Astibos or Damastion mint(?), circa 315-286 BCE
2.97g, 14mm, 1h.
Head of Athena facing slightly to left, wearing triple crested helmet
Horse trotting to right; AYΔΩΛEΩN-TOΣ around, monogram below.
Peykov E4400; AMNG III/2, 7 var. (position of monogram); SNG ANS 1057 corr. (monogram not star on rev.); HGC 3.1, 154
Audoleon was the son of either Patraos or of his brother Ariston, who was a general in Alexander’s army and who famously brought him the head of a Persian satrap and asked for a gold cup in return.
When he obtained his kingdom, Illyria suffered an incursion from the Autariatae to the north. Luckily, Kassander chose to intervene and defeated the Autariatae for him.
Although I don’t have a copy of the coin (because I can’t afford it), Audoleon did mint a tetradrachm that proclaimed him as ‘King Audoleon’. Clearly Illyria was an independent kingdom under his rule, which was not really the case when Alexander was around.
Audoleon minted a great deal of coinage, though not as much as Patraos. Still, his coins aren’t that difficult to come by.
In 292 BCE, Audoleon formed a marriage alliance with Pyrrhos of Epirus.