When Alexander first took the throne of Macedonia in 336 BCE, he had continued issuing the coinage of his father, Philip II. Eventually however, Alexander issued his own currency, and these coins have come to be known as 'Alexanders'. Such was their popularity, 'Alexanders' replaced the 'Athenian Owls' – silver coins issued by Athens featuring the owl of Athena – as the dominant currency of Greece and those it traded with. The 'Alexanders' were produced and stayed in circulation for around 200 years after Alexander’s death in Greece, Macedonia, and the territories he had conquered across the East.
The scholar E. T. Newell conducted the first in-depth analysis and ordering of the thousands of coins bearing Alexander’s name. He proposed that 'Alexanders' were not issued until 333 BCE when Alexander took control of Tarsus and its royal mint. This proposal is based on the resemblance of the seated Zeus on the reverse of these coins, to the figure of Ba’altarz on the coins which the Persian satrap Mazeus had earlier minted at Tarsus. There are four phases of coins considered here:
- 'Alexanders' featuring Athena
- 'Alexanders' featuring Heracles
- 'Alexanders' featuring Basileus
- 'Alexanders' under his successors
Most Hellenistic coins can be dated at least to the reign of the ruler who issued them if not more specifically, 'Alexanders' pose a greater challenge since they were issued over such a long period of time. 'Alexanders' are dated based on a variety of indications such as the level of artistic skill evident in the production of the die, the style and rendering of Zeus’ drapery, the place of minting and that mint’s known operation dates, the find spot of the hoard in which the coin was found, as well as any dating evidence that can be acquired from the other contents of the hoard.
