The Porus medallion
A silver coin that fits in your palm shows a horseman charging an elephant that carries two men. It is probably Alexander against Porus at the Hydaspes, struck within a few years of the battle, and it may be one of the very few pictures of him made while he was alive. Nothing on it names him.
Based on the original, the British Museum, London.
What it is
A large silver coin, a decadrachm, probably struck at Babylon around 324–321 BC. One side shows the horseman and the elephant. The other shows a standing figure holding a thunderbolt, crowned by a winged Victory. Only a small number of coins from the whole series are known.
Why "probably"
Almost everything about it is argued. The mint, the date and the occasion are all inferred, and nobody can say whether the horseman is a portrait of Alexander or simply a type. The mainstream reading, set out by Frank Holt, is that the series celebrates the Indian campaign and was struck close to it. It is a strong reading, and it is still a reading.
The smallest thing on the shelf
The oldest object in the cabinet is a stone pillar taller than a person. The most famous man in it gets a coin about three and a half centimetres across.
- Holt, Alexander the Great and the Mystery of the Elephant Medallions (2003)
- Arrian, Anabasis 5.8–19, the battle at the Hydaspes
- Picture: made with AI for The Ember Atlas, an imagining, not a record of how it looked.