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1/2 Stater - Lysimachos Kolchis imitation
| Issuer | Bastarnae Celto-Scythians |
|---|---|
| Year | 100 BC - 100 AD |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Stater |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Θ |
| Reverse description | Crude and heavily barbarised representation of Athena Nikephoros seated to the left, derived from the reverse type of Lysimachos staters. The goddess holds a small standing male figure (Nike) in her extended right hand and bears a long transverse spear over her left shoulder. Flanking the central figure to left and right are vertical columns of oblong pellets, a characteristic decorative feature of this imitative series. Below the figure, a trident oriented to the left serves as an exergual line, replacing the standard ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ legend of the prototype. |
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| Additional information |
The Bastarnae occupied a contested zone between the Carpathians and the Black Sea steppe, and their coin production reflects that position — borrowing the prestige iconography of Lysimachos, whose original staters had circulated as high-value currency across the Pontic region for two centuries after his death. Kolchis imitations of the Lysimachos type form a distinct sub-family, progressively abstracted from the Macedonian prototype through successive copying, and this half-stater weight falls within a local fractional tradition that had no direct precedent in the original Lysimachean series.
Castelin's classification remains the primary reference for this material, though the attribution to the Bastarnae specifically is interpretive — provenanced find spots cluster along the lower Danube frontier.