Drachm

Teos was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League, and its early coinage falls squarely within the period of Persian domination following Cyrus the Great's conquest of Lydia around 547 BC. The city briefly abandoned its mint entirely — not from conquest, but from self-imposed exile: around 540 BC, a significant portion of the Tean population chose mass emigration to Abdera in Thrace rather than submit to Persian-imposed tribute, an event recorded by Herodotus. Those who remained eventually resumed coinage production under Persian oversight.

The series to which this drachm belongs predates the Athenian monetary reforms that would later pressure Aegean mints toward standardization. Teos struck on the Chian weight standard throughout this period.