Hekte

Kyzikos was among the most prolific issuers of electrum coinage in the ancient Greek world, and its hektes circulated far beyond Mysia — they functioned as a de facto trade currency across the Black Sea littoral and into the Greek mainland. The city's position on the Propontis made it a transit point for grain, slaves, and raw materials moving between the Pontic region and the Aegean, and its coinage was trusted precisely because the electrum alloy was consistent enough to be relied upon without assay.

The tuna on the reverse — the city's persistent ethnic badge across virtually all its electrum issues — reflects the tuna migration routes through the Propontis that formed a cornerstone of Kyzikene commercial life.