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Dichalkon
| Issuer | Mantinea |
|---|---|
| Year | 340 BC - 320 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Dichalkon (1⁄24) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Bust of Athena in profile facing right, wearing a Corinthian helmet pushed back on the head, rendered in low relief characteristic of Arkadian bronze coinage of the late Classical period. The facial features are summarily but competently executed, with the cheek guard of the helmet visible against the plain field. The flan is irregular and slightly convex, with the design somewhat off-center. No legend or inscription appears in the field. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Trident head displayed upright and centrally positioned within a shallow circular incuse, its three tines rising prominently and the two lateral flukes curling inward at their bases in a stylized decorative manner. The symbol is boldly rendered and well-centered within the incuse depression, a device commonly associated with Poseidon and with maritime or federal Arkadian civic iconography. The surrounding field is plain and unlettered. The flan edges are irregular, consistent with hand-struck bronze coinage of the period. |
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| Additional information |
Mantinea's coinage history is fractured by politics. The city was razed by Sparta in 385 BC and its population forcibly dispersed into four unwalled villages — a punishment for perceived disloyalty following the Corinthian War. Refounded in 371 BC after Sparta's defeat at Leuctra, the city resumed independent civic life and, with it, civic coinage. This piece falls within the generation immediately following that restoration, issued by a polis still reasserting its identity after nearly fifteen years of enforced dissolution.