Paeonian Tetradrachm Minted Under King Patraos, 340 BCE - 315 CE
Silver
C.2070a
Obverse: Apollo Crowned with a Laurel Wreat Reverse: Helmeted Warrior Riding a Horse Striding over a Fallen Macedonian Soldier Holding a Shiel The land of the Paeonians, originally including the...
Obverse: Apollo Crowned with a Laurel Wreat
Reverse: Helmeted Warrior Riding a Horse Striding over a Fallen Macedonian Soldier Holding a Shiel
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.
Reverse: Helmeted Warrior Riding a Horse Striding over a Fallen Macedonian Soldier Holding a Shiel
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.