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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Anthony, post: 1853498, member: 42773&quot;]Here&#039;s a 4th-century BC coin that certainly won&#039;t win any beauty pageants, but I&#039;m always fascinated with issues struck by one ruler in the name of another. This is technically a coin of Alexander the Great, issued by the Cypriot king Nikokreon.</p><p><br /></p><p>Cyprus had been a vassal of the Persian Empire prior to the rise of Alexander III. After the Macedonian victories at Granicus and Issus, it became clear that Alexander was going to conquer the Persians in the East, and the Cypriot kings rose up against their Persian overlords, declaring their allegiance to Alexander. Eventually, Alexander&#039;s empire would encompass a wide swath of the Near East...</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://postimage.org/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://postimage.org/" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://s27.postimg.org/hvb4xp9kz/Map_alexander_empire.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p>As you can see, Cyprus was well-situated to establish lines of communication and trade between Greece, Phoenicia, and Egypt. This coin was acquired by me from a Cypriot dealer, perhaps in violation of the Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Cyprus concerning the export of antiquities (which amounts to an embargo), but I wasn&#039;t aware of the issues at the time of purchase. It&#039;s a very complicated business that I don&#039;t fully understand.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://postimage.org/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://postimage.org/" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://s7.postimg.org/jyo5f7o7f/009both.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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