Sale: CNG 72, Lot: 468. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 June 2006.  Sold For $350. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of MACEDON. Demetrios I Poliorketes. 306-283 BC. AR Tetradrachm (17.15 g, 6h). Tyre mint. Struck circa 290-287 BC. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / Zeus Aëtophoros seated left; in left field, monogram in circle above club. Newell 27 (dies XXIII/65); Hersh, Tyrus 41 (obv. die XV). VF, struck with worn obverse die. Rare.

Demetrios I Poliorketes was the son of one of Alexander's greatest generals, Antigonos I Monophthalmos. Following the death of Alexander, his empire was broken up among his prominent generals (the diadochs), who subsequently fought numerous wars against each other seeking to expand their respective domains (the Diadoch Wars). Antigonos was arguably the strongest of the diadochs, at one time ruling over all of Alexander's eastern territories from Asia Minor to Baktria, except for Egypt. His success led him to be the first diadoch to crown himself king, in 306 BC. By that time, Demetrios was an active participant in his father's wars, and was also crowned king along with his father. Fearing his growing power, other diadochs allied themselves against Antigonos, and finally defeated and killed him at the battle of Ipsos in 301 BC. Following Ipsos, Demetrios continued to battle the other diadochs, and although he won numerous victories, he was usually unable to maintain his control over his conquests afterward. His epithet, Poliorketes ('besieger of cities') was earned following his siege of Rhodes. While that siege ultimately failed, it featured a number of elaborate siege engines which had become a hallmark of Demetrios' style of warfare. Demetrios was eventually abandoned by his army, and he subsequently surrendered to the king Seleukos I of Syria in 288 BC. He died in captivity five years later.

Although Demetrios had a formidable army, his strength was his naval forces. Poseidon was Demetrios' patron god, and appeared on the coinages of many of the cities he founded or conquered during his campaigns in Greece. Through this series, one can follow Demetrios' campaigns from Cyprus to Asia Minor to Greece and Macedon, and finally back to Asia Minor. Following his surrender, Demetrios' treasury was seized by Seleukos.