Mytilene and Phocaea jointly regulated electrum coinage under a series of agreements, the most documented of which dates to around 394 BC — stipulating alternating types and controlling the natural gold-silver ratio of the local alloy to maintain exchange parity. The Bodenstedt 102 falls within the later phase of this arrangement, struck after Mytilene's destruction by Artaxerxes III Ochus in 333 BC had already disrupted civic institutions, yet production continued under Macedonian oversight into the 320s.
Hektes of this period circulated widely across the Aegean as fractional currency for mercantile transactions, particularly in grain trade with the Pontic region.
Mytilene and Phocaea jointly regulated electrum coinage under a series of agreements, the most documented of which dates to around 394 BC — stipulating alternating types and controlling the natural gold-silver ratio of the local alloy to maintain exchange parity. The Bodenstedt 102 falls within the later phase of this arrangement, struck after Mytilene's destruction by Artaxerxes III Ochus in 333 BC had already disrupted civic institutions, yet production continued under Macedonian oversight into the 320s.
Hektes of this period circulated widely across the Aegean as fractional currency for mercantile transactions, particularly in grain trade with the Pontic region.