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Abydos, positioned at the narrowest point of the Hellespont, derived its economic weight almost entirely from controlling passage between the Aegean and the Black Sea. The city collected tolls on grain shipments moving south from the Pontic coast — a revenue stream significant enough that both Athens and Persia competed for its loyalty throughout the fourth century. This bronze issue falls squarely within that contested period, bracketing the years between Spartan hegemony's collapse and Alexander's crossing of the very strait the city overlooked in 334 BC.