Hekte

Mytilene and Phocaea operated under a formal agreement — attested in ancient sources — that regulated their shared electrum coinage, standardizing weights and alternating types between the two cities. This hekte falls within the early phase of that arrangement, issued in the decades immediately following the Persian Wars when Mytilene was reasserting commercial dominance across the northeastern Aegean. The electrum itself is natural alloy from Lydian sources, not artificially blended, which creates the characteristically warm, variable gold tone seen on survivors.