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Hemidrachm
| Issuer | Parion |
|---|---|
| Year | 400 BC - 300 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Bull standing left in the field, head turned back to the right in a characteristic archaic pose, rendered with fine detail in the musculature and hooves. The ethnic legend ΠΑ RI is distributed around the bull's body, with the letters ΠΑ appearing above and ΡΙ below, and a secondary monogram ΑΡ inscribed beneath the animal. The composition fills the irregular flan, with the bold, naturalistic treatment of the bovine figure typical of Mysian coinage of this period. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Facing Gorgoneion of archaic type, depicted full-face with wide staring eyes, a broad grinning mouth displaying prominent teeth and a protruding tongue, and serpents entwined around the head serving as hair. The deeply modelled relief, with its expressive grotesque features and encircling serpents, is characteristic of the apotropaic Gorgon mask tradition found on coinage of Parion throughout the fourth and third centuries BC. The image fills the flan, with serpents visible at the periphery framing the face. |
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| Additional information |
Parion, the Mysian Greek colony on the southern shore of the Propontis, produced hemidrachms of this type in remarkable quantity relative to its size — the city controlled a stretch of coastline strategically positioned between the Aegean and Black Sea trade routes. The type persisted essentially unchanged across the fourth century, making precise dating within the series difficult without die study.
SNG France 1390 anchors this specimen within the French national collection sequence assembled largely from nineteenth-century acquisitions.