Drachm of Alexander the Great

A worn silver coin shows a male profile facing right, his head covered by a lion-skin headdress with its mane falling across the shoulder. The relief is softened by corrosion and dark patches, but the hair curls and the facial profile remain clear. The coin is a drachm, a Greek-style silver denomination.

Look closer: The lion's paws are tied at the neck beneath the headdress, visible as a faint shape at the lower left.

Artist

Unknown

Date

200–500

Medium

Silver

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

1519 × 1475 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917