The title 'Basileus' (king) was added to the reverse inscription on these coins either in the last years of Alexanders life or posthumously (Fig. 6, 7, & 8). The king of Macedon was the ruler of his kingdom, but did not enjoy as elevated a position as one usually associates with a monarch. Mainland Greece had for the most part abandoned monarchy, which was especially disdained in city-states like Athens which took pride in its democracy. As such Basileus had connotations of barbarism and was primarily used to refer to the Great King of Persia.The term 'Basileus' had not, at any rate, appeared on Macedonian coinage before Alexander, but after Alexanders conquest of the Persian Empire it was clearly deemed appropriate.
It became the norm on the coins of Alexanders immediate successors as well as those of the Diadochi who all adopted the title in 305 BCE. Traditionally the rulers name was inscribed down the right side and additional titles along the bottom plane (Fig. 6 & 7), but Fig. 8 features 峉峏峉 to the right and Alexanders name crudely fitted around the upper left, along with a poorly rendered Zeus. Scholars have interpreted this as a rush to produce coinage bearing the term 峉峏峉, though we cannot know why.
