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| Issuer | Olbia (Skythia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 190 BC - 170 BC |
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| Currency | Drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Helmeted head of Athena facing right, wearing a Corinthian helmet with a raised crest and cheek-guards, the neck draped. The portrait is rendered in a bold, if somewhat provincial, style typical of Olbian bronze coinage of the second century BC. The flan is irregular with a slightly uneven surface consistent with hand-struck production. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Athena's owl standing three-quarters facing on a ground line, head facing forward with large eyes and raised wing-tips visible; flanked on the left by the Greek letters ΟΛΒ and on the right by ΒΣΕ, the city ethnic of Olbia abbreviated. The design closely follows the classical Athenian owl type adapted for Olbian civic coinage, with the legend divided across the field in two parts. |
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| Additional information |
Olbia, the Greek colonial city at the mouth of the Bug River on the Black Sea's northern shore, had one of the longest and most idiosyncratic monetary histories in the ancient Greek world — beginning with its famous cast bronze "dolphin" and "arrowhead" currencies centuries before this struck piece. By the second century BC the city was navigating increasingly difficult relations with Skythian neighbors and, later, pressure from the expanding Pontic kingdom under Mithridates VI. Small fractional bronzes of this period circulated within a local economy that relied heavily on grain export to the Aegean world.