Hekte

Phokaia was among the earliest Greek cities to produce electrum coinage, and these hektes — struck from the naturally occurring gold-silver alloy sourced from the region's river deposits — predate Athens' silver owl series by well over a century. The city's remarkable commercial reach, extending to colonies as far as Massalia (modern Marseille) and Emporion in Iberia, required a trusted, portable high-value currency. These pieces circulated across the Aegean, the Black Sea littoral, and deep into the western Mediterranean.

Production ceased abruptly following the Persian conquest of Ionia under Harpagos around 546 BC, though some scholars extend the series to 522 BC based on hoard evidence. The Bodenstedt typology remains the standard reference for distinguishing emissions.