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Hemidrachm
| Issuer | Phlious |
|---|---|
| Year | 270 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | A bull charging to the left in high relief, head lowered as if butting, with musculature rendered in vigorous archaic style. The animal is depicted above a plain ground line that divides the field horizontally, occupying the upper register of the flan. The reverse incuse of the die strike is visible in the lower segment below the ground line. The composition conveys dynamic movement characteristic of Peloponnesian coinage of the early third century BC. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Phlious was a small polis in the northeastern Peloponnese whose political instability made autonomous coinage intermittent at best. The city spent much of the fourth century under Spartan garrison or Macedonian pressure, and its mint produced only sporadically as a result. By the time this hemidrachm was struck, the polis had settled into relative obscurity under Macedonian hegemony — which may explain why the series is so thinly represented in collections today.
The BCD Peloponnesos specimen, lot 132, is the benchmark for this type. Few examples have surfaced since that collection was dispersed at auction in 2003.