Aspendos, one of the wealthiest cities in Pamphylia, had already established a strong independent coinage tradition centuries before this bronze was struck — its famous stater series depicting wrestlers is among the most recognizable of all Greek civic coinages. By the second century BC, however, the city operated under the shadow of first Seleucid and then Pergamene authority, and small bronzes like this one served purely local exchange needs during a period when Aspendos no longer commanded the commercial clout that once made its silver internationally circulated.
Aspendos, one of the wealthiest cities in Pamphylia, had already established a strong independent coinage tradition centuries before this bronze was struck — its famous stater series depicting wrestlers is among the most recognizable of all Greek civic coinages. By the second century BC, however, the city operated under the shadow of first Seleucid and then Pergamene authority, and small bronzes like this one served purely local exchange needs during a period when Aspendos no longer commanded the commercial clout that once made its silver internationally circulated.