Koinon, pseudo-autonomous issue. Time of Gordian III, 238-244. Bronze circa 238-244, Æ 10.26 g. ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ Diademed head of Alexander r. Rev. KOINON MAKEDONΩN B NEΩ Horseman galloping r., holding spear. AMNG III, p. 528, 512. BMC 120. SNG Copenhagen 1355.
Very rare. Lovely green patina, minor edge scrape at four
o’clock on reverse, otherwise extremely fine

Ex Roma Numismatics sale 7, 2014, 468.

The Koinon of Macedonians under the Roman Empire was a religious and administrative confederation of Macedonian cities that had its roots in the royal administration of the Macedonian kingdom under its last kings, Philip V and Perseus. The capital of the Koinon was located at Beroia, where it celebrated pentetric Olympic games. Coinage struck by the Koinon regularly advertised the glories of the past, especially the most widely celebrated Macedonian ever to live—Alexander the Great. On the present coin, struck during the reign of Gordian III, Alexander’s diademed portrait is depicted on the obverse and conforms to descriptions of the Macedonian conqueror in ancient literary sources. He has an elevated gaze, indicative of his pothos (”longing”) to do the impossible and ascend to the gods, and a mane of windswept hair, giving him a powerful leonine appearance. The reverse type is a standard depiction of Alexander charging into battle on the back of his beloved horse, Bucephalus. This particular issue was probably struck in AD 242, when Gordian III passed through the city on his way to make war on the Sasanian Persian Empire. In this context, types featuring Alexander the Great not only celebrated the storied past of the Macedonian cities that made up the Koinon, but honoured the Emperor hoping to repeat the feats of Alexander and destroy the new Persian Empire. Alexander the Great had been a hero to Roman commanders since the late Roman Republic and the admiration of his grand conquests only increased under the Roman Emperors. Julius Caesar and Octavian (the future Augustus) both visited his tomb at Alexandria and lamented their deeds compared to what Alexander had accomplished by the time of his death at age 32. Roman campaigns against the Parthians and Sasanians, the Iranian successors of the Achaemenid Persians were prime occasions for Emperors to compare themselves (and be compared by others) to Alexander, although they were never able to fully duplicate his exploits. Thus there is perhaps an element of imperial flattery at work in the types in light of Gordian’s apparent presence at Beroia in AD 242. As it turned out and as was usual for Roman leaders trying to emulate Alexander, Gordian III fell short. Although he drove back the Sasanians at the Battle of Raesena (AD 243) and began a march against Ctesiphon, his advance was fiercely contested. The Emperor was killed as he tried to force his way towards the Sasanian capital, either killed in the fighting or murdered by his own soldiers following a defeat.