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Phaselis occupied an awkward geopolitical position throughout the Hellenistic period — nominally Lycian in cultural alignment but functionally oriented toward Rhodes, whose naval dominance over the eastern Mediterranean made alliance essentially mandatory. This bronze was struck during the period when Rhodian influence over the region was at its peak, before Rome's punitive settlement after Pydna in 168 BC stripped Rhodes of its mainland Lycian territories and handed the confederation a degree of autonomy it had not held in generations. The administrative disruption that followed 167 BC makes the precise terminal date of this issue genuinely uncertain.