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Hekte
| Issuer | Phokaia |
|---|---|
| Year | 387 BC - 326 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | Bodenstedt#99 |
| Obverse description | Draped bust of Artemis facing left, rendered in fine archaic-to-classical Greek style with carefully engraved striated hair swept back and secured, the quiver visible over her right shoulder. Immediately below the truncation of the neck, a seal (phoke) is depicted to the left in the lower field, serving as the civic badge of Phokaia. The portraiture is executed in high relief characteristic of Phokaian electrum coinage, with delicate facial features and a serene expression. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A bold quadripartite incuse square dominates the reverse field, divided by a raised cross into four recessed compartments of roughly equal size, each showing an irregular sunken surface typical of the hammered technique. The incuse pattern is deeply struck and slightly off-center within the coin's rounded flan, with the surrounding border raised and smooth. No legends or subsidiary devices are present; the design is purely geometric, consistent with standard archaic Ionian electrum fractional coinage practice. |
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| Additional information |
Phokaia's electrum hektes were produced under a remarkable joint monetary arrangement with the neighboring city of Mytilene, the two poleis alternating types on a shared weight standard over roughly two centuries. Bodenstedt 99 falls in the later phase of this series, issued during a period when Phokaia was navigating the political pressures of Persian satrapal control following the King's Peace of 387 BC — the very date that brackets this issue's opening year.
Production ceased around 326 BC, likely as Alexander's campaigns disrupted traditional Aegean trade networks that had given these small fractional electrum pieces their commercial utility along Ionian and Black Sea routes.