Myriandros: Lifetime of Alexander
- sulla80
- Jun 12
- 8 min read
Kings of Macedon, Alexander III 'the Great' (336-323 BC), lifetime issue from 325 or 324/3 BCE, AR (17.24g, 27mm) Tetradrachm, minted in Myriandros or Issos.
Obv: Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin.
Rev: AΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ. Zeus seated left on throne, holding eagle and sceptre. Controls: In left field, monogram above club-in-wreath; monogram below throne.
Ref: Price 3230.
The coin of interest today was issued under Menes of Pella or the second Philotas (not Parmenion’s ill-fated son) rise in 331–327 BCE to minor prominence as Alexander’s reach stretches from Syria to India. Menes remained in the western satrapies (Syria–Phoenicia–Cilicia), overseeing finance and sea-lanes, while Philotas marched with Alexander’s main army from the Punjab to Babylon and, at the Babylon Settlement in June 323, received the satrapy of Cilicia. Most likely this coin was issued under Menes of Pella. Later coins would have been issued for a short period after the transition of Cilicia to Philotas, after the death of Alexander.
Alexander’s Final Campaigns (325–323 BCE)
In the summer of 325 BCE, Alexander III of Macedon – already hailed as “the Great” – was winding down his epic eastern campaigns. Having pushed as far as the Indus River and its delta on the edge of the known world, he faced a turning point. His troops, weary and homesick after years of war, had refused to march further into India in 326. Alexander reluctantly agreed to turn back.
A significant part of his army perished in the grueling march westward across the Gedrosian Desert (in today’s Makran Desert in southern Pakistan/Iran), a journey beset by thirst and starvation.
"But he (Alexander) himself proceeded by land through the country of the Oreites, where he was reduced to the direst straits and lost a multitude of men, so that not even the fourth part of his fighting force was brought back from India. And yet his infantry had once numbered a hundred and twenty thousand, and his cavalry fifteen thousand. But grievous diseases, wretched food, parching heats, and, worst of all, famine destroyed them, since they traversed an un-tilled country of men who dragged out a miserable existence, who possessed but few sheep and those of a miserable sort, since the sea-fish which they ate made their flesh unsavoury and rank. It was with difficulty, then, that Alexander passed through this country in sixty days; but as soon as he reached Gedrosia he had all things in abundance, for the nearest satraps and princes had provided them."
-Plutarch, Alexander, LXVIThe landscape from the Terra Satellite does seem amazingly inhospitable:
By late 325, the survivors traveled through Carmania (modern Kerman province in Iran), where at last food and water were plentiful and the crisis eased. It was here, amid relief and celebration, that Alexander staged a notorious Bacchic procession. The hardships of the desert gave way to feasting and revelry, as Alexander rode in a Dionysian chariot, reveling in komos (festive procession) with his army.
In early 324 BCE, Alexander reached the Persian heartland. At the city of Susa, he dramatically shifted his focus from conquest to consolidation. There he arranged the famous Susa weddings: a mass marriage ceremony intended to unite Macedonian and Persian elites. Alexander married Stateira (Darius III’s daughter) and Parysatis (Artaxerxes III’s daughter), while he compelled about eighty of his top officers to wed daughters of Persian nobility.
Blending two cultures at the highest social ranks embodied Alexander’s vision of an integrated Greco-Persian empire. Concurrently, Alexander paid off the debts of his soldiers and hosted a massive feast for thousands of Macedonians and Persians, a “banquet of reconciliation” symbolizing the hoped-for harmony of his new realm.
From Susa, Alexander proceeded down the Tigris to Opis (near modern Baghdad) later in 324 BCE, where his policies of consolidation met resistance. He announced that older Macedonian veterans would be discharged and sent home with generous rewards. But this offer offended many rank-and-file troops - they misinterpreted it as Alexander favoring Persian newcomers and dismissing his loyal Macedonians. Tensions erupted in mutiny at Opis and Alexander’s reaction was swift and severe: he executed a dozen ringleaders on the spot, then delivered a fiery speech reminding the Macedonians of the greatness they achieved under his and Philip’s leadership.
In the autumn of 324 BCE, tragedy struck at Ecbatana in Media: Alexander’s closest friend (and rumored heir-apparent) Hephaestion fell ill and died. The grief-stricken king gave Hephaestion a hero’s funeral and even petitioned the oracle of Ammon to grant him divine honors.
Finally, by early 323 BCE Alexander returned to Babylon, the imperial capital-to-be, where he busied himself with administrative reforms and grand plans. Envoys from as far as Carthage, Italy, Ethiopia, and Scythia came to Babylon, paying respects to the man who had redrawn the world’s map. Alexander now envisioned new campaigns – an invasion of Arabia was already being prepared.
Myriandros
Myriandros was an ancient Phoenician port that Alexander passed after the Battle of Issos in 333 BCE. The regional style here often features relatively high relief on the obverse (Herakles’ visage boldly raised) and careful detailing of Zeus’s throne and drapery on the reverse. Some dies from Myriandros/Issos show a muscular Zeus consistent with the engraving of the coins of Mazaios (the penultimate satrap of Cilicia).
Alexander’s Coins
Alexander's coins carried messages of legitimacy and unity across his vast empire, accepted from Macedon to Babylon. In the early years (334–330 BCE), as Alexander overthrew Darius III and seized Persia’s capitals, he largely continued the weight standards and denominations familiar in Greek and Near Eastern circulation.
Price 3230 may have been used to pay troops returning from India or to finance the festivities and payouts at Susa and Opis. It was only after his death that his successors began to put their personal portraits on coins, or in some cases deify Alexander on coinage.
Obverse: Alexander’s silver coinage features the head of Herakles (Hercules) wearing a lion-skin headdress on the obverse. Herakles is depicted in heroic profile. He wears the iconic lion-skin headdress - the scalp of the Nemean Lion, which Herakles slew in his First Labor. The lion’s gaping jaws frame Herakles’ face, its paws tied at his neck. The imagery conveys strength and divine favor: Herakles, who attained immortality, invoking Alexander’s own feats. Herakles was also the mythical ancestor of the Argead dynasty of Macedon. Some art historians speculate that the idealized face of Herakles - youthful, clean-shaven, determined - was crafted to resemble Alexander’s own features, effectively making it a veiled portrait of the king.
Reverse: The reverse shows Zeus Olympios seated on a throne. Zeus holds out a perched eagle in his right hand (hence his epithet "Aëtophoros" or "eagle-bearer") and rests his left hand on a tall scepter, with the inscription "ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ" ("of Alexander"). This design follows precedents set by Alexander’s father, Philip II, whose coins had honored Zeus and victorious riders. However it also draws on local a local theme: at mints like Tarsos in Cilicia, the image of a seated god holding an eagle evoked the region’s native deity Ba‘al (Zeus was identified with Ba‘al of Tarsus).
The Damanhur Hoard, discovered in Egypt in 1905, contained a large parcel of Alexander’s tetradrachms including examples of Price 3230. This hoard’s burial is dated to soon after Alexander’s death, places such coins in active use at that time. Edward Newell’s publication of the Damanhur hoard (1923) catalogued specimens of the ΩΔ/IM monogram group, confirming they were struck in the late 320s BCE and had wide circulation.
The club-in-wreath on Price 3230 might hint at a celebratory issue – the wreath symbolizing victory or a festival. It’s tempting to connect it with the joyous "Carnival" in Carmania or the grand celebrations at Susa, but this drifts into speculation.
Menes or Philotas
Menes, son of Dionysios, was appointed by Alexander in 331 BCE to manage the newly conquered western satrapies (Cilicia, Syria, Phoenicia) and to forward money to Alexander’s regent Antipater in Macedonia. Ancient sources explicitly note that Menes issued coinage marked with his initial "M". It appears that from 331 until at least 325 BCE, Menes oversaw mints in that region (including Tyre, Sidon, possibly Tarsos or Issos).
This Philotas was likely a different man from Parmenion’s famous son; he may have even been one of the so-called "sons of Andromenes" or another lesser-known officer rising in the succession crisis. Regardless, as satrap, Philotas would have assumed command of local mints and resources. Coins like could well have been struck in late 323 or 322 BCE under Philotas’ authority, still bearing Alexander’s types and name. Some numismatic attributions lean towards Philotas for the final issues of the Menes series. Auction catalogs often list "Menes or Philotas, circa 324/3 BC" for this coin, acknowledging that it might belong to that brief overlap when Alexander was gone but the coinage had not yet changed design.
In practical terms, whether by Menes in the months before Alexander’s death or by Philotas in the months after, the coin’s fabric and design place it squarely in the late lifetime issues of Alexander, likely minted in the Cilicia–northern Syria region.
The "M" monogram on coins like Price 3230 is thus a strong clue pointing to Menes’ administration. Later coins in the series drift lower in weight - while this coin is a full 17.24g. Menes is most likely the issuer of this coin.
Myriandros or Issos
Price 3230 is often labeled as "Myriandros or Issos mint" acknowledging uncertainty: Myriandros and Issos (Alexandria ad Issum) were neighboring towns, either of which (or a nearby military camp) could have hosted the mint. Since Alexander’s general Parmenion had established a base at Issos after 333 BCE and since Menes was controlling the region later, a mint could have been in that vicinity to strike silver for local needs and for transfer west. By 325 BCE, Alexander’s army was far to the east, so the coins coming out in Cilicia/Syria were probably for local garrisons, paying suppliers, or sending wealth back to the Mediterranean.
J.D. Bing makes the case for Isos over Newell’s long-standing “Myriandrus” attribution by knitting together evidence of monograms and iconography. Price is unconvinced at the time of his publication:
"Professor J. D. Bing has recently communicated to me his ideas that this mint should be located at lssus. This city did indeed produce coinage during the Persian period, but evidence that it was responsible for these Alexanders is not yet sufficiently strong to warrant alteration."
-Price, p.401 (Myriandros)
Alexander's Death
In June 323 BCE, at the age of 32, Alexander the Great died in Babylon – the brilliant conqueror who had never lost a battle succumbed to fever (or perhaps poison, according to later speculation) just as he was poised to launch new campaigns. His death sent shockwaves through his vast empire, which fractured almost immediately as his generals (the Diadochi) each grabbed for power. Yet Alexander’s influence endured in striking ways. One of the most tangible continuities was the currency that bore his name and types. In the absence of Alexander’s singular authority, his successors initially found legitimacy in continuing to issue coinage with Alexander’s image and name. Over the next two decades, tens of millions of tetradrachms and gold staters were struck posthumously in Alexander’s name to finance the war between his Diadochi (Successors).
References
Bing, J. D. "Reattribution of the 'Myriandrus' Alexanders: the Case for Issus." American Journal of Numismatics (1989-), vol. 1, 1989, pp. 1–32.
Newell, Edward T. "Myriandros - Alexandria Kat'Isson" American Journal of Numismatics (1897-1924) 53 (1919): 1–42. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43583723.
Reattribution of certain tetradrachms of Alexander the Great. by: Newell, Edward Theodore, 1886-1941. Publication date: 1912.
Newell, E.T. (1923), Alexander Hoards II: Damanhur, 1905 -publication of an important coin hoard including Price 3230 examples
Wheatley, Pat. "Coinage as Propaganda: Alexander and His Successors." Alexander the Great and Propaganda, 2021.
The coinage in the name of Alexander the Great and Philip Arrhidaeus : a British Museum catalogue, Martin Price, Martin, 1991 vol. 1 and vol. 2.
An excellent resources on the coins of Alexander can be found here: at the Artemis Collection: https://artemis-collection.com/the-origins-of-alexanders-tetradrachm/
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