Didrachm

Velia — the Greek colony known as Hyele or Elea — was founded around 540 BC by Phocaean refugees fleeing the Persian conquest of their home city on the Ionian coast. These settlers brought their coinage traditions with them, and the Velian didrachm series reflects direct continuity with Phocaean monetary practice. The city is better known to philosophers than to numismatists: it was home to Parmenides and Zeno, founders of the Eleatic school.

The Phocaean standard at roughly 8g places this issue outside the more dominant Attic weight system, a deliberate choice that aligned Velia commercially with western Greek trading partners rather than Athens.