By making the type of the horseman on foot of the Bisalti his own, Alexander I thus gave new function to the image, in a perspective of persuasive propaganda. He presented the Macedonian monarchy as inspired by the principles of collaboration and the integration of functions, typical of the salvific action of the Kabeiroi/Dioscuri. These were the signs of intelligent government, aimed by Alexander at a proud and warlike people who perhaps more than conquered had been "co-opted" within the Macedonian realm. In an evident analogy with the oriental satraps, in the country of the Bisalti, Mosses was only the Hyparchos, his master's lieutenant, limiting the presence of his name to small denomination coins, in respect for a hierarchy which had to be made clear also in the physical size of the denominations minted. The message that Alexander I entrusted to his coins, with schemes and contents widely taken from the north-Balkan cultural tradition, thus assumed forms typical of Hellenic culture, which in the international scene made it possible to recognise the warrior/hunter rider as a representation of the holder of supreme power, the rider on foot as the person who supported him but who still had to be subjected to the exam of "dokimasia", and the young horseman as the heir in whom all the hopes for the future of the Macedonian monarchy were placed.

The "Knights" on the coins of Alexander I: from "Adventus" to dynastic succession

CALTABIANO, Maria
2007-01-01

Abstract

By making the type of the horseman on foot of the Bisalti his own, Alexander I thus gave new function to the image, in a perspective of persuasive propaganda. He presented the Macedonian monarchy as inspired by the principles of collaboration and the integration of functions, typical of the salvific action of the Kabeiroi/Dioscuri. These were the signs of intelligent government, aimed by Alexander at a proud and warlike people who perhaps more than conquered had been "co-opted" within the Macedonian realm. In an evident analogy with the oriental satraps, in the country of the Bisalti, Mosses was only the Hyparchos, his master's lieutenant, limiting the presence of his name to small denomination coins, in respect for a hierarchy which had to be made clear also in the physical size of the denominations minted. The message that Alexander I entrusted to his coins, with schemes and contents widely taken from the north-Balkan cultural tradition, thus assumed forms typical of Hellenic culture, which in the international scene made it possible to recognise the warrior/hunter rider as a representation of the holder of supreme power, the rider on foot as the person who supported him but who still had to be subjected to the exam of "dokimasia", and the young horseman as the heir in whom all the hopes for the future of the Macedonian monarchy were placed.
2007
9789607387424
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11570/1906300
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