IONIA. Achaemenid Period. Spithridates, satrap of Lydia and Ionia, circa 334 BC. Chalkous (Bronze, 11 mm, 1.42 g, 11 h). Head of Spithridates to right, wearing satrapal headdress. Rev. ΣΠ-I Forepart of horse to right; above, monogram. SNG von Aulock 1823. Winzer 19.4. Black patina. Light deposits, otherwise, good very fine.

Spithridates was the governor (satrap) of Lydia and Ionia under the Achaemenid Great King Darios III. He is perhaps most famous for the manner of his death at the battle of the Granicus in 334 BC. As he was about to strike a likely fatal blow to Alexander the Great, whose back was turned to him, Alexander's companion, Kleitos the Black, hacked off his arm, thus saving his king. Spithridates bled out on the field from this mortal wound. An interesting aside to this story is that six years later in 328 BC, Alexander and Kleitos got into a very heated and drunken argument at a banquet. Kleitos disparaged Alexander's right to be king, and although everyone at the party tried to prevent violence, Alexander grabbed a javelin and hurled it at Kleitos, striking him through the heart with it.