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Diobol
| Issuer | Pantikapaion |
|---|---|
| Year | 420 BC - 410 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Facing right, the head of a young male deity — most likely Apollo or a local hero — rendered in the archaic-transitional Greek style, with finely engraved wavy hair swept back from the forehead and secured by a plain fillet or wreath. The facial features are carefully articulated, with a strong jawline, almond-shaped eye, and slightly parted lips characteristic of late fifth-century BC Pontic coinage. The relief is high and the flan is slightly irregular, typical of hand-struck Greek silver from this period. No legend appears on the obverse field. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Incuse square divided into four quadrants by a bold linear cross, each quadrant containing one letter of the ethnic inscription ΠANT, reading from the upper-left quadrant clockwise. The letters are rendered in a bold, archaic Greek monumental style and are well-centered within their respective quadrants. This mill-sail or windmill incuse square design is characteristic of early Pontic Greek civic coinage and provides a strong visual contrast to the raised obverse type. The flan edges are ragged and irregular, consistent with hand-struck coinage of the period. |
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| Additional information |
Pantikapaion — modern Kerch, on the Crimean side of the Cimmerian Bosporus — was among the earliest Greek colonial mints on the northern Black Sea littoral, and its silver issues of this period predate the city's rise under the Spartocid dynasty, which took power around 438 BC and would eventually dominate the entire Pontic trade network. The Anokhin sequence places this diobol in a transitional phase of the mint's output, before the heavy bronze series overtook silver for local exchange.