Drachm

Knidos sat at the southwestern tip of the Karian peninsula, and its position as a major Aegean trading port gave it both the silver supply and the commercial need to maintain a consistent coinage. The dates bracket a turbulent stretch — the final years of the Peloponnesian War, during which Knidos shifted political alignment more than once under pressure from Athens, Sparta, and Persian satrap influence alike.

In 394 BC, a naval battle fought directly off the Knidian headland effectively ended Spartan sea power, though that falls just outside this issue's window. These drachms precede that moment by a decade, struck when Spartan dominance in Aegean waters was still ascendant following Athens' defeat in 404 BC.