Hekte

Samos in the late 6th century BC was among the wealthiest poleis in the Aegean, its commercial reach extending across the eastern Mediterranean under the tyrant Polycrates, who came to power around 535 BC. The island's silver coinage of this period was instrumental in financing his ambitious naval program — Herodotus credits Polycrates with assembling a fleet of one hundred penteconters. The hekte, a sixth of a stater, was the workhorse denomination for smaller transactions in that economy.