Macedonian shield and the image of a female head in the center of the coin. The name of King Philip was written on the reverse side of the coins; the Macedonian sword, bow, club, helmet, quiver, and the stern of the ship could be depicted. Under Perseus (178-168 BC), the tsar’s head with a small beard was placed on the obverse of the coin, and the eagle with raised wings, which was sitting on a lightning, an oak wreath, inside which was the name of Tsar Perseus and his monogram, was placed on the obverse of the coin. Under the wreath was a plow. The remaining coins of the Macedonian kings of this period were minted without their portraits. During the reign of Antigonus Gonate (277–239 BC), Poseidon’s head was often minted on coins, which were planted by sea plants, and on the back you could see Apollo sitting on the front of the ship. In his right hand he held a bow. The ship was decorated with an inscription - the name of the king. Also minted coins depicting Athena in a helmet and the head of Hercules. One of the coins of Antogon Gonath is depicted with a Macedonian shield, which is decorated with stars, on it is a male head with horns. It also depicts a shepherd's staff. During the reign of Demetrius II (239–229), the Macedonian shield and helmet were minted on coins, and on the reverse side one could often see the stern of the ship and a monogram ^[2] .

When most of the cities of Macedonia suffered from the conquest of the Balkan Peninsula by Rome, the Kingdom of Macedonia lost the right to mint its own coin. She resumed in 158 BC. e. Its coin continued to be minted for eight years. During this time, a large number of tetradrachms were issued, but the quality of the coins became worse. There were exceptions - coins with the image of a star of very high quality. But on the main part of the coins the design worsened, the inscriptions were made unevenly. The sides of the coin often turned out to be completely different in their style ^[2] .

After the Macedonian kingdom became a Roman province, a transition was made from autonomous coins to provincial Roman ones. But the chasing of the Attic tetradrachms continued, the inscription “Legatus pro quaestore” appeared on them ^[2] .

In the 1st century BC e. coin minting resumed due to poor Roman finance. The governors of Macedonia to develop additional income began to develop silver mines in the country. In Amphipolis, Pella and Thessaloniki coin makers began to work. Minted tetradrachmas, and a very limited number of drachmas ^[2] .

In Macedonia, only bronze money was minted. The Macedonian province received the right to mint money under the emperor Claudius and kept it until the 3rd century A.D. e., until the reign of Emperor Philip ^[10] .

• Obverse and reverse history / [Ed. col .: A.V. Mityaeva and others]. - M .: International Numismatic Club , 2016 .-- 216 p. - ISBN 978-5-9906902-6-4 .
• A.N. Zograph. Materials and research on archeology of the USSR No. 16 // Antique coins. - Moscow, Leningrad: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1951.
• Arkady Semenovich Shofman. The history of ancient Macedonia. - Publishing house of Kazan University, 1960.
• Koshevar D.V. Money of the world. Coins and banknotes. - Moscow: AST, 2014 .-- 256 p.