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Hemidrachm
| Issuer | Parion (Mysia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 350 BC - 320 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Silver |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Facing gorgoneion (Gorgon mask) depicted full face, filling the entire field; the visage rendered with wide-open staring eyes, a broad flat nose, and an open mouth with protruding tongue and visible teeth in the characteristic apotropaic grimace. The head is framed by wild, flowing hair with sweeping curved locks, adorned with a beaded diadem or torque across the crown. Entwined serpents coil around the periphery of the design, their bodies forming a sinuous border — a hallmark of Parion's distinctive archaic-to-classical Gorgon type. No legend appears on this face. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Parion occupied a strategically awkward position on the Propontis — close enough to Persian-controlled Anatolia to feel administrative pressure, yet sufficiently embedded in Greek trade networks to maintain its own silver coinage through the fourth century. The hemidrachm series continued through the period of Macedonian expansion without interruption, a quiet indicator of how thoroughly Philip II and Alexander accommodated existing civic minting in the western Propontis rather than suppressing it.
The type is well-attested across multiple reference corpora, suggesting reasonably healthy survival, likely owing to Parion's role as a waystation for Black Sea grain traffic.