Tetradrachm of Alexander the Great, Amphipolis c. 336

Curator: What strikes me first is the almost unsettlingly modern gaze of Alexander on this coin. The Tetradrachm, they call it. Editor: It has such presence. An entire life, ambition, and empire rendered in this cool silver. It's a tiny monument. Curator: Well, yes. Minted in Amphipolis, it’s attributed to Alexander III, "the Great,". That profile, supposedly a young Heracles, with all the weight of myth pressing into its delicate features. Editor: Note the Zeus figure seated on the reverse, holding an eagle – symbols of power and dominion, eternalized in miniature. The coin bridges the tangible and the symbolic, speaking volumes about the ruler’s aspirations. Curator: Indeed. It really makes you wonder, doesn't it, about how we try to immortalize ourselves. Editor: A question stamped into currency.