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| Issuer | Lyttos (Crete (ancient)) |
|---|---|
| Year | 300 BC - 201 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | SvoronosCr#87, BMC Greek#21, SNG Copenhagen#506, SNG KIKPE#670, Rhousopoulos#3029, GCV#3246, Consul Weber#2163, Lindgren II#1761, Weber#4532 |
| Obverse description | Head of Athena facing right, wearing a crested Attic helmet adorned with a backward-curving crest. The effigy is rendered in archaic Greek style with bold, somewhat crude relief characteristic of provincial Cretan bronze coinage. The helmet cheek-guards are visible, framing the goddess's facial features. The flan is irregular and slightly clipped at the edges, consistent with hammered bronze issues of this period. |
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| Reverse description | A quiver filled with arrows, depicted upright in the central field, with arrow-flights projecting from the top. Flanking or adjacent to the quiver is a bow, rendered horizontally or at a slight angle. The civic legend ΛYT appears in the field, serving as the ethnic abbreviation for Lyttos. The overall composition is compact and boldly struck, occupying most of the small irregular flan. The design is typical of Cretan civic bronzes referencing the hunting and martial attributes of Artemis or Apollo. |
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| Additional information |
Lyttos was one of the dominant poleis of eastern Crete throughout the Hellenistic period, until its complete destruction by Knossos in 220 BC — an act so total that ancient sources describe the population returning to find the city razed and its territory absorbed. Coins issued before that destruction are the entire output of an independent mint; afterward, there was no mint to strike them.
The city was never rebuilt as a political entity of consequence.