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Hemidrachm
| Issuer | Parion (Mysia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 350 BC - 320 BC |
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| Composition | Silver |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Bull standing left with head turned back to the right, rendered in high relief with naturalistic musculature. The ethnic inscription ΠΑ ΡΙ appears in Greek characters beneath the bull's body. In the lower field, a lobster (crayfish) is depicted facing left, serving as a secondary symbol closely associated with the city of Parion. The composition fills the flan with characteristic Mysian artistic confidence of the fourth century BC. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | ΠΑ ΡΙ |
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| Additional information |
Parion sat on the Propontis — the narrow sea connecting the Aegean to the Black Sea — and that geography explains everything about its mint output. The city's coinage circulated heavily among sailors, merchants, and Macedonian military traffic moving through the straits, which accounts for the worn condition in which most examples surface today. This hemidrachm type falls squarely within the period of Macedonian expansion into the Troad, when Philip II and later Alexander were absorbing or pressuring the coastal cities of Mysia.
The Parion mint is notable for unusually consistent fabric across a long production run, yet individual dies vary considerably in workmanship — a reflection of multiple engravers working without a centralizing royal authority demanding strict standardization.