KINGS OF MACEDON. Antigonos II Gonatas (277/6-239 BC). Tetradrachm. Amphipolis

KINGS OF MACEDON. Antigonos II Gonatas (277/6-239 BC). Tetradrachm. Amphipolis.

Obv: Macedonian shield with head of Pan left on boss.
Rev: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΑΝΤΙΓΟΝΟΥ.
Athena advancing left, brandishing thunderbolt and holding shield decorated with aegis Controls: Macedonian helmet to inner left, monogram to inner right.

Meydancikkale 2588; HGC 3.1, 1042.

Antigonos II Gonatas, born around 320–319 BC, was the son of Demetrius Poliorketes and Phila, granddaughter of Antipater. He grew up amid the struggles of the Diadochi and first distinguished himself during his father’s campaign against Thebes. When Demetrios was captured by Seleukos, Antigonos offered himself as a hostage, though in vain. After his father’s death (283 BC), he asserted his claim to Macedonia and the Greek territories, establishing control over northern and central Greece, including Euboea, Demetrias, the Piraeus, and parts of the Peloponnese. The collapse of Lysimachos’s kingdom and the rise of Ptolemy Ceraunus forced Antigonos to retreat, and republican forces in Greece briefly gained ground. The Gallic invasion then devastated Macedonia, but Antigonos helped repel the invaders at Delphi and won a decisive victory at Lysimacheia, allowing him to take Macedonia without opposition (277 BC). He later sealed an alliance with Antiochos I through marriage. His position was challenged by Pyrrhus, whose return from Italy temporarily undermined Macedonian influence, but Pyrrhus’s death at Argos (273 BC) allowed Antigonos to restore stability. Soon after, he faced the ambitions of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who supported Sparta and Athens, leading to the Chremonidean War (270–263 BC). Antigonos ultimately prevailed, defeating King Areus of Sparta and forcing Athens to surrender, thereby re‑establishing Macedonian dominance. In the Aegean, Antigonos intervened in the wider conflict between the Seleucids and the Ptolemies, winning a major naval victory at Cos (254 BC), which strengthened Macedonian control over the Cyclades. Yet his authority was increasingly threatened by the rise of the Aetolian League and especially the Achaean League under Aratus of Sicyon, who seized Corinth and its ports in 242 BC, breaking Macedonian power in the Peloponnese.

Condition: Very fine.

Weight: 17.11 g.
Diameter: 31 mm.

Estimate: € 500