Hemidrachm

Parion, the Greek colony on the Propontis coast, maintained its distinctive coinage well into the period when Persian satrapial authority over Mysia was increasingly unstable — the decades bracketed by this issue saw the region pass through the hands of multiple satraps before falling to Alexander. The city's mint operated with unusual continuity through this turbulence, likely because Parion's position controlling Propontine trade routes made it too commercially valuable to disrupt.

The hemidrachm fraction served local transactional needs rather than long-distance commerce, which is why so many examples show pronounced wear from genuine circulation rather than hoarding.