Browse Items (81 total)

Demetrios II Nikator ascended to the throne at only 14-16 years of age. This coin is from the first years (145-138 BCE) of his relatively long but tumultuous reign. In order to take control of the dwindling Seleucid empire, Demetrios had to overcome…

Herakleia was founded as an outpost by an alliance of Thurii and Tarentum. Near the destroyed city of Siris, Herakleia is most notable for the place where king Pyrrhus of Epirus defeated a Roman army in the first major battle of the Pyrrhic war, in…

Metapontum (Greek: Metapontion) was an Achaean colony on the Italian coast. Located between two rivers, the area was famed for its rich croplands. They were even able to afford sending a “golden harvest,” probably golden replicas of sheaves of…

The first Ptolemy, Ptolemy I Soter, was elected satrap of Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE. In 305, he declared himself king of Egypt and started the Ptolemaic dynasty that would rule for almost three-hundred years.

This…

Persis, an area now in southern Iran, was the original home of the Persians. Conquered by Alexander the Great, it was controlled by the Seleucids after his death in 323 BCE. There was a period, however, when Persis was basically independent: after…

Zancle (“sickle”), named for its sickle-shaped harbor, was conquered by Anaxilas, the tyrant of Rhegium, a city on the Italic peninsula just across the strait, in the early fifth century BCE. Anaxilas settled Messenian exiles there and the named was…

This coin is from Sparta’s sole colony, Tarentum. It was one of the richest and, incidentally, one of the safest harbors along the coast. It was famed for its rich textiles and a precious deep red/purple dye, made by gathering the secretions of a sea…

Aegina was the first island in Greece proper to mint coinage, around 580 BCE. The iconic turtle was always part of the design, first a sea turtle and then a land turtle. The sea turtle was likely a reference to their naval fleet which, from the…

The coinage of Alexander the Great has been found all over the ancient world. It is believed to be one of the most widely circulated coinage in all of antiquity. This obverse portrait is one of the most famous images associated with Alexander.

On…

The famous Tarentine horse-riders first appear on coinage around 450 BCE. They could refer to the equestrian games held at Tarentum, or simply to the aristocratic spirit of the nobility of the area. The military poses of some of these riders have…