| Classical Numismatic Group > Auction 130 | Auction date: 23 September 2025 |
| Lot number: 100 Price realized: 3,000 USD (Approx. 2,543 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: KINGS of MACEDON. Perseus. 179-168 BC. AR Tetradrachm (33mm, 16.82 g, 11h). Attic standard. Amphipolis mint. Struck circa 179-171 BC. Diademed head right / Eagle, wings spread, standing right on thunderbolt; ZΩ monogram above, MI to right, Φ below; all within oak wreath; below, plow right. De Luca, Tetradrachms 112 (O27/R100); Mamroth, Perseus 8; HGC 3, 1091. Slight die wear and a couple of minor marks on reverse. Good VF. The last independent king of Macedon, Perseus was the eldest son of the dynamic but disastrous Philip V. Inheriting the throne in 179 BC, Perseus skillfully rebuilt the Macedonian army and a network of marriage alliances during the first years of his reign, which the Romans watched with rising alarm. In 172 BC the Romans sent a commission to Macedon and demanded that Perseus essentially end Macedonian independence and become a Roman vassal. Perseus angrily rebuffed their demands, sparking the outbreak of the Third Macedonian War in 171 BC. For a time, Perseus employed guerrilla tactics which gave him the initiative and kept the Romans on their heels. An initial battle at Kallinikos in Thessaly was a narrow Macedonian victory, leading Perseus to become overconfident of Macedonian arms and his own generalship. Like his father, Perseus chose to risk all in a single pitched battle at Pydna in 168 BC but lost badly to the Roman general Lucius Aemilius Paullus. With his army shattered, Perseus surrendered and was taken to Rome, where he was led in chains in Paullus' triumph. Accounts of his remaining life differ; according to one account, he remained imprisoned until he died after two years of abuse and neglect. But another tradition holds that he was allowed to live in comfortable exile at Alba Fucens outside of Rome, where his son Alexander became a metalworker and a Roman public notary. The Macedonian Kingdom was divided into four theoretically autonomous Republics which were soon subsumed into direct Roman rule. The coinage of Perseus is one of the more attractive of the Hellenistic series, with strong portraiture depicting Perseus as a determined ruler with a piercing gaze and a stubbly beard. The reverse depicts the Macedonian eagle on a thunderbolt. Two weight standards are recorded, with the weight of the tetradrachm being reduced by about 10% after the war with Rome commenced, likely to stretch the silver supply. Estimate: 1000 USD |  |
