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Æ
| Issuer | Olbia (Skythia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 310 BC - 280 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A battle-axe and a strung bow in its bowcase are depicted upright and centrally placed within the field, their shafts rendered in clean, linear relief. A monogram — appearing as the letter eta (Η) with a cross-stroke — is positioned to the left in the field, serving as a magistrate's or mint-control mark. The Greek ethnic legend OΛBIO is inscribed vertically to the right, identifying the issuing city of Olbia. The composition is bold and schematic, typical of the municipal bronze coinage of the northern Black Sea region during this period. |
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| Reverse lettering | OΛBIO |
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| Additional information |
Olbia's bronze coinage of this period reflects the city's unusual position as a Greek polis operating deep within Skythian territory at the mouth of the Hypanis river. The city maintained enough autonomy to strike its own issues but was perpetually negotiating its survival between the Skythian nomadic confederacies to the north and the shifting power of the Pontic Greek world. These bronzes circulated locally as everyday transactional currency in a market economy that mixed Greek commercial practice with steppe-region trade networks.
Anokhin's sequencing places this type within a tight chronological bracket tied to civic magistrate changes rather than external political events.