Medallion with Alexander the Great

Together with Walters 59.2 and 59.3, this piece was discovered in Egypt as part of a hoard that comprised about twenty similar medallions (now dispersed among various museums), eighteen gold ingots, and six hundred gold coins issued by Roman emperors from Severus Alexander (r. AD 222-235) to Constantius I (r. AD 293-306). One of the medallions, now in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, bears an inscription that possibly reads "Olympic games of the year 274", a date corresponding to AD 242-243. It is possible that the medallions were intended as prizes to be given out at that event. Alternatively, they may have been issued by Emperor Caracalla (r. AD 198-217), who is potrayed on some of them. Caracalla liked to be compared to the great king and conquerror Alexander of Macedon (ruled 336-323 BC). Like Alexander, this Roman emperor waged war in the East, and actually died in the course of his campaign against the Parthians. This particular medallion shows Alexander the Great gazing heavenward and bearing a shield decorated with signs of the zodiac. This portrait shows him with his hair pulled back. He wears a decorated cuirass with a figure of Athena on the shoulder strap and, on the chest, a scene from the Gigantomachy (War of the Giants). The back depicts Alexander and Nike, goddess of victory, riding in a chariot, flanked by the deities Roma and Mars.