Question On Alexander the Great's successor kingdoms

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Mr Ancient Coin, May 6, 2022.

  1. Mr Ancient Coin

    Mr Ancient Coin Active Member

    I'm putting together a tetradrachm type set from each of the (long lasting) successor kingdoms of Alexander the Great.

    My question is, what kingdoms would everyone list for this category?

    My thoughts are below;

    1) Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt
    2) the Seleucid Empire
    3) Bactria
    4) Kingdom of Pergamon
    5) Macedon
     
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  3. Ryro

    Ryro Trying to remove supporter status

    Don't forget about Lysimachos in Thrace:
    IMG_0356(1).PNG IMG_0281(1).PNG
     
  4. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    "Bactria" is an interesting category. Are we thinking Sophyte coinage, Seleucid, or something else? Its kind of a mess really, (I love it).
     
  5. Mr Ancient Coin

    Mr Ancient Coin Active Member

    Here’s my first coin of the type set :)
    8C8C0CD3-E038-44F3-B103-B4669BEEC035.jpeg
    1D39B39D-4CE1-4BA9-B078-7155333EDB28.jpeg
    81D42242-0F33-40C7-AC7D-F15F0F11C066.jpeg
     
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  6. kirispupis

    kirispupis Well-Known Member

    This is a good question, and the answer is very subjective. You can see my attempt here. However, here's a basic list.

    1) Ptolemaic Kingdom - definitely.
    2) Seleukid Empire - yup
    3) Baktria - while I do have a Sophytes coin, it's not typically considered a "successor kingdom" because it was more of a region. After Seleukos I and Chandragupta, no one person ruled this area. Eventually, roughly a hundred years after the death of Alexander, it split up into multiple Greco-Indian states. These are collected because the designs are often interesting, but we know next to nothing about these various kingdoms and they had very little to do with any of the other successor states.
    4) Pergamon - sometimes skipped but IMHO this is an important one
    5) Antigonid (Macedon is too general) - of course

    Other possibilities:
    6) Lysimachos - the biggest one you missed
    8) Cappadocian
    8) Bithynia
    9) Chandragupta Maurya - you can't find coins directly attributable to him, but punchmarked coins believed to be from that rough time are cheap
    10) Herakleia Pontika - not a full kingdom, but the tyrant Dionysos was heavily involved with the other diadochi
    11) Thrace - typically Seuthes III
    12) Kyrene - split off from the Ptolemaic under Magas
    13) Pontic - while it became independent ~40 years after the death of Alexander, the coins we have a chance at were produced about 150 years later, so I don't include it even though it's historically relevant.
     
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  7. Mr Ancient Coin

    Mr Ancient Coin Active Member

    Thanks!

    And did you forget about the Greco-Bactrian Empire? Ruled under Eucratides I for example.
     
    Last edited: May 6, 2022
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  8. kirispupis

    kirispupis Well-Known Member

    Eukratides ruled about 150 years after Alexander's death. Diododos founded the kingdom in roughly 250 BCE, or 80 years after Alexander's death. IMHO this places it too late to really be considered as a "successor kingdom."
     
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  9. Mr Ancient Coin

    Mr Ancient Coin Active Member

    Thanks for your opinion! :) I however include Bactria as the kingdom was founded by the remnants and decedents of Alexander’s army
     
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  10. kirispupis

    kirispupis Well-Known Member

    If you're going to use that as the deciding factor, then you'll probably want to add the following:

    14) Parthian
    15) Orontid
    16) Sophene
    17) Commagene
     
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  11. Mr Ancient Coin

    Mr Ancient Coin Active Member

    Keep them coming! This is going to be a fun set to collect:)
     
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  12. dltsrq

    dltsrq Grumpy Old Man

    When the dust settled around 300 BC, the Diodachi had carved five kingdoms from the remnants of Alexander's empire: Egypt (Ptolemy), Macedonia (Cassander), Thrace (Lysimachus), Syria (Seleucus) and Epirus (Alexander the Molossian). Others, like Pergamon and Bactria, split from the original five a bit later... and on and on throughout the Hellenistic age. Depends on how far you want to take it!
     
    Last edited: May 6, 2022
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  13. Mr Ancient Coin

    Mr Ancient Coin Active Member

    Here’s coin #2 of the type set :)
    Kassander

    F3415FD4-91BC-4CCD-A63D-C32AC08419F4.jpeg 22529473-AE6E-461C-8485-8D20CA6940F7.jpeg
    1D066F1A-FF19-4314-92A1-3A7A6B08419C.jpeg
     
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  14. Mr Ancient Coin

    Mr Ancient Coin Active Member

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