Drachm

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Reverse description	A warrior stands facing, his weight balanced as he rests one hand upon a large round shield set upright on the ground beside him, while his other hand holds a long scepter or spear. The figure is depicted in a static, frontal stance conveying authority and martial prowess. The design is framed by a distinctive border of radiating lines encircling the entire reverse field, a stylistic feature characteristic of Gortynian coinage of this era. The ethnic legend ΓΟΡΤΥΝΙΩΝ appears in the field, identifying the issuing city of Gortyna in Crete.
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Edge	Plain
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Additional information	Gortyna was among the last Cretan city-states to maintain independent silver coinage before the Roman conquest of 69–67 BC brought the island fully under Roman administration. This issue, dated to the mid-90s BC, falls within a period of intensifying Roman involvement in Cretan affairs — Rome had already begun demanding Crete hand over pirates it was accused of harboring, a dispute that would eventually provide the formal pretext for Metellus's invasion. The Svoronos classification places this among the later civic issues, after the mint's output had already contracted significantly from earlier centuries.

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