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Diobol
| Issuer | Phokaia |
|---|---|
| Year | 510 BC - 494 BC |
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| Composition | Silver |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Quadripartite incuse square divided by a raised cross into four symmetrical recessed compartments, each of roughly equal depth and plain surface. The incuse is deeply impressed and sharply defined, characteristic of archaic hammered coinage from the Ionian mints. No legend, symbol, or subsidiary device appears within the compartments. The overall composition is geometric and unadorned, consistent with the incuse technique prevalent in western Anatolian issues of the late 6th century BC. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Phokaia was destroyed by the Persians around 545 BC — but not before its citizens famously voted to abandon the city en masse rather than submit, sailing west in a mass exodus recounted by Herodotus. Those who eventually returned rebuilt the city and resumed coinage, which is precisely what places this diobol within the window of renewed Phokaian civic activity before the Ionian Revolt of 499–494 BC brought Persian reprisals down on the region again. The mint went effectively silent after 494.