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Didrachm
| Issuer | Kalchedon (Bithynia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 240 BC - 220 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A male deity, identified as Apollo, seated to the right upon a rock or omphalos, depicted nude with a chlamys draped across the lap and legs. The figure extends his right arm forward, holding a long bow or arrow horizontally, while the left arm rests upon the seat. A small control mark or symbol appears in the right field. Below the seated figure, a ground line separates the design from the ethnic legend ΚΑΛΧΑ, inscribed in Greek characters along the lower exergue, identifying the issuing city of Kalchedon. |
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| Reverse lettering | ΚΑΛΧΑ |
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| Additional information |
Kalchedon occupied one of the most strategically valuable positions in the ancient world — the eastern shore of the Bosphorus, directly opposite Byzantium — and its coinage reflects the commercial muscle that geography provided. The city controlled transit tolls on Black Sea grain traffic, a revenue stream that funded both its defenses and its mint through the turbulent third century BC, when Galatian incursions repeatedly destabilized the region.
The dating of this issue falls within a period when Kalchedon was navigating shifting allegiances between the Seleucid sphere and Bithynian expansion under Nikomedes I.