Hekte

Mytilene's electrum hektes were struck under a long-running civic agreement with Phokaia — the two cities alternating annual issues, a monetary arrangement that survived wars, oligarchic coups, and the catastrophic Athenian debate of 427 BC in which the entire male population of Mytilene was nearly condemned to death by assembly vote. Bodenstedt 66 falls within the mature phase of the series, after production resumed with apparent confidence despite the city's precarious position between Athenian and later Spartan spheres of influence.

The natural electrum alloy used in these hektes varies in gold content across the series, typically running between 40% and 55% gold — a range tight enough to suggest quality control, but wide enough to reflect the inconsistency of the raw Lydian metal sources.