Description

KINGS of PERGAMON. Eumenes I, 263–241 BC. AR Tetradrachm (30mm, 17.01 g, 1h). In the name of Philetairos. Pergamon mint. Struck circa 255/50–241 BC.

Obverse: Wreathed head of Philetairos right.
Reverse: Athena enthroned left, elbow resting on shield to right, crowning dynastic name with wreath; transverse spear in background, grape bunch to outer left, A to inner left, bow to right.

Westermark Group IV:B, obv. die V.LXXVI; CN Online Type 8455; HGC 8, 789.

VF.

History & Context: The founder’s face

Philetairos was a eunuch who served as treasurer for Lysimachos, guarding a fortune of 9,000 talents at the hilltop citadel of Pergamon. When he switched sides in 282 BC he kept the treasure, and he used it to build a small state that became one of the great Hellenistic kingdoms. His nephew and heir, Eumenes I, honored him by putting his portrait on the coinage, and every later king of the Attalid dynasty kept striking the founder’s face. The fleshy, realistic portrait is one of the finest of the period, and on the reverse Athena crowns the name ΦΙΛΕΤΑΙΡΟΥ (Philetairos) with a wreath.