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Drachm
| Issuer | Assos |
|---|---|
| Year | 400 BC - 300 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Drachm (1) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Head of Athena facing left, wearing a crested Attic helmet adorned with a wreath, her hair rendered in tight curls beneath the helmet brim. The goddess's facial features are finely modelled in the archaic-to-classical Greek tradition, with a prominent nose and full lips. A long lock of hair falls behind the neck, and traces of an olive wreath are visible encircling the helmet. The design fills the flan with bold, high relief characteristic of fourth-century Mysian coinage. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | ΑΣΣΙΟΝ |
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| Additional information |
Assos, a small Greek polis on the Troad coast of Asia Minor, struck its own silver coinage during the fourth century despite being a city of modest political weight. It gained unusual prominence around 348–345 BC when Aristotle lived there under the patronage of the ruler Hermias — a former slave who had seized control of the city and whose philosophical circle briefly made Assos a center of Platonic thought before Hermias was captured and executed by the Persians.
The city's coinage is rare enough that die links between surviving specimens have been studied to reconstruct mint output. The SNG Copenhagen and Munich references remain the primary anchors for attribution of this type.