Macedon under Roman Rule AR Tetradrachm. Circa 95-70 BC. Aesillas, quaestor. Head of the deified Alexander III ‘the Great’ to right; Θ behind neck, MAK[EΔONΩN] around / AESILLAS Q, money chest, club, and chair; all within wreath. AMNG 223; SNG Copenhagen 1330; HGC 3.1, 1110. 16.88g, 32mm, 12h.

Extremely Fine; rev. struck slightly off-centre, wonderful old cabinet tone.

Ex Jesus Vico S.A., Auction 37, 26 March 1998, lot 87.

The tetradrachms struck bearing the name of the quaestor Aesillas are suggested to have been issued as a monetary bribe paid to the Thracian tribes to buy their neutrality in the First Mithradatic War, thus securing by some measure the Roman supply line along the Via Egnatia (see Ursula Kampmann, Money Museum Zurich, “Becoming Masters of Asia Minor: When the Roman Quaestor Aesillas minted un-Roman Tetradrachms to buy Thracian Loyalty”).