Alexander III - Stater

Notes: Alexander the Great Gold Stater 336-323 BC NGC VG+: This "extraordinary coin" is a gold coin struck by one the most successful generals in history. These rare coins were struck with gold, Alexander the Great plundered from the Persian Empire to fuel his massive war machine as it conquered most of the civilized world in one of the greatest military rampages in history! His campaigns were praised and remembered by historians from ancient times all the up to present and even by several Hollywood movies.

Gold coins for Alexander the Great are exceedingly rare. The obverse is a image of Athena and the reverse has an image of Nike goddess of Victory, with Alexander's name clearly written down the right side of the coin. This coin represented about one month’s salary for a soldier serving under Alexander.

Obverse: Athena, often given the epithet Pallas, is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, mathematics, strength, war strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Minerva is the Roman goddess identified with Athena. Athena is known for her calm temperament, as she moves slowly to anger. She is noted to have only fought for just reasons, and would not fight without a purpose.

Athena is portrayed as an astute companion of heroes and is the patron goddess of heroic endeavour. She is the virgin patroness of Athens. The Athenians founded the Parthenon on the Acropolis of her namesake city, Athens (Athena Parthenos), in her honour.

Veneration of Athena was so persistent that archaic myths about her were recast to adapt to cultural changes. In her role as a protector of the city (polis), many people throughout the Greek world worshiped Athena as Athena Polias ("Athena of the city"). While the city of Athens and the goddess Athena essentially bear the same name (Athena the goddess, Athenai the city), it is not known which of the two words is derived from the other.

From Wikipedia

Period: The Hellenistic time period is contemporaneous with the Roman Republic. It starts with the end of the Archaic period in approximately 500 BC and continues until the occupation of Greece by Rome around 150BC.

Culture: Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to c. 5th centuries BC to the end of antiquity (c. 600 AD). Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in ancient Greece is the period of Classical Greece, which flourished during the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Classical Greece began with the era of the Persian Wars. Because of conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the western end of the Mediterranean Sea.

Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire, which carried a version of it to many parts of the Mediterranean Basin and Europe. For this reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture and is considered the cradle of Western civilization.

From Wikipedia