I would appreciate help identifying this medal or coin. It was purchased with Egyptian coins and appears to have a thin silver plating which has mostly worn off leaving a copper core. I can't even identify the language on the reverse, so any help would be appreciated.
Looks like a copy of a silver tetradrachm of Macedonia, c. 156-148 BC. The reverse inscription "Makedonon protea" means "First (region) of Macedonia". You can see an original coin here: https://www.penn.museum/collections/object/119744 (Click on the photos there to enlarge) Definitely a modern copy, probably originally silvered. The style is not much like the original, so it probably was not meant as a deceptive fake.
I first thought it was Greek too, but since there is no backwards "N" in modern Greek, I decided it was Russian or Bulgarian or some other Cyrillic language. Right now I am transliterating the coin's letters on the Cyrillic typewriter on Google-Translate, but nothing useful thus far.
I see now I got steered off-course by thinking the 4th letter was a B, not an E. The idea of Macedonia had occurred to me. ======== I am always amazed at how easily the ancient collectors here can identify origins from just bits and pieces of words and data...
Wow, That was quick. Thank you Andres2! From the wear on this medal of Artemis, a deity of fertility and birth, someone must have worn this medal for a long time.
In those days, having kids as fast as you could was basically your Medicare, Social Security, Meals-on-Wheels, and hospice, as you died of old age in your 40s. You just kept trying. This point of view persisted into the 1700s and beyond. Benjamin Franklin had 16 brothers and sisters.
