Hekte

Mytilene and Phocaea operated under a formal agreement — renewed at intervals across the fourth century — that regulated the shared production of electrum coinage, fixing both the alloy standard and the alternating schedule of issue types. This hekte falls within the later phase of that arrangement, struck before the Persian-backed suppression of Lesbian autonomy effectively ended Mytilene's independent mint activity around 326 BC. Bodenstedt 98 is among the more precisely documented types in the sequence, which is fortunate given how frequently electrum hektes from this mint are misattributed in the trade.