Alexander the Great Coin

This coin reveals scenes of Alexander the Great's life. The top image depicts Alexander being crowned by Nike, the goddess of victory. The bottom image depicts Alexander on his horse Busephalus at the Jhelum River attacking Porus on his war elephant. Porus was trying to stop Alexander from crossing the river until the monsoon, which would delay him until after the summer months. In 336 BC when Darius II was king of Persia he battled against Alexander the Great and was defeated twice. The two famous battles were the Battle of Issus in 333 BC and the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. This marked the end of the Archaemenid Empire and the rise of Greece as a world power. Alexander conquered the world and died in Babylon in 323 BC. This coin depicting Alexander the Great is an important discovery in Biblical Archaeology and the period of Greek history.

Material: Marble Bust
Hellenistic Period
Date: 4th Century BC
Pella, Macedonia
Location: Greek Ministry of Culture

"And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes." DANIEL 8:5

"And the he goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king." DANIEL 8:21

Greek Ministry of Culture Excerpt

Marble portrayal head of Alexander the Great. It is a chance find from the area of Pella, dated to the Hellenistic period.

�For I myself believe that there was at that time no race of mankind, no city, no single individual, to which the name of Alexander had not reached.� - Arrian

There are five principle historical sources from which we gain virtually all our knowledge concerning Alexander�s life and reign.

THE ANCIENT SOURCES

All literary evidence concerning Alexander�s life rests fundamentally upon five biographical and historical accounts, in addition to one ancient romance. They are:

A. Diodorus Siculus, a Greek of the mid-first century B.C. who composed forty books of history of which fifteen survive. Book 17 deals entirely with Alexander.

B. Quintus Curtius Rufus, a Latin author of the mid-first century A.D., whose ten book history of Alexander comprises his only extant work.

C. Plutarch, a classical Greek historian, whose Life of Alexander was composed in the second century A.D.

D. Justin, a second century A.D. short account of Alexander, an epitome of an earlier history by one Pompeius Trogus.

E. Lucius Flavius Arrianus (Arrian) whose Anabasis of Alexander was written mid-second century A.D. comprising the most complete and accurate account.

In addition there is one ancient romance:

The Alexander Romance. This work exists only in its fourth century A.D. form, and reflects a classical romantic tradition concerning Alexander. Little of the romance is serious history.

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