Hellenistic Coins from the Time of Alexander the Great

Image: Hellenistic Coins



A collection of Hellenistic coins dating back to the time of Alexander the Great were found in northern Syria.

The collection contains two groups of silver Hellenistic coins: 137 tetra drachma (four drachmas) coins and 115 drachma coins.

One side of the tetra drachma coins depicts Alexander the Great, while the other side depicts the Greek god Zeus sitting on a throne with an eagle on his outstretched right arm. 34 of these coins bear the inscription "King Alexander" in Greek, while 81 coins bear the inscription "Alexander" and 22 coins bear "King Phillip."

The drachma coins bear the same images as the tetra drachma, with "Alexander" inscribed on 100 of them and "Philip" on 15 of them.

Read the story in its entirety by clicking here.


Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

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Tags: Archaeology, Alexander the Great, Hellenistic Coins, Drachma

Alexander the Great: The Sexy Conqueror

Image: The carved head of Alexander the Great




In a previous post, I wrote about the gemstone carved with the head portrait of Alexander the Great. According to archaeologists, the gemstone is about 2,300 old, probably carved after the Alexander’s death in 323 B.C.

The gemstone was found at a large building from the Hellenistic period located at Tel Dor, “an archaeological site that once was a major port on Israel's Mediterranean coast.”

Discovery News has a good article on the gemstone engraved with the image of Alexander the Great. The article emphasizes the “young, resolute, sexy Alexander the Great.”

According to the article, the village of Dor “was indeed known to Alexander the Great, who passed through there in 332 B.C. on his way to Egypt. The people of Dor submitted to Alexander without resistance and remained a center of Greek culture in Israel for about two centuries, until it was conquered by Alexander Jannaeus, King of Judea, in 100 B.C.”

The article says that the image presents “A compelling evidence of exquisite Hellenistic minor art, the carving shows a head in left profile, with rather sexy features: wavy locks of hair, wide, deep-set eyes with an intense stare, high brows and fine-cut neck.”

You can read the article here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary



Tags: Alexander the Great, Archaeology, Tel Dor

A Miniature Carving of Alexander the Great

Photo: Courtesy Tel Dor Excavation Delegation

Israel National News is reporting that a miniature carving of Alexander the Great was discovered in the excavations at Tel Dor. The following is an excerpt from the article:

Excavations in Tel Dor have turned up a rare and unexpected work of Hellenistic art: a precious stone bearing the miniature carved likeness of Alexander the Great. Archaeologists are calling it an important find, indicating the great skill of the artist.

The Tel Dor dig, under the guidance and direction of Dr. Ayelet Gilboa of Haifa University and Dr. Ilan Sharon of Jerusalem's Hebrew University, has just ended its summer excavation season. For more than 30 years, scientists have been excavating in Tel Dor, identified as the site of the Biblical town of Dor. The town's location, on Israel's Mediterranean Sea coast some 30 kilometers south of Haifa, made it an important international port in ancient times.

Historically, Alexander himself passed through Dor in 332 BCE, during his voyage to Egypt. It appears that the city fell to him without resistance. Since that time until its conquest by the Hasmonean Jewish King Alexander Yannai around 100 BCE, Dor served as a stronghold of non-Jewish Hellenists in the Land of Israel.

Read the news report in its entirety by visiting the web page of Israel National News.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary


Tags: Alexander the Great, Archaeology, Tel Dor

A Letter to President Barack Obama

Photo: A Macedonian coin with the Greek name Alexander

Credit: Photo from Macedonia Evidence





Charles Ellwood Jones has announced at the Ancient World Bloggers Group that a group of Classical Scholars have endorsed a letter to President Barak Obama concerning a Slavic country calling itself the “Republic of Macedonia”and “the misappropriation by the government in Skopje of the most famous of Macedonians, Alexander the Great.”

You can read the letter to President Obama by clicking here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Alexander the Great, Barack Obama, Macedonia

The Dispute Between Greece and Macedonia

The Herald Sun has an interesting article on the dispute between Greece and Macedonia concerning the claims of the heritage of Alexander the Great:

GREECE heaped scorn overnight on plans by Macedonia to erect a gigantic equestrian statue of Alexander the Great, the famed warrior-king of antiquity that both countries claim as their own.
"From the information we have, the size, height and cost of this statue are inversely proportional to seriousness and historic truth," Greek foreign ministry spokesman George Koumoutsakos said.

The 22-metre statue of the ancient king of Macedon is to be placed on the main square of Macedonia's capital Skopje at an estimated cost of €4.5 million ($8.08 million), local authorities said.

Greece currently has a 6.15-metre statue of Alexander adorning the waterfront of its northern city Thessaloniki.

It also has plans to erect another statue in Iraq, on the site of one of Alexander's victories over the Persians at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BCE.

Born in Pella, modern-day Greece, Alexander conquered the Persian Empire and much of the world known to ancient Greeks before dying in Babylon in 323 BC at the age of just 32.

In recent years, Greece has faced a challenge from the former Yugoslav republic over the spiritual rights to Alexander's heritage and has been at pains to stress that the ancient Macedonians were Greek.

But the tiny Balkan nation, which became independent after the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, has staked its own claim as it lies on what was once part of ancient Macedonia.

Greece has also refused to recognise its neighbour under its constitutional name of Macedonia because that is also the name of the northern Greek province of Macedonia.

United Nations-led negotiations on the issue have proved fruitless ever since, and Athens has used its veto to prevent Macedonia becoming a member of NATO.

The reason I am publishing this new report is because I became indirectly involved in the controversy between Greece and Macedonia when I published an article on the goddess Vesta.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Alexander the Great, Greece, Macedonia

Treasures Discovered at Alexander the Great’s Birthplace

The following is a news release published by Reuters:

Archaeologists have unearthed gold jewellery, weapons and pottery at an ancient burial site near Pella in northern Greece, the birthplace of Alexander the Great, the culture ministry said on Thursday.

The excavations at the vast cemetery uncovered 43 graves dating from 650-279 BC which shed light on the early development of the Macedonian kingdom, which had an empire that stretched as far as India under Alexander's conquests.

Among the most interesting discoveries were the graves of 20 warriors dating to the late Archaic period, between 580 and 460 BC, the ministry said in a statement.

Some were buried in bronze helmets alongside iron swords and knives. Their eyes, mouths and chests were covered in gold foil richly decorated with drawings of lions and other animals symbolizing royal power.

"The discovery is rich in historical importance, shedding light on Macedonian culture during the Archaic period," Pavlos Chrysostomou, who headed the eight-year project that investigated a total of 900 graves, told Reuters.

Pavlas said the graves confirmed evidence of an ancient Macedonian society organized along militaristic lines and with overseas trade as early as the second half of the seventh century BC.

Among the excavated graves, the team also found 11 women from the Archaic period, with gold and bronze necklaces, earrings and broaches.

Nine of the graves dated to the late classical or early Hellenistic period, around the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC.

Alexander, whose father Philip II unified the city states of mainland Greece, conquered most of the world known to the ancient Greeks before dying at the age of 32 in Babylon. Educated by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, Alexander was never defeated in battle.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Alexander the Great, Philip of Macedon