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Hekte
| Issuer | Mytilene |
|---|---|
| Year | 377 BC - 326 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Laureate head of Zeus Meilichios in right profile, rendered with fine archaic-to-classical style engraving. The deity's hair falls in tight curls beneath a laurel wreath, and a small serpent is depicted before the chin, serving as the iconographic attribute of Zeus in his chthonic Meilichios aspect. The facial features are rendered with careful modelling typical of Mytilenaean electrum coinage of the fourth century BC. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Mytilene and Phocaea operated under a formal agreement — likely dating to the fifth century — that standardized the weight and fineness of their electrum hektai, allowing coins from both cities to circulate interchangeably across Aegean trade networks. The arrangement is one of the few documented monetary treaties of the ancient Greek world. Mytilene's issues were struck in a remarkable unbroken succession of obverse-reverse pairings, each combination used only once, making the Bodenstedt typology one of the most precisely constructed references in Greek numismatics.