Hekte

Mytilene and Phokaia operated under a formal agreement — likely renewed periodically — to produce electrum hektes on a shared standard, a rare instance of inter-polis monetary cooperation in the Greek world. Mytilene's issues, including this piece, were struck in a naturally occurring gold-silver alloy sourced primarily from Lydian river deposits, though the exact ratio varied enough between issues that ancient users would have relied on weight rather than assumed fineness.

Bodenstedt 72 falls within the mature phase of the Mytilenean series, dated to the decade following the catastrophic Athenian defeat in Sicily.