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Drachm
| Issuer | Assos |
|---|---|
| Year | 400 BC - 300 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | SNG Copenhagen#226, SNG Munich 1#151 |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Facing boukranion (bull's head en face) rendered in high relief, with prominent curved horns extending to either side and large round eyes flanking the broad muzzle. The head is depicted with careful anatomical detail, including a tuft of hair between the horns and a dewlap below the chin. The ethnic inscription ΑΣΣΙΟΝ is disposed around the device in three segments, reading ΑΣ above between the horns, ΣΙ to the lower left, and ΟΝ to the lower right, identifying the issuing city of Assos in Mysia. |
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| 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.