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Hekte
| Issuer | Mytilene |
|---|---|
| Year | 454 BC - 427 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 2.46 g |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | An owl depicted facing, with large round head, prominent eyes rendered as raised pellets, and wings fully spread symmetrically to either side, the individual feathers carefully delineated in the die. The bird stands on a ground line within a deeply cut incuse square, the standard reverse treatment for Mytilene electrum hektai of this series. The bold, frontal presentation of the owl is characteristic of the archaic-to-classical artistic transition on Lesbian coinage. No legend is present. |
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| Mint | Mytilene |
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| Additional information |
Mytilene's electrum hektai were struck as part of a long-running civic coinage produced in cooperation with the neighboring city of Phokaia — a formal agreement between the two poleis to alternate issues and regulate the alloy, one of the few documented monetary partnerships of the Greek world. The Bodenstedt typology, built on decades of die study, identifies this piece within a sequence that maps directly onto the political fortunes of Lesbos during the Athenian Empire period, when Mytilene remained an autonomous ally paying tribute to the Delian League.
The revolt of 428–427 BC, crushed by Athens with notorious severity, marks the hard terminus of this issue's production window.