Hemidrachm

Chersonesos — the Thracian Chersonese, the long peninsula controlling the Hellespont — issued these hemidrachms continuously for well over a century, and the type became one of the most widely circulated silver fractions in the northern Aegean. The sheer volume and geographic spread of surviving examples reflects the region's position as a critical chokepoint for Black Sea grain traffic. Athens fought repeatedly to control it, and Philip II of Macedon seized it outright in 338 BC, the terminal date of this issue.

The reverse incuse quarters with their alternating plain and dotted patterns serve as the primary tool for die study — over 400 obverse dies have been catalogued across the full series.