KINGS OF MACEDON. Alexander III ‘the Great’, 336-323 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 28 mm, 16.71 g, 11 h), Megalopolis, circa 225-223. Head of Herakles to right, wearing lion skin headdress. Rev. [AΛ]EΞANΔPO[Y] Zeus seated left on low throne, holding long scepter in his left hand and eagle standing right with closed wings in his right; in field to left, syrinx above ME; below throne, NI. Price 747 var. (monogram instead of ME). Very rare. Very fine.

Megalopolis was founded circa 371-368 BC by the Theban general, Epaminondas, as a political and military counterweight to Sparta. Effectively blocking any Spartan advance into the central Peloponnese, the city became a prime target for Lacedaemonian expansion, but it successfuly repelled several sieges in the second half of the 4th century. In 223/2 BC, it fell to the famous reformist Spartan king, Kleomenes III, who burned it to the ground. The Spartans were decisively defeated in 222 BC in the Battle of Sellasia by Antigonos III Doson of Macedon and the Achaean League. Megalopolis was rebuilt and became the home town of the celebrated historian, Polybios.

Noe dated the Alexander tetradrachms from Megalopolis to the Cleomenean War of 229/8-222 BC, believing they were issued for a full seven years. However, as Price pointed out, their rarity and uniformity suggest that the coins were struck in a much shorter period of time, most likely in the months before the destruction of the city by Kleomenes III.