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Hemidrachm - 131st-135th Olympiad
| Issuer | Olympia |
|---|---|
| Year | 256 BC - 240 BC |
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| Currency | Drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Laureate head of Zeus facing right, rendered in fine Classical Greek style with strong, mature features including a broad forehead, prominent nose, and a full, elaborately curled beard falling in thick waves. The laurel wreath encircling the deity's head is rendered with individual leaves clearly articulated. The portrait fills the flan with considerable artistic authority, characteristic of Elean coinage of the mid-third century BC. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Olympia itself was not a polis and had no standing civic authority to strike coinage in the conventional sense — these hemidrachms were issued by the sanctuary administration of Zeus at Olympia, one of the few religious institutions in the Greek world with both the prestige and the transactional need to produce its own silver. The games drew tens of thousands of visitors every four years, and the sanctuary required hard currency for dedications, fines, sacrificial fees, and the commercial activity that surrounded the festival.
The BCD collection, from which the reference numbers derive, remains the most systematic private assembly of Olympian coinage ever documented.