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Ex Leu 54 Click image to view larger Description: Calabria, Tarentum AV Hemilitra - 1/12 Stater. Struck under Alexander I ‘the Molossian’, King of Epeiros, circa 334-331 BC. Radiate head of Helios facing slightly left / Thunderbolt, ΑΛ-ΕΞ around. Vlasto, Alexander, type 6; cf. Fischer-Bossert G3; Vlasto 1864–5; cf. HN Italy 906. 0.66g, 9mm, 9h. Near Extremely Fine. Ex Leu 54, 28 April 1992, lot 3. As the son of Neoptolemus I and brother of Olympias, Alexander I was uncle to Alexander the Great and Pyrrhos of Epeiros. He was brought at an early age to the court of Philip II of Macedon, and at the age of about 20, Philip made him king of Epeiros, after dethroning his uncle Arymbas. When Philip repudiated his wife Olympias, she came to her brother's court and endeavoured to induce him to make war on Philip. Alexander and Philip however instead cemented their alliance with the marriage of Alexander to Philip's daughter Cleopatra. It was at their wedding that Philip was assassinated by his one of his somatophylakes (personal bodyguard), Pausanias of Orestis. In 334 Alexander was induced by the Greek city of Tarentum to aid them in battle against the aggressive native tribes of Southern Italy. Crossing over to Italy, he won a victory over the Samnites and Lucanians near Paestum in 332 BC, and took Heraklea from the Lucanians, and Terina and Sipontum from the Bruttii. At the Battle of Pandosia in 331 however, the Greek phalanx was separated, surrounded and destroyed, with Alexander himself killed on the field. This defeat at Pandosia marked the end of Greek colonisation and expansion in Italy; the Greek cities would increasingly find themselves under pressure from the Oscan tribes.