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Alexander I: coinage & kingdom
thesis
posted on 2022-03-28, 18:12 authored by Talia K. KnowlesAlexander I ruled Macedonia between 498/7 and 451 B.C. His kingdom and his coinage are essential to our understanding of the political economy of northern Greece during the fifth century B.C. This thesis examines the evidence for a change in Alexander's weight system and tetradrachm output, as a result of Athens' economic aspirations in the Strymon gulf between c.476/5 and 463 B.C. By assembling a larger corpus of tetradrachms for study and conducting a comprehensive analysis of weight, die distribution and coin output, it strives to achieve this aim. The goal is to prove that Alexander I did not mint tetradrachms of Athenian weight but staters using a reduced version of the Lydo-Milesian standard.