Drachm - 95th Olympiad

The sanctuary at Olympia held the unusual status of issuing its own coinage despite being a religious precinct rather than a polis — the coins produced there were tied directly to festival activity, likely facilitating transactions among the tens of thousands who descended on the site every four years. The 95th Olympiad fell in 400 BC, the year Sparta consolidated dominance over Greece following the defeat of Athens, and Elis, which administered the sanctuary, was operating under increasing Spartan pressure.

The Seltman classification remains the primary organizational framework for this series, though subsequent BCD sales forced meaningful revisions to his die sequencing.