Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1/4 Stater - Diognetos
| Issuer | Rhodes |
|---|---|
| Year | 125 BC - 88 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Attic drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Radiate head of Helios facing three-quarters to the right, rendered in high relief with characteristic radiating crown composed of multiple pointed rays spreading prominently across the upper field. The deity's facial features are finely modelled with a youthful, idealized expression, reflecting the Hellenistic artistic tradition of Rhodes, whose patron god was Helios. A small globular control mark appears in the lower left field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | ND (125 BC - 88 BC) |
| Additional information |
Rhodes minted gold fractions sparingly during this period, reserving silver for the heavy commercial traffic that made the island one of the Mediterranean's dominant trading entrepôts. The gold coinage belonged to a different economic register entirely — likely used for official payments, mercenary wages, or large-scale transactions where silver's bulk became impractical. The magistrate name Diognetos places this piece within a sequenced series documented by Jenkins, whose die study remains the definitive framework for attributing these fractional issues.
The terminal date of 88 BC is not arbitrary — Mithridates VI sacked and plundered Rhodes's commercial rivals that year, and the island's independent coinage effectively collapsed shortly after under Roman economic pressure.