KINGS of MACEDON. Perseus. 179-168 BC. AR Drachm (15mm, 2.67 g, 8h). Third Macedonian War issue. Mint in Thessaly; Hermias, magistrate. Struck circa 171/0 BC. Head of Helios facing slightly right / Rose;
ERMIAS above, Z-
W flanking stem. Price,
Larissa pl. LV, 247; SNG Keckman 793. EF, handsome gold and gray toning, minor die break and die rust on reverse.
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 Ashton, SM 146 (May 1987), p. 34).
