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Hekte
| Issuer | Kyzikos |
|---|---|
| Year | |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 2.64 g |
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| Obverse description | A youth (boy) seated facing, his head turned to the right, with legs splayed toward the left; in his extended right hand he grasps a tunny fish by the tail, a emblematic device characteristic of Kyzikene coinage. The figure is rendered in the archaic Greek style with fine incised detail. The tunny (tuna) fish serves as the civic badge of Kyzikos and appears prominently as an attribute. The entire design is executed in raised relief on the flat flan typical of early electrum coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A quadripartite incuse square dominating the reverse field, divided into four recessed sections by raised ridges intersecting at right angles, characteristic of the archaic incuse punch technique used on early Greek electrum coinage. The four quarters display a slightly irregular, rough texture resulting from the hammer strike. No legend or additional devices are present. This standard reverse type is consistent with Kyzikene hektes of the 5th to 4th century BC. |
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| Additional information |
Kyzikos dominated electrum coinage in the Aegean for roughly two centuries, and its hektes served as a de facto international trading currency across Greek and Persian-controlled territories alike. The city's position on the Propontis made it a natural clearinghouse for Black Sea grain commerce, and Kyzikene electrum was accepted far beyond any single city-state's political reach. Jameson 2201 falls within a series whose precise dating remains contested, the natural variation in electrum alloy composition at Kyzikos making metallurgical analysis an unreliable chronological tool.