Coins issued by Alexander the Great soon came to be known as ‘Alexanders’. First issued around 333 BCE, they became the dominant currency of Greece and those it traded with, as well as spreading to all the territories Alexander conquered.
The coins not only functioned as money, but also provided an excellent forum for promoting Alexander’s claim to power. As a coin passed from hand to hand, its images of divine beings alongside the name of Alexander visually linked Alexander to the immortals.
The ruling elite of Macedon claimed descent from Heracles, whose father was Zeus; in addition, Plutarch recorded claims that Alexander was fathered by Zeus, not Philip. Therefore, Alexander could claim Zeus as his ultimate father. On the reverse of this silver tetradrachm is an image of the god seated on a throne, holding a sceptre and an eagle, with the forepart of a ram below. The portrait on the obverse shows a beardless Heracles wearing a lionskin.
