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Drachm - Pytheos
| Issuer | Klazomenai (Ionia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 370 BC - 360 BC |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Facing head of the laureate Apollo rendered in the three-quarter view, turned very slightly to the left, with long wavy hair falling in thick locks over the temples and shoulders. The effigy displays a youthful, idealized physiognomy characteristic of the late Classical Ionian style, with deeply modelled eyes, a straight nose, and slightly parted lips. The laurel wreath is rendered with naturalistic leaf detail worked in high relief. The flat, unadorned field surrounds the bust, and no legend appears on this side of the coin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A swan stands to the left with wings fully spread and raised, depicted in a dynamic posture characteristic of the Klazomenai civic type. Above the swan, the magistrate's name is inscribed in Greek alongside an abbreviated civic ethnic and a monogram. The design occupies a plain, unadorned field typical of Ionian hammered silver coinage of the fourth century BC. |
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| Additional information |
Klazomenai occupied an awkward geographic position on a peninsula in the Gulf of Smyrna, and by the mid-fourth century the city had spent decades under shifting Achaemenid and Athenian pressures. The magistrate name Pytheos appearing on this issue places it within a relatively narrow administrative window, and the SNG Munich and BMC references together allow reasonably confident die-study alignment. Klazomenai's silver output from this period is modest in volume, which is consistent with a polis that derived more economic weight from its olive oil trade than from any mint-driven monetary program.