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Hekte
| Issuer | Phokaia |
|---|---|
| Year | 478 BC - 387 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Hekte (10⁄3) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Head of a bearded male figure, likely a satyr or river god, facing left in high relief. The hair is rendered in fine rows of beads or pellets, and the beard is similarly depicted with carefully articulated individual curls arranged in tight clusters. The ear is prominently delineated, and the overall style is characteristic of the refined archaic engraving tradition of Phokaia. The flan is slightly irregular, as is typical of hammered electrum coinage of this period. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Phokaia's electrum hektes circulated under a remarkable inter-city agreement with Mytilene on Lesbos, the two poleis alternating coin production under a formal treaty — one of the few documented mint-sharing arrangements in the ancient Greek world. Phokaia's issues are distinguished by a small incuse seal on the reverse, the city's eponymous emblem, which also served as a civic identifier in what was otherwise a metal whose natural electrum composition varied enough to invite adulteration. Bodenstedt 81 falls within the later phase of the series, closer to its terminus when Persian pressure forced Phokaia's effective withdrawal from independent coinage.