Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Hekte
| Issuer | Mytilene |
|---|---|
| Year | 377 BC - 326 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Electrum |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A lion depicted in a dynamic striding pose to the right, with head turned slightly upward, rendered in robust relief within a recessed incuse square framed by a linear border. The musculature of the animal is boldly articulated, with the tail arched over the back and the forelegs extended in a powerful stride. The design is contained within a shallow incuse square, a characteristic feature of Mytilene's electrum coinage, providing a stark contrast to the high-relief obverse type. The field within the linear square is plain. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Mytilene |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Mytilene and Phokaia operated under a formal agreement — confirmed by ancient sources and corroborated by hoard evidence — to produce electrum coinage on a shared standard, alternating reverse types on an annual basis. This coin falls within that long-running bimetallic convention, which persisted even as Persian political control over the Aegean coastline fluctuated dramatically across the fourth century. The arrangement was commercial rather than political; both cities needed a trusted, high-value trading coin acceptable across the eastern Aegean and into Black Sea markets.
Bodenstedt 83 places this hekte toward the later phase of the series.