Tetradrachm: Head of Alexander (obverse); Athena (reverse) (297–281 BCE): Art, History and Details

Tetradrachm: Head of Alexander (obverse); Athena (reverse) (297–281 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

A contemporary of Alexander the Great and one of his generals, Lysimachos used coins like this one to emphasize his connections to the fallen leader. The images of the goddesses Athena and Nike, or Victory, on the reverse, together with an inscription naming King Lysimachos, further legitimize his reign, first in Thrace and then in parts of Macedonia and Asia Minor.

Object facts

• Title: Tetradrachm: Head of Alexander (obverse); Athena (reverse)
• Date: 297–281 BCE
• Culture: Greek, Macedonian, minted at Lysimachia (Thrake), reign of Lysimachos
• Type: Coins
• Technique: silver
• Dimensions: Diameter: 3 cm (1 3/16 in.)
• Collection: GR - Greek
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1917.984

A detail from the museum

Although Alexander the Great appears on this coin, the inscription on the reverse identifies its issuer as Lysimachos.

Collection credit

Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust

Further reading listed by the museum

• "Accessions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 4, no. 4 (1917): 64-67.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.