Real coins·16 May 2026·4 min read
The coins of Alexander the Great — money of a conquered empire
Alexander spread a single coinage from Greece to India, uniting economies that had never met.
Alexander the Great (4th century BC) struck huge quantities of silver and gold coins, with Heracles and Zeus, paying his army along the road of conquest. The gold of Persian loot flooded the Greek world.
One coinage for three continents
For the first time, the same coin circulated from Macedonia to Egypt and India. It was an early lesson that a common currency binds peoples — but also that suddenly too much gold cheapens it (inflation).
