showing Herakles and the eagle of Zeus), bimetallic, like his father’s,
began in all probability in 333/32bc, after the battle of Issus, and
continued to be struck at 26 mints throughout his reign, by many of
his Successors, using the same face types, and by some civic mints, at
intervals even into the second centurybc.^101
The mass of coinage struck for Philip and Alexander and the excep-
tional quality of the individual coins has enhanced the impression of
their extraordinary status and their ubiquitous nature. Estimates of
output do indicate that the silver tetradrachms of Alexander III represent
the most numerous single types in circulation. De Callataÿ, building on
detailed die studies of the output of certain civic mints, notably Athens,
Rhodes, Lampsakos, Taras, and Maroneia, as well as of regal coins, and
projecting these into estimates of (theoretical) annual issues of coins to
supplement stock in circulation, has calculated the relative numerical
relationships of different minting authorities. These projections suggest
that there were six times as many tetradrachms of Alexander III in
circulation during the later fourth and third centuriesbcas there were
silver coins of Philip II (or, in the second century, of Antiochos III), while
Athenian silver coins, the most significant civic issues, represent an
output of just under half the figure for Alexander tetradrachms.
Although these projections are estimates, they do seem, on various
criteria, to represent genuine proportionate relationships between differ-
ent issuing mints.^102
Perhaps the most surprising result of these estimated projections of
minting output is the relatively limited level of overall monetization
within these economies. The most consistent issuing authorities—those
that do seem to have renewed the stock of their own coins in circulation
on a comparatively regular basis—Athens, Rhodes, and Taras—were all
states with exceptionally strong commercial interests. Athenian silver is
known as having been exported as coin as well as bullion (Xen.Vect.3.2);
this could also have been true of other coinages. Royal mints, from the
time of Philip II onwards, began to compete in output with these
(^101) On the dating of the principal output: Price 1991, 27–9, 85–9; Troxell 1997, 48–50,
86 – 98; Le Rider 2007, 8–16; for the Herakles/eagle series, Wartenberg 1997.
(^102) De Callataÿ 2005a, 80–8 and Tables 4.2–4.8; the author has calculated the average
annual output of each of the different coinages examined using a common denominator of
‘Attic drachm equivalent dies’, based on an initial estimate of Rhodian didrachm-equivalent
dies and Tarentine didrachm-equivalent dies, compared with Attic drachm-equivalent dies
(80–3, Table 4.3), since these represent the most consistent minting history. The author
makes clear that these are only estimated projections, involving a number of possible
caveats. The actual numbers of surviving coin dies for any one type represents some
fraction of the actual output of any one mint.
82 Herdsmen with golden leaves—narratives and spaces