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Didrachm - Ktesiph
| Issuer | Naxos (Cyclades) |
|---|---|
| Year | 200 BC - 180 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Silver |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A wreathed krater (wine-mixing vessel) set on a tall, narrow foot with a stepped base, flanked by low, lateral handles; a wreath decorates the body of the vessel just below the rim. To the right stands a thyrsos — the staff of Dionysos — depicted as a long shaft with a pine-cone tip and leaves, rendered vertically. The ethnic ΝΑΞΙ appears to the upper right and the magistrate's name KTHΣIΦ is inscribed vertically to the left of the krater, both in Greek letters. The composition is centered and well-balanced within the irregular flan. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Naxos in the Cyclades experienced a dramatic decline in political and economic weight after the classical period, making any silver issue from the second century BC unusual — the island's civic coinage had largely dried up by the Hellenistic period as larger Aegean powers dominated regional trade. A didrachm from this phase suggests a specific, localized motivation for the striking, possibly tied to festival obligations or mercantile agreements that required a recognized silver medium.
The Cratérophores reference places this among a specialized body of types identified by the crater-bearer iconographic tradition in Naxian coinage scholarship.