Editing Coin (section)

==== Hellenistic period (320 BC – AD 30) ====
{{Further|Ptolemaic coinage|Seleucid coinage|Indo-Greek coinage}}
[[File:Alexander the great temnos tetradrachm.jpg|alt=Poshumous Alexander the Great tetradrachm from|thumb|Posthumous Alexander the Great tetradrachm from Temnos, Aeolis. Dated 188–170 BC. Obverse: Alexander the Great as Herakles facing right wearing the nemean lionskin. Reverse: Zeus seated on throne to the left holding eagle in right hand and scepter in left; in left field PA monogram and angular sigma above grape vine arching over oinochoe; ALEXANDROU vertical in right field. Reference: Price 1678.]]
The [[Hellenistic period]] was characterized by the spread of Greek culture across a large part of the known world. Greek-speaking kingdoms were established in [[Egypt]] and [[Syria]], and for a time also in [[Iran]] and as far east as what is now [[Afghanistan]] and northwestern [[India]]. Greek traders spread Greek coins across this vast area, and the new kingdoms soon began to produce their own coins. Because these kingdoms were much larger and wealthier than the Greek city states of the classical period, their coins tended to be more mass-produced, as well as larger, and more frequently in gold. They often lacked the aesthetic delicacy of coins of the earlier period.

Still, some of the [[Greco-Bactrian]] coins, and those of their successors in India, the [[Indo-Greeks]], are considered the finest examples of Greek numismatic art with "a nice blend of realism and idealization", including the largest coins to be minted in the Hellenistic world: the largest gold coin was minted by [[Eucratides]] (reigned 171–145 BC), the largest silver coin by the Indo-Greek king [[Amyntas Nikator]] (reigned c. 95–90 BC). The portraits "show a degree of individuality never matched by the often bland depictions of their royal contemporaries further West" (Roger Ling, "Greece and the Hellenistic World").
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File:Seleucus Nicator Ai Khanoum mint.jpg|alt=Seleucus Nicator (312–281 BCE), Ai Khanoum.|[[Seleucus Nicator]] (312–281 BC), [[Ai Khanoum]]<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=338684| title = CNG Coin 338684}}</ref>
File:Antiochos I Soter Ai Khanoum mint.jpg|[[Antiochus I]] (281–261 BC), [[Ai Khanoum]]
File:Coin of Antialkidas.jpg|Bilingual coin of [[Indo-Greek]] king [[Antialcidas]] (105–95 BC)
File:Coin of the Bactrian King Agathokles.jpg|Bilingual coin of [[Agathocles of Bactria]] with [[Hindu]] deities, c. 180 BC
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