Greece, Thrace, Lysimachus, AV Stater

Greece, Thrace, Lysimachus, AV Stater

(posthumous coinage under Mithridates VI Eupator, 88-86 B.C.)

Obv.: Alexander's head w. diadem a. Ammon's horn r.
Rev.: Athena Nikephoros enthroned to the left, monograms ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ 

Historical

Lysimachus (* 361/360 BC Pella; † 281 BC, Kurupedion)

Lysimachus was one of the important commanders of Alexander the Great and one of his so-called Diadochi. In 306 BC he became king of Thrace and from 285 BC he took over the kingship of Macedonia.

He was a native of Thessaly, but his father had already been granted Macedonian citizenship by King Philip II. His brothers Philippos, Autodikos and Alkimachos, who were also well known, accompanied Alexander the Great on his conquest of Asia, where Lysimachos was a member of the young king's bodyguard.

After Alexander's death (323 BC), Lysimachus received the small satrapy of Thrace on the Hellespont from the regent Perdiccas for administration. Since it controlled the European passage to Asia, it possessed strategic value.
Lysimachus' rise as one of the leading diadochi began in the Third Diadochal War (316-311 BC), allying with Cassander and Ptolemy against Antigonus Monophthalmos, who claimed suzerainty over the entire Alexander Empire. From the Antigonid Empire, which had disintegrated after the Fourth Diadochal War, Lysimachus took over western Asia Minor and its southern coast as far as Cilicia.

However, the alliance with Seleucus now turned into a rivalry, which is why Lysimachus allied himself with Ptolemy and married his daughter Arsinoë II. He separated from his actual wife Amastris in return, but his love for her is said to have continued. He founded the city of Arsinoeia for his second wife.

In February 281 BC, the two last surviving participants in Alexander's campaign faced each other in the Battle of Kurupedion.
Lysimachus was completely defeated and killed, Seleucus granted him a royal burial in Lysimacheia. Asia Minor fell to the Seleucids, Thrace and Macedonia were taken over by Ptolemy Keraunos, who, however, succumbed to the onslaught of the Celts in 279 BC, who founded their own principalities in Thrace.

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