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Didrachm - Kleomed...
| Issuer | Knidos |
|---|---|
| Year | 395 BC - 380 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 19 mm |
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| Obverse description | Facing three-quarter left, the veiled head of Aphrodite is rendered in fine archaic-Classical style, her hair elaborately dressed and bound in a sphendone net. Pendant earrings and a beaded necklace are visible at the neck, accentuating the goddess's adornment. The magistrate's abbreviated ethnic letters Κ and ΝΙ appear to either side of the neck, serving as identifying legends in the field. The modelling of the facial features is delicate and naturalistic, reflecting the accomplished die-cutting tradition of Knidian coinage. The flan is broad and well-struck, presenting the design with clarity. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Κ ΝΙ |
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| Additional information |
Knidos sat at the southwestern tip of the Carian peninsula — a long, narrow promontory jutting into the Aegean — and its position made it one of the wealthiest trading ports in the region. The magistrate name partially preserved as "Kleomed..." places this issue within a series of Knidian didrachms that carried rotating civic officials' names, a practice that helps scholars sequence the coinage chronologically even when the names themselves are fragmentary. The decades bracketing 390 BC were turbulent for Knidos: the city had been the site of the decisive naval battle in 394 BC in which the Athenian commander Konon, backed by Persian fleet strength, destroyed Spartan naval power in the eastern Aegean.