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Banner Artemide LXI
Lot # 247
Continental Greece. Kings of Macedon. Perseus (179-168 BC). AR Drachm, Third Macedonian War issue. Uncertain mint in Thessaly, Hermias, magistrate. Obv. Head of Helios facing slightly right. Rev. EPMIAΣ. Rose with bud to right; Z-Ω flanking stem. Price, Larissa, pl. LV, 247; SNG Keckman 793. AR. 2.70 g. 16.50 mm. Superb portrait. Lightly toned, with iridescent hues. EF.
In his 1988 article on Rhodian imitations, R. Ashton has argued persuasively that this coinage was struck by Perseus to pay Cretan mercenaries serving in his army (see “A Series of Pseudo-Rhodian Drachms from Mainland Greece,” NC 1988, pp. 29-30). The Rhodian coinage circulated on Crete, where it was a familiar and trusted currency for the Cretans, and it is likely that they would have required payment in that form (see also R. Ashton, SM 146 [May 1987], p. 34).