What was the Tetradrachm?
Among numismatists and coin collectors alike, the Greek tetradrachm holds a special place in the history as one of the first coins to dominate the ancient markets and maintain a lasting influence that echoes across the centuries even in modern currency.
This shining silver coin introduced a new, luxurious form of currency that was worth four of the previously used drachm coins – hence the name tetra drachm.
This means it was worth four times the average man’s daily wages in the ancient world. Rather than circulating as the base unit of the common man, the high-falutin tetradrachm was used to pay for weapons, expensive jewelry, and the services of only the best military officials – including those of the army of Alexander the Great.
Over the centuries, the tetradrachm took on different styles according to who was minting them and what image they wanted to promote (or what propaganda they wanted to spread) on these widely circulating – and wildly popular – silver coins.
Let’s take a closer look at this iconic Greek coin by diving into some of the most famous tetradrachms throughout history, many of which maintain their popularity among modern-day coin collectors.
“Coinage Common to All” : The Athenian Owl
Dating back to the late 6th century BCE, the famed Athenian owl would be continuously minted for over 400 years, reflecting the dominance of Athens over the markets of the eastern Mediterranean. The owl would quickly establish itself as the backbone of the Greek economy and become known as the “coinage common to all” (to koinon tois pasi nomisma).
As you might have guessed, the owl on the coin refers to the Greek deity Athena, daughter of Zeus and Olympian goddess of wisdom & warfare. Athena herself is depicted on the reverse side of the coin, honoring her as the patron deity of Athens.
As the old myth goes, the gods Poseidon and Athena were pitted against each other in a competition to see who would be named the patron god of a new city in Greece. The winner would have the city named after them and would offer protection to its people. Both gods would create something to offer the city, and its king, Cecrops, would proclaim the winner.
The Contest Between Athena and Poseidon for the Possession of Athens by Cesare Nebbia (1570s CE). Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Poseidon, god of the sea, created the horse (or, in some versions, a spring of seawater) and gave it to the city. But Athena offered something much more valuable to the Greeks: the olive tree. She was claimed the winner, and the city was therefore named Athens.
For this reason, you can see an olive branch pictured above the owl on the tetradrachm – in addition to the letters ΑΘΕ, spelling out the first three letters (Alpha Theta Eta) of the city (and the goddess’s) name in Greek.
Athenian owl tetradrachm (~490 BCE). Source: Art Institute of Chicago.
If you look closely, you’ll see that many owl tetradrachms also feature a small wreath on Athena’s crown – a detail added to celebrate the victory against the Persian invasion in 479 BCE. From that point onward, the Athenian owl was made the official standardized coin minted by Athens, with older coins and coin fragments being discontinued.
The Athenian owl remains one of the most iconic tetradrachms to this day – so iconic, in fact, that it can be seen recreated in the modern Greek one Euro coin! (See image below.)
1 Euro Greek coin (2002). Source: numista.com.
The Alexandrian Tetradrachm
Alexander the Great, as depicted in the Alexander Mosaic from Pompeii. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Around the year 333 BCE, Alexander the Great began producing coins of silver and gold based on the standardized weight of the Attic tetradrachm. Adopting the Athenian model of coinage during his conquests was just another way in which Alexander embodied panhellenism, promoting economic unity throughout the Greek world as he sought to spread Greek culture in his ever-growing empire.
Slowly but surely, the Alexandrian tetradrachm began replacing the Athenian owls as the dominant coinage of the empire. Alexander’s tetradrachms even survived his own premature death in 323 BCE, continuing to be minted by both Greek and barbarian rulers alike! By the 3rd century BCE, these coins could be found as far east as modern-day Afghanistan.
This wildly popular tetradrachm was not only continuously minted but also imitated – sometimes rather poorly (see image below) – by various groups on the outskirts of Alexander’s empire, including Celts to the West and Arabs to the East.
Tetradrachm imitation from Eastern Arabia (1st century BCE). Source: ancients.info.
The tetradrachm issued by Alexander the Great features the iconic depiction of the emperor himself as the Greek hero Hercules (also known as Herakles), complete with the famous Nemean lionskin wrapped around his head and shoulders
Many of the Alexandrian tetradrachm feature the now-iconic image of the emperor himself depicted as the Greek hero Herakles (also known as Hercules) – who he claimed to be a distant ancestor of his – complete with the famous Nemean lionskin wrapped around his head and shoulders, a reference to the myth of Herakles’s 12 labors (one of which involved him slaughtering a lion who was terrorizing the town of Nemea).
Hercules Strangling the Nemean Lion by Peter Paul Rubens (1639 CE). Source: Harvard Art Museums.
Alexander’s family was known to have claimed Herakles as one of their ancestors, following a common practice in the ancient world of legitimizing one’s claim to rule through mythical family connections.
The emperor cleverly made use of the fact that popular coins depicting the hero Herakles were already in circulation, capitalizing on the alleged descent of the Macedonian royal family from the mythical hero to insert himself onto an already familiar image on coinage.
The opposite side of the Alexandrian tetradrachm often portrays the god Zeus, sitting naked with an eagle (a symbol often associated with the god). Next to Zeus is printed Alexander’s name in Greek (see image below).
Alexandrian Tetradrachm (336-323 BCE) – available for purchase here.
The Alexandrian tetradrachm fell out of popularity in the 2nd century BCE, and other coins slowly took its place in the markets. However, these tetradrachms continue to be some of the most popular among collectors and enthusiasts (see here for our available Alexandrian tetradrachms).
The Lysimachus Tetradrachm
If you assumed from its name that this coin would involve a depiction of Lysimachus himself, well, you’d be wrong (mostly).
Much like his famous admirer Julius Caesar (whose assassination you can read about here), the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE brought about a vicious civil war which would reign on for 40 years after his passing.
It was during this time that one of the men vying for power over Alexander’s abandoned empire – his companion and bodyguard, Lysimachus – began minting silver tetradrachms to fund his efforts. Rather than feature his own visage, Lysimachus capitalized on the popularity of his late friend and ruler, whose face was now famous across the ancient world from the coins minted in his own lifetime. But on these tetradrachms, Alexander was no longer depicted as Herakles – rather, the horns curling around his ears relay his claim to the Egyptian god Ammon, a connection he made use of when establishing his authority in Egypt (see image below).
Tetradrachm of Lysimachus I (297 – 281 BCE). Source: Art Institute of Chicago.
Because of the continued use of Alexander’s image, this coin may at first be confused with the actual tetradrachms of Alexander. But a flip around to the backside reveals the mark Lysimachus left behind: his own name printed in Greek, along with the title of “king” (basileus).
Just as Alexander used his family’s association with the mythical Herakles to legitimate his own rule, Lysimachus used his association with Alexander to justify his attempts to take over as leader of the empire left behind by his friend’s early death.
Alexander’s Legacy Continues: The Bactrian Tetradrachm of Demetrios I
Map of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, ca. 170 BCE. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
This unique Indo-Greek issue of the tetradrachm rather perfectly illustrates the immense influence that Alexander the Great left on the wider ancient world as a champion of panhellenism.
One only needs to take a quick glance at this tetradrachm to see the similarities with the famous Alexandrian coins that came before: the bust of a regal man wearing an animal headdress is a clear echo of the Macedonian emperor’s image. And, on the reverse this time we have Herakles himself, seated with his club as a representative not only of Greek religion and culture but specifically of the reign of the Macedonian royals who were his (supposed) descendants.
But who was the clever king to institute such an homage of sorts?
This was the tetradrachm of the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrios I, who ordered it to be minted in celebration of the Bactrian victory over southern territories in modern-day Pakistan. These coins date back to around 200 - 190 BCE – more than a century after Alexander, in other words.
A little background: the Bactrian kingdom was situated in central Asia, primarily in what is now Afghanistan. Although there had been Greeks living in the area, Alexander the Great conquered the region and incorporated it into his empire in 329 BCE, solidifying its status as Greek.
A line of rulers known as the Greco-Bactrian kings would maintain authority over the area after the death of Alexander, each introducing his own issue of currency in the Greek style.
Tetradrachm of Demetrios I (200 – 190 BCE). Source: Cleveland Museum of Art
These Bactrian issues are fascinating in their combination of Greek and uniquely Eastern qualities – the most obvious being, in this case, the use of an elephant headdress worn by the emperor Demetrios I (who ruled from 200 – 180 BCE) in place of Alexander’s (and Herakles’s) lion skin (see image above). On the reverse side, Herakles stands holding his famous club and Nemean lion skin.
The Tetradrachm Today
The influence of the tetradrachm continued to echo into history far beyond the years of Alexander's empire. Its standardized weight, general design, and propagandistic use of symbolism left a legacy on the minting of coinage ancient and modern that is still felt and appreciated today – not to mention seen, in the case of the 1 Euro coin displayed above.
(For a selection of tetradrachms on our very own site, see here.)
Sources & Further Reading
“Alexander the Great Ancient Imitations.” Accessed December 15, 2024. https://rg.ancients.info/alexander/ancient_imitations.html.
Davis, Gillan, Kenneth Sheedy, and Damian Gore. “Studies in Athenian Silver Coinage: Analysis of Archaic ‘Owl’ Tetradrachms,” 207–14, 2020.
Discentes. “Money and Identity: The Socio-Political Power of Ancient Coinage and the Emergence of Greco-Bactrian Culture.” Discentes, October 1, 2023. https://web.sas.upenn.edu/discentes/2023/10/01/money-and-identity-the-socio-political-power-of-ancient-coinage-and-the-emergence-of-greco-bactrian-culture/.
“From the Athenian Tetradrachm to the Euro : Studies in European Monetary Integration.” Accessed November 20, 2024. https://web-p-ebscohost-com.proxy.library.nyu.edu/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook?sid=341fedc9-7f72-4bb3-86e6-80dc7daf5d3f%40redis&vid=0&format=EB.
Greek, Ancient. Tetradrachm (Coin) Portraying Alexander the Great. 281 BCE 297AD. Silver, Diam.: 3.1 cm (1 1/4 in.). https://www.artic.edu/artworks/5764/tetradrachm-coin-portraying-alexander-the-great.
———. Tetradrachm (Coin) Portraying Alexander the Great Wearing the Head of the Nemean Lion as a Helmet. 323 BCE 336AD. Silver, Diam.: 2.5 cm (1 in.). https://www.artic.edu/artworks/199227/tetradrachm-coin-portraying-alexander-the-great-wearing-the-head-of-the-nemean-lion-as-a-helmet.
Harvard. “Tetradrachm of Antimachos I of Baktria | Harvard Art Museums.” Accessed December 14, 2024. https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/196064.
Mairs, Rachel. “Bactrian or Graeco- Bactrian Kingdom.” Accessed December 15, 2024. https://www.academia.edu/23031604/Bactrian_or_Graeco_Bactrian_Kingdom.
———. The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek World. Oxford, UNITED KINGDOM: Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nyulibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=6371047.
“Tetradrachm Coin of Demetrios I | Cleveland Museum of Art.” Accessed December 15, 2024. https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1999.318.
Tetradrachm of Alexander the Great. ca. –319 BCE 325AD. Silver, 3/16 in. × 1 1/8 in. diameter (0.45 × 2.8 cm). https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/326395.
“Tetradrachm: Owl (Reverse) | Cleveland Museum of Art.” Accessed December 11, 2024. https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1916.992.b.
The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. “Coin (Tetradrachm) of Athens (Getty Museum).” Accessed December 11, 2024. https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/109KKJ.
TheCollector. “Athena And Poseidon’s Contest: How Did Athens Get Its Name?,” May 19, 2021. https://www.thecollector.com/athena-poseidon-contest-athens-name-giving/.
