Drachm

Sinope dominated Black Sea trade for centuries, functioning as the primary entrepôt between the Greek world and the interior of Anatolia and the Pontic steppe. Its coinage circulated among merchants dealing in slaves, dried fish, timber, and iron — commodities the city controlled through geographic advantage rather than military force. The magistrate names appearing on these drachms are among the few surviving records of Sinopean civic administration from this period.

The city was famously the birthplace of Diogenes the Cynic, whose father Hicesias allegedly debased the local coinage — an incident that led to the family's exile around 360 BC, squarely within this type's production window.