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Æ12
| Issuer | Sestos |
|---|---|
| Year | 300 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Facing herm set upon a rectangular pillar base, depicted in frontal view within a beaded border. A grain ear rises to the left of the herm, while a kerykeion (caduceus) appears to the right, both serving as civic and religious symbols of Sestos. The herm's head is rendered with rudimentary but expressive detail characteristic of late Classical Thracian Chersonese bronze coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A large amphora occupies the central field, its body and handles rendered in simple but clear relief. To the left of the amphora appears the initial letter of the city's name (Σ for Sestos), and to the right a magistrate's monogram, serving as a civic control mark. The composition is unframed and occupies most of the available flan. |
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| Additional information |
Sestos controlled one of the narrowest and most strategically critical crossing points on the Hellespont, a position that made it enormously wealthy through toll collection on Aegean grain traffic heading to Athens and other grain-dependent cities. The city's bronze coinage of this period functioned largely as local small change — the serious money moving through Sestos was always someone else's silver.