Drachm

Mytilene, the dominant polis of Lesbos, controlled enough of the eastern Aegean trade network during this period that its coinage circulated well beyond the island. The city's allegiance shifted critically during the Ionian Revolt against Persia — Mytilene contributed ships to the Greek fleet that was ultimately broken at the Battle of Lade in 494 BC, after which Persian pressure reshaped the entire monetary environment of the region. Issues from the decades immediately following that defeat are meaningfully harder to attribute with precision, making the SNG Copenhagen and BMC references anchoring points rather than settled conclusions.