v32_0048 - CARIA - CARIAN ISLANDS - RHODES Tétradrachme

CARIA - CARIAN ISLANDS - RHODES

(3rd - 2nd century BC)

Coinage in the name of Alexander III the Great type

Helios or Apollo was the main deity of Caria and Rhodes. The city, the federal capital, was founded in 408 BC, the date of the beginning of coinage. Rhodes was besieged by Demetrius Poliorcetes in 305 BC It was a failure. The Rhodians thanked the protective god by erecting a statue to him at the entrance to the port. Chares of Lindos built the Colossus of Rhodes between 292 and 284 BC It was one of the seven wonders of the world. 33 meters high, it was destroyed by an earthquake in 226 BC. An oracle forbade the Rhodians to rebuild it. On the reverse, the rose, in Greek rodion, is a linguistic symbol of the city and makes it possible to attribute this tetradrachm. It is possible that this coinage was made to pay a tribute to Antiochus III who did not use the Rhodian standard, which could explain the relatively short manufacturing time, Rhodes allied with Rome definitively emancipating itself from Seleucid tutelage, after 188 BC.