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Drachm
| Issuer | Kalchedon |
|---|---|
| Year | 340 BC - 320 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| Obverse description | A bull standing to the right in high relief, rendered in the archaic Greek style typical of Bithynian civic coinage. Beneath the bull, a grain ear extends horizontally across the lower field, symbolising the city's agricultural and commercial prosperity. Above the bull, the abbreviated civic legend ΚΑΛΧ is inscribed in Greek characters across the upper field. The flan is irregular and slightly scalloped at the edges, consistent with hand-struck coinage of the late Classical period. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | ΚΑΛΧ |
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| Additional information |
Kalchedon occupied one of the most strategically valuable positions in the ancient world — the eastern shore of the Bosporus, directly opposite Byzantium. The city controlled tolls on Black Sea grain traffic, which made it wealthy enough to strike its own silver but also made it a perpetual target. Philip II of Macedon besieged both Kalchedon and Byzantium around 340 BC, the very opening of this coin's date range, and Athens intervened militarily to break the siege. This drachm may have entered circulation under genuine wartime pressure.