The title 'Basileus' (king) was added to the reverse inscription on these coins either in the last years of Alexander’s 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 Alexander’s conquest of the Persian Empire it was clearly deemed appropriate.
It became the norm on the coins of Alexander’s immediate successors as well as those of the Diadochi who all adopted the title in 305 BCE. Traditionally the ruler’s name was inscribed down the right side and additional titles along the bottom plane (Fig. 6 & 7), but Fig. 8 features ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ to the right and Alexander’s 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 ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ, though we cannot know why.
