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Dichalkon
| Issuer | Hermione |
|---|---|
| Year | 360 BC - 310 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Head of Athena facing right, wearing a crested Attic helmet adorned with decorative relief work. The goddess is depicted in profile with fine archaic-style rendering, the helmet crest sweeping dramatically above the head. The facial features are boldly modeled in the local Argolic style, with a prominent eye and strong jaw. The field is plain, with no surrounding legend or border inscription. |
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| Reverse description | A crab depicted facing upward occupies the upper portion of the design, flanked by two serpents coiling sinuously on either side in a heraldic arrangement. At center, the civic monogram ΕΡ, abbreviating the ethnic ΕΡΜΙΟΝΕΩΝ (of the Hermionians), is rendered in bold incuse-style Greek letters. The entire composition is enclosed within an olive wreath border, a hallmark of Hermionean civic coinage. The design reflects the local iconographic tradition associating the city with marine and chthonic symbolism. |
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| Additional information |
Hermione, the small Argolid polis on the southeastern tip of the Peloponnese, maintained its own bronze coinage despite being economically marginal and periodically under the shadow of Argive dominance. The city's autonomy during this half-century was precarious — squeezed between Macedonian expansion to the north and shifting Peloponnesian alliances that repeatedly redrew local power arrangements after the collapse of Spartan hegemony at Leuktra in 371 BC.
The BCD collection reference places this among a tightly catalogued group assembled by the late collector known as BCD, whose Peloponnesian holdings remain the benchmark for attribution of minor regional bronzes.