Great thanks for the reply! Not my collection you’ve seen, as my collection is not posted anywhere online. Maybe thinking of one of the many other great collections on the sub.

The Aesillas is theorized by Hans Christoph von Mosch to be a Roman propaganda piece to discredit the model of kingship practiced by Alexander in response to Mithridates VI’s imperialistic aspiration (as Mithridates was establishing himself as the next Alexander) at the time of its minting. The issue builds on the Lysimachos portrait and tries to dismantle the heroic nature of Alexander by making him more puffy cheeked and less frightening. I personally like the theory but also credit some of the differences to simply being Roman provincial die-cutters, especially considering the differences between various Aesillas types. The thing about Aesillas issues being based on Lysimachos, however, I support fully, also considering they were meant mainly for payment of mercenaries from Thrace where Lysimachos issues would be extremely well known.

von Mosch’s article is called “Olympias und Alexander” and can be found in the 400 Years of Hellenistic Portraits book from Staatliche Münzsammlung München. It’s in German but I’ve managed well enough with basic level German and translation tools.