Lysimachus was born ca. 360 BCE and was a general of Alexander鈥檚 during the campaign. He received the territory of Thrace after Alexander鈥檚 death in 323 BCE. Thrace was a large territory north of Greece that is now southern Bulgaria and the European section of Turkey. It was a barbarous wildland known for its fierce red-headed warriors who sported tattoos and worshiped their own gods. Philip II subdued the Thracians in order to secure Macedonia鈥檚 borders, and the Thracian cavalry accompanied Alexander on his campaign. Lysimachus proclaimed himself King of Thrace ca. 306 BCE.聽 A few years later he acquired for himself the northern half of Asia Minor after he and Seleucus had defeated Antigonus Monophthalmus at Ipsus in 301 BCE. In 287 Lysimachus and Pyrrhus of Epirus drove Antigonus鈥 son Demetrius Poliorcetes from Macedonia and split that kingdom between them, but in 284 Lysimachus wrested Pyrrhus鈥 half from him and annexed it as well. In 281, however, Seleucus defeated Lysimachus at Cyropedium and laid claim to all of Lysimachus鈥 kingdom.聽
At first Lysimachus issued Alexander鈥檚 coinage with his own name on the obverse, and after a time Lysimachus opted to follow Ptolemy鈥檚 precedent of depicting the divine Alexander on his coins, opting for a markedly different representation of the dead king. Lysimachus鈥 depiction of Alexander appears younger than Ptolemy鈥檚, with a roundness of the face and largeness of the eyes, which are turned upwards as was the custom of the sculptors who depicted Alexander. The portrait is focused on the ram鈥檚 horns of the god Ammon whom Alexander had claimed as his divine father.聽The horns are much larger and not partially covered as they are by an elephant scalp on Ptolemy鈥檚 coins. This lack of headgear also allowed for the other defining feature of Lysimachus鈥 portrait of Alexander: the unusually long, wavy, flowing hair including an anastole or cowlick, complemented by the curling ends of the diadem. Ptolemy鈥檚 portrait of Alexander had regalia that recalled the great conqueror, but Alexander also had physical attributes that became widely emulated. As Plutarch noted:
鈥淎lexander possessed a number of individual features which many of his successors and friends later tried to reproduce, for example the poise of the neck which was tilted slightly to the left, or a certain melting look in his eyes鈥
Most physical attributes are easily reproduced in large three dimensional sculpture, but the surface of a flat metallic coin poses a much greater challenge. Lysimachus鈥 image of Alexander produced its own iconographic standards for coinage, including for the hair which had been covered on Ptolemy鈥檚 coins. It was reproduced by later kings such as Mithradates VI of Pontus who presumably wished to associate himself with the legacy of Alexander. The reverse combines the seated Zeus of聽Alexander鈥檚 silver tetradrachms聽with the Athena and Nike of his聽gold staters.聽This produces a seated Athena with shield, spear, and helmet, with a Nike in her outstretched right hand. The image was later adopted as Britannia, the female personification of Great Britain.
