Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 99. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $2600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of MACEDON. Perdikkas III. 365-359 BC. AR Diobol (0.91 g). Bearded head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / Bow and club; Π-EP around; all within shallow incuse square. Westermark, Remarks pl. LXX, 45; SNG ANS -; SNG München -; SNG Alpha Bank 237-8; SNG Saroglos -. Good VF, lightly toned. Extremely rare.

Perdikkas III was the son of Amyntas III and Eurydice, and succeeded his elder brother, Alexander II, to the throne of Macedon in 368 BC. At the time, Perdikkas was a minor, and the Macedonian Assembly elected as regent Ptolemy of Aloros, who served in this capacity for three years. The fact that Ptolemy was elected by the Assembly discounts a popular theory in much of the classical literature that he was responsible for the assassination of Alexander II (see N.G.L. Hammond, "A History of Macedonia, Volume II", pp. 181-4, for an analysis of the event). During the regency, Macedon was forced into a form of subservience to Thebes by means of an unbalanced alliance, in which Ptolemy surrendered his son and thirty of the Companions as hostages. This 'alliance' also brought Macedon into conflict with Thebes' opponent, Athens, which was then attempting to gain control over Amphipolis. By the time Perdikkas entered his maturity, in 365 BC, the kingdom was under threat of Athenian domination. Whereas Thebes provided virtually no support to Perdikkas, the Athenians gained new allies all around Macedon, from the Thracian tribes in the east, to the Molossians in the west, not to mention the pro-Athenian faction among the Macedonian elite. In any event, by late 364 or early 363 BC, Perdikkas was compelled to ally himself with Athens, whose general in the region, Timotheos, subsequently enlisted the Macedonians in his attempt to subjugate the Chalkidian League and capture Amphipolis. Later in 362 BC, however, perhaps encouraged by an expedition of the Theban leader Epaminondas against Athens, Perdikkas renounced his alliance with Athens. Macedon was quickly subdued by an Athenian force under Callisthenes, but Perdikkas again renounced Athens soon after its forces departed, and gave military support to both the Chalkidians and Amphipolis. Timotheos eventually had success against the Chakidians, but his final attempt to take Amphipolis failed miserably, and he was forced to withdraw in 360 BC. While Perdikkas' attention had been drawn to the eastern lowlands of Macedon, another, more formidable threat had grown in the highlands to the west. The Illyrians, long an opponent of Macedon, had become invigorated under their king Bardylis, who began plundering his neighbor Epiros in 359 BC. Encouraged by finding little resistance from the Epirote king, Arybbas, Bardylis took his forces into Macedon, where he decimated the Macedonian army and killed Perdikkas in battle. From the death of king Archelaos, whose reign saw an early pinnacle of Macedonian power, the kingdom had been fighting a defensive battle against enemies on all sides. This blow by the Illyians exposed the kingdom to all these enemies, who moved to capture their own part of Macedonian territory. Unfortunately for them all, Perdikkas' youngest brother and successor, Philip II, became the most formidable king the Macedonians had yet produced.

Coins of Perdikkas are known in silver and bronze. His silver consists of two denominations, staters and diobols. The staters continue the basic types from Amyntas, with the head of Herakles in lion skin on the obverse, and a walking horse on the reverse. What is innovative is that Herakles is now depicted beardless, which becomes the standard way his shown on subsequent royal Macedonian issues. The diobols feature the bearded head of Herakles in lion skin, which suggests they were issued prior to the staters, while the reverse has a bow and club. Perdikkas' bronze coinage is known with three types. All feature the beardless Herakles on the obverse, with three different reverses. His bronze coinage is fairly common today, while his silver is very rare. In his article on the Macedonian regal coinage in this period, Westermark noted that, even though the output of his coinage was limited, the artistic quality of Perdikkas' coins was very high.