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Greek Coins :
Greek City States : Paeonian Tetradrachm Minted Under King Patraos
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Paeonian Tetradrachm Minted Under King Patraos - C.2070a
Origin: Mediterranean
Circa: 340
BC
to 315
BC
Collection: Numismatics
Medium: Silver
$6,500.00
Location: United States
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| Description |
Obverse: Apollo Crowned with a Laurel Wreath
Reverse: Helmeted Warrior Riding a Horse
Striding over a Fallen Macedonian Soldier
Holding a Shield
The land of the Paeonians, originally including
the whole Axius (Vardar) River valley and the
surrounding areas, in what is now northern
Greece, Macedonia, and western Bulgaria. The
Paeonians, who were probably of mixed Thraco-
Illyrian origin, were weakened by the Persian
invasion (490 B.C.), and those tribes living along
the Strymon River (in western Bulgaria) fell under
Thracian control. The growth of Macedonia
forced the remaining Paeonians northward, and
in 358 BC they were defeated by Philip II of
Macedonia. The native dynasty, however,
continued to be highly respected: about 289 BC,
King Audoleon received Athenian citizenship,
and his daughter married Pyrrhus, king of Epirus.
Under the Romans, Paeonia was included in the
second and third districts of the province of
Macedonia. By AD 400, however, the Paeonians
had lost their identity, and Paeonia was merely a
geographic term.
How many hands have touched a coin in your
pocket or purse? What eras and lands have the
coin traversed on its journey into our
possession? As we reach into our pockets to pull
out some change, we rarely hesitate to think of
who might have touched the coin before us, or
where the coin will venture to after it leaves our
hands. More than money, coins are a symbol of
the state that struck them, of a specific time and
location, whether contemporary currencies or
artifacts of a long forgotten empire. This
magnificent coin is a memorial to the ancient
glories of a forgotten kingdom passed down
from the hands of civilization to civilization, from
generation to generation.
- (C.2070a)
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