Obverse: Helmet Head of the Goddess
Athena
Reverse: Nike Standing to the Left Holding a
Laurel Wreath and Stylus
How many hands have touched a coin in your
pocket or your 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 touched the coin before us, or where the
coin will venture to after us. More than money,
coins are a symbol of the state that struck them,
of a specific time and place, whether currency in
the age we live or an artifact of a long forgotten
empire. Worth a more than a year’s salary, a
gold coin like this would have rewarded the
bravery and fortitude of the officers serving
under one of history’s most celebrated generals,
Alexander the Great. Son to King Phillip II of
Macedon, tutored in his youth by Aristotle,
Alexander conquered one of the largest
kingdoms the world has ever known. Marching
from Egypt, through Asia Minor, and into the
heart of central Asia, Alexander lead a swift and
successful military campaign that defeated the
potent Persians and stretched the edges of
Hellenic civilization to new lands. While his vast
empire dissolved after his death, the carefully
cultivated legend of Alexander will continue to
live on not only in our history books and
museums, but also in artifacts like this coin:
concrete remnants of ancient empires passed
from the hands of civilization to civilization, from
generation to generation.
- (C.2001)
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