Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XV 5 Apr 2018
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Kingdom of Macedon, Philip II AV Hemistater. Lifetime issue. Amphipolis, circa 340-328 BC. Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin headdress / Forepart of lion to right; crescent below, ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΥ above. Le Rider 2 (D1/R2); SNG ANS 280 var. (same obverse die; scallop shell on reverse). 4.30g, 14mm, 5h.
Extremely Fine. Very Rare, and exceptional condition for the issue, being both well preserved and perfectly centred on a very large flan.
Ex Roma Numismatics VI, 29 September 2013, lot 544 (£16,000);
Ex Gorny & Mosch 211, 4 March 2013, lot 179.
Philip II inherited a poor kingdom on the verge of collapse. His brother Perdikkas III had died in battle against the Illyrians along with a great part of the Macedonian army. As A. B. Bosworth (1988, 6) puts it, "Philip came to power... when Macedon was threatened by dissolution, debilitated by a decade of dynastic feuding and crippled by military defeat at the hands of the Illyrians", and he is joined by J. R. Ellis (1976, 44, cf. 1980, 36f) who writes "seldom can any state have so nearly approached total dismemberment without utterly disintegrating". Philip's predecessors had paid large tribute to the Illyrians since the 390s, and it was really only through bribery and a complex and changing system of alliances that Macedon was able to stave off invasion and conquest.
Despite his precarious position, within two years and with little money to do it, Philip had reformed the shattered Macedonian peasant-army, introducing the innovative, professional and highly effective Phalanx corps armed with 18 foot long sarissas. Putting to good use all he had learned from Epaminondas, from whom he had received a military and diplomatic education, Philip pushed back the Thracians and Paeonians with promise of tribute and crushed the Athenian force that had come against him in 359. He conquered Amphipolis in 357, followed by Krenides in 356, and thus gained command of the Mount Pangeion region and the 1000 talents a year in gold that its mines provided.
Following hot on the heels of his military reforms, Philip revolutionised the coinage of the kingdom of Macedon, which would eventually also supersede that of all Greece. Philip's brother Perdikkas, though he had initially struck a silver coinage, was later like his elder brother Alexander II before him, only able to coin in bronze. Philip now had prodigious quantities of not only silver, but gold too in measure beyond what his brothers could have dreamed. Before Philip, gold coins issued by the Greeks had been extremely infrequent, and struck usually only in times of great emergency. Philip's control of the Pangeion mines now enabled him to make Macedon the first state in the Greek world to issue gold uninterruptedly year on year, which he did with a new standardised Macedonian gold currency denominated in staters, hemistaters (such as the present example) and quarter staters, as well as 1/8 and 1/12 fractions. This wealth would provide the driving force behind his successive conquests, expansion and diplomatic manoeuvres that enabled him to unify all Greece under Macedonian hegemony, and set the stage for his planned invasion of Persia.
Extremely Fine. Very Rare, and exceptional condition for the issue, being both well preserved and perfectly centred on a very large flan.
Ex Roma Numismatics VI, 29 September 2013, lot 544 (£16,000);
Ex Gorny & Mosch 211, 4 March 2013, lot 179.
Philip II inherited a poor kingdom on the verge of collapse. His brother Perdikkas III had died in battle against the Illyrians along with a great part of the Macedonian army. As A. B. Bosworth (1988, 6) puts it, "Philip came to power... when Macedon was threatened by dissolution, debilitated by a decade of dynastic feuding and crippled by military defeat at the hands of the Illyrians", and he is joined by J. R. Ellis (1976, 44, cf. 1980, 36f) who writes "seldom can any state have so nearly approached total dismemberment without utterly disintegrating". Philip's predecessors had paid large tribute to the Illyrians since the 390s, and it was really only through bribery and a complex and changing system of alliances that Macedon was able to stave off invasion and conquest.
Despite his precarious position, within two years and with little money to do it, Philip had reformed the shattered Macedonian peasant-army, introducing the innovative, professional and highly effective Phalanx corps armed with 18 foot long sarissas. Putting to good use all he had learned from Epaminondas, from whom he had received a military and diplomatic education, Philip pushed back the Thracians and Paeonians with promise of tribute and crushed the Athenian force that had come against him in 359. He conquered Amphipolis in 357, followed by Krenides in 356, and thus gained command of the Mount Pangeion region and the 1000 talents a year in gold that its mines provided.
Following hot on the heels of his military reforms, Philip revolutionised the coinage of the kingdom of Macedon, which would eventually also supersede that of all Greece. Philip's brother Perdikkas, though he had initially struck a silver coinage, was later like his elder brother Alexander II before him, only able to coin in bronze. Philip now had prodigious quantities of not only silver, but gold too in measure beyond what his brothers could have dreamed. Before Philip, gold coins issued by the Greeks had been extremely infrequent, and struck usually only in times of great emergency. Philip's control of the Pangeion mines now enabled him to make Macedon the first state in the Greek world to issue gold uninterruptedly year on year, which he did with a new standardised Macedonian gold currency denominated in staters, hemistaters (such as the present example) and quarter staters, as well as 1/8 and 1/12 fractions. This wealth would provide the driving force behind his successive conquests, expansion and diplomatic manoeuvres that enabled him to unify all Greece under Macedonian hegemony, and set the stage for his planned invasion of Persia.