Nautical Theme
KINGS of MACEDON. Antigonos III Doson. 229-221 BC. AR Tetradrachm (30mm, 17.11 g, 12h). Amphipolis mint(?). Struck circa 227-225 BC. Head of Poseidon right, wearing wreath of marine plants / Apollo, testing bow in extended right hand, seated left on prow left inscribed BAΣIΛEΩΣ ANTIΓONOY; monogram below. Panagopoulou Group 37, 174–84 var. (O29/R– [unlisted rev. die]); EHC 436; Touratsoglou 52–3; HGC 3, 1051; SNG Berry 368 (same obv. die). Underlying luster. EF. Well centered.
Ex Matthew Curtis Collection.
Antigonus III Doson was the son of the ill-fated Demetrius the Fair, a Macedonian nobleman who briefly served as king of Cyrene in 250 BC before falling into a love affair with his mother-in-law and being murdered by his jealous bride. His sobriquet Doson means “prone to giving” in Greek, but it is unclear how it applies to him. Although he stood outside the direct line of Macedonian royal succession, he grew into a capable soldier and was asked to serve as regent for the five-year-old Philip V after the death in battle of the boy's father, Demetrius II Aetolicus, in 229 BC. Facing a chaotic situation caused by successive defeats and the misrule of his predecessor, Antigonus ably restored Macedonia's military and financial position as the major power in mainland Greece. He proved so successful that the gentry of Macedon confirmed him as king, although he gave all due honors to Philip V, who eventually succeeded him after his reign was cut short by a burst blood vessel in 221 BC. His beautiful coinage bears a nautical theme, depicting a superb head of Poseidon on the obverse and Apollo astride a ship's prow on the reverse.
