GREEK CITY STATE LYSIMACHEIA - THRACE (309-220 BC)

METAL: Bronze

WEIGHT: 0.8 GMS

SIZE: 11 MM

OBVERSE : Head of lion right
REVERSE : Grain ear
REVERSE INSCRIPTION : ΛY-ΣI

HISTORY:
Lysimachia (Greek: Λυσιμάχεια) was an important Hellenistic Greek town on the north-western extremity of the Thracian Chersonese (the modern Gallipoli peninsula) in the neck where the peninsula joins the mainland in what is now the European part of Turkey, not far from the bay of Melas (the modern Gulf of Saros).

The city was built by Lysimachus in 309 BC, when he was preparing for war with his rivals; for the new city, being situated on the isthmus, commanded the road from Sestos to the north and the mainland of Thrace. In order to obtain inhabitants for his new city, Lysimachus destroyed the neighbouring town of Cardia, the birthplace of the historian Hieronymus,and settled the inhabitants of it and other Chersonesean cities here.Lysimachus no doubt made Lysimachia the capital of his kingdom, and it must have rapidly risen to great splendour and prosperity. After his death the city fell under Seleucid dominion.