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!
Dichalkon
| Issuer | Olympia |
|---|---|
| Year | 225 BC - 191 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Zeus Aëtophoros depicted as a nude, muscular figure striding dynamically to the right, his right arm drawn back and raised in the act of hurling a thunderbolt. A eagle (aetos) is held in his extended left hand, serving as the attribute from which his epithet derives. The vigorous, action-filled composition is characteristic of Elean coinage of this period, with the figure occupying the majority of the field. Traces of a Greek legend appear in the field, partially visible due to the irregular flan. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Olympia's civic coinage is inseparable from the sanctuary economy of the Altis. The site attracted tens of thousands of visitors during the quadrennial Games, and small bronze issues like this one almost certainly served the transactional needs of that pilgrimage traffic — votive purchases, food vendors, the various fees attached to participation and spectacle — rather than any broader regional monetary system.
The BCD Peloponnesos reference places this among a well-documented sequence, the BCD collection having been the definitive private holding for Peloponnesian bronzes before its Lanz auction dispersal in 2002.