Diobol

Mytilene, the dominant polis of Lesbos, was unusual among Aegean minting authorities in producing its primary electrum coinage in hecte denominations rather than building a full silver series. This diobol belongs to a supplementary silver coinage that circulated alongside those electrum hectai, likely serving smaller transactions that the higher-value electrum fractions made awkward. The fourth century saw Mytilene caught between Athenian, Spartan, and eventually Persian pressure — the King's Peace of 387 BC formally handed the Asiatic Greek cities back to Persia, directly affecting Mytilenean autonomy and, almost certainly, its mint output.