Faces of Money: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
Coin shown: Alexander III (the Great), Tetradrachm, silver, 312-310
B.C., Egypt
Alexander (the Great) III of Macedon, 356-323 B.C., was the
greatest conqueror of the ancient world. He became the king of
Macedonia in 336 B.C. at the age of 20.
He inherited from his father the dream to conquer the Persian Empire,
the largest and most powerful empire known up to that time.
Alexander was a military and organizational genius – considered
a god by some and a monstrous tyrant by others. He was educated by
Aristotle, extremely brave and charismatic.
Alexander’s coinage was the most extensive and uniform of the
ancient world before the establishment of the Roman Empire.
At his death in 323 B.C. in Babylon at the age of 32, Alexander left
a world permanently changed, a world in which the Greek language and
culture would form the intellectual foundation for the next 300 years
and beyond.
The legend of Alexander still lives on in folk tales told from
England to India in dozens of languages. Some historians have considered
him a great benefactor of humanity; others have criticized him as a
murderous drunkard, for subjugating Greece, and for killing many
thousands of people in his campaigns.
What do you think?
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