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Didrachm - Dionos
| Issuer | Chersonesos (Taurica) |
|---|---|
| Year | 250 BC - 230 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Enthroned male deity — identified by the reverse legend as Dion — seated in three-quarter view to the left upon a throne or rocky seat, draped from the waist down, with the right arm raised and extended. In the left field the Greek letters ΔΙΩΝΟΣ are arranged vertically, while ΧΕΡ appears in the right field, abbreviating ΧΕΡΣΟΝΗΣΟΥ and identifying the issuing city of Chersonesos. In the lower field a monogram is visible. The composition closely follows the seated Zeus type popularised by Alexandrine coinage, here adapted for the local civic context of Tauric Chersonesos. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Chersonesos, the Dorian colony on the southwestern tip of Crimea, maintained a remarkably independent civic identity throughout the Hellenistic period despite persistent pressure from the Scythian tribes of the interior. This didrachm belongs to a magistrate series in which individual officials — here Dionos — placed their names on the coinage as a mark of personal accountability for the issue's standard, a practice that allows modern scholars to construct a rough chronology of the mint's administration during the mid-third century.
The Anokhin sequence places this type within a period when Chersonesos was likely negotiating the protection arrangements with Pontus that would eventually lead to formal alliance under Pharnakes I decades later.