Macedonia

Macedonia

During the 8th and 7th centuries BC Greek colonists began settling the coast of Macedonia to the north of the Greek mainland. The indigenous tribes of the inland soon began to have dealings with the newcomers and the different cultures started to intermingle.

The kingdom of Macedonia with its capital city of Aigai was at first only a local power with minor importance beyond its own borders. After a massive Persian army en-route to mainland Greece (to be defeated in 479 BC at Thermopylai) passed through, the reign of king Alexander I (495-454 BC) led to a great increase in wealth, territory and power.

The next king of importance was Philip II (359-336 BC). He was a power-hungry monarch and avid for expansion of his dominance. In 357 his army captured Amphipolis, a city close to a rich mining district (at Mt. Pangaion). With the destruction of Olynthos in 348 BC he secured his control of the peninsula of Chalkidike and thus almost doubled his territory.

Philips son Alexander ascended to the throne after the assassination of his father as the third of his name. Forever known as the Great he captured a good part of the Greek world, destroyed the Persian empire and even reached the fabled lands of India. In his lifetime Macedonia was at its height of power. After his death in Babylon in 323 BC the Macedonian empire soon fell apart. The Macedonian homeland was ruled by the dynasty of the Antigonids, whose founder was a general in his Alexanders army. 

The growing power of Rome eventually led to the ruin of the Macedonian kingdom. The battle of Kynoskephalai in 197 BC spelled doom for the house of the Antigonids. The last king of this line Perseus was captured by the Romans at the battle of Pydna in 168 BC, his kingdom divided into four republics at sufferance of Rome and eventually reduced to a roman province in 146 BC. 

Very characteristic for the coinage of Macedonia are the large, spread flans of the tetradrachms. In the 2nd century BC this design was widely spread and often adopted by various city-states in the Aegean world.

 


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Product no.: 65285

Macedonia, Alexander III the Great, 336-323 BC, AR Tetradrachma

Obv.: Head of Heracles with lion-skin r.

Rev.: Zeus on throne with eagle

 

Old price 389.00 €
345.00 *

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Product no.: 339814

Greece, Macedonia, Roman Province, 158-150 B.C., AR Tetradrachma

549.00 *

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Product no.: 383309

Macedonia, Philipp II., 359-336 v.Chr., AU 1/4 Stater

Head of Heracles with lionskin r.

Rs.Club and bow, beneath trident

Old price 2,288.00 €
1,850.00 *

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Product no.: 312584

Greece, Macedonia, Philipp II, AR tetradrachm, 359-336 BC

790.00 *

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Product no.: 239291

Macedonia, Alexander III the Great, 336-323 BC, AR Drachma

Obv.: Head of Heracles with lion-skin r.

Rev.: Zeus on throne with eagle

Old price 239.00 €
149.00 *

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Product no.: 419486

Macedonia
AR Terobol
Philip II 359-336 BC
Av.: youth's head with taenia
Rs.: Rider on mounted horse r.

145.00 *

Currently unavailable

Product no.: 407429

AR Tetradrachm in the style of Alexander the Great
Aspendos, posthumous, 2nd century BC.
Obv: Head of Heracles in lion's scalp r.
Rs.: Zeus Aetophoros enthroned l. with eagle

390.00 *

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