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Drachm - Phormion
| Issuer | Sinope (Paphlagonia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 330 BC - 300 BC |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Obverse description | Head of the nymph Sinope facing three-quarters left, rendered in fine archaic-transitional style with elaborately waved hair swept back and secured, wearing a pendant earring and a beaded necklace. A sinuous dolphin is depicted vertically to the left of the effigy, with a series of small pellets arranged in the left field, a characteristic symbol of the Sinopean coinage. The portrait displays sensitive modeling of the facial features typical of late 4th-century BC Pontic die engraving. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | An eagle with wings spread stands atop a dolphin leaping to the right, rendered with finely detailed feathering across the wings and body. The magistrate's name ΦΟΡΜ (abbreviation of Phormion) appears in the upper right field in Greek letters. Below the central device, the city ethnic ΣΙΝΩ (abbreviation of Sinope) is boldly inscribed across the lower field in large Greek characters. The composition is a well-known type of Sinopean civic coinage, symbolizing the city's maritime orientation through the prominent dolphin motif. |
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| Additional information |
Sinope controlled the Black Sea's southern coast with enough commercial weight that its silver coinage circulated well beyond Paphlagonia — absorbed into trade networks stretching from the Aegean to the Pontic steppe. The city's magistrate-signed issues of this period, of which Phormion represents one named series, reflect a bureaucratic minting practice common to prosperous Greek colonial foundations maintaining institutional accountability through individual civic officers.
Alexander's campaigns destabilized regional coin flows dramatically after 334 BC, yet Sinopean civic silver held its ground longer than most Asia Minor issues, likely because the city resisted Macedonian absorption until 183 BC under Pharnaces I of Pontus.