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Hemidrachm
| Issuer | Kaunos |
|---|---|
| Year | 166 BC - 150 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 13.0 mm |
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| Obverse description | Helmeted head of Athena in right profile, wearing a Attic helmet adorned with an olive wreath along the bowl. The goddess's facial features are rendered with fine Hellenistic detail, with a prominent nose and delicate chin visible in profile. The cheekpiece of the helmet is raised, exposing the face. The neck is bare, and the die work reflects the refined engraving style characteristic of Karian civic coinage of the second century BC. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A sword within its sheath, shown horizontally with the suspension strap depicted above the scabbard. The legend AN-TAI is distributed across the upper field to either side of the sword, with the civic ethnic K A (for Kaunos) also present in the field. A filleted palm frond appears in the lower left field, a symbol associated with victory and civic pride. The composition is typical of the autonomous bronze and silver issues of Kaunos during the Rhodian period. |
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| Additional information |
Kaunos, a Carian city with a perpetually ambiguous political identity, spent much of the Hellenistic period caught between Rhodian hegemony and its own civic ambitions. This issue dates to a period when Rhodes controlled the surrounding region under arrangements formalized after the Peace of Apamea in 188 BC, though Kaunian coinage retained distinctly local types rather than absorbing Rhodian convention wholesale. The city was eventually sold by Rome to Rhodes in 167 BC — the timing places this hemidrachm almost exactly at that political transfer.