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Hemidrachm
| Issuer | Orchomenos of Boeotia |
|---|---|
| Year | 395 BC - 364 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Hemidrachm (1/2) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A kantharos (wine vessel) depicted in profile at centre, flanked by two grape bunches or vine tendrils curving outward to either side, all enclosed within a shallow incuse square border. Above the kantharos, the ethnic abbreviation EPX (for Erchomenos, i.e. Orchomenos) is inscribed in archaic Greek capitals, reading left to right. The composition is characteristic of Orchomenian civic coinage of the early fourth century BC, with the kantharos serving as the principal civic symbol of the polis. |
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| Mint | Orchomenos |
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| Additional information |
Orchomenos was the dominant power in Boeotia before Thebes eclipsed it, and this hemidrachm falls squarely within the period of that rivalry. The city's autonomous coinage effectively ended after 364 BC, when Thebes razed Orchomenos following the discovery — possibly fabricated — of a conspiracy against Theban hegemony. The massacre and enslavement of its population stands among the most brutal acts of the post-Leuctra settlement.
The BCD Boiotia reference places this among the most thoroughly catalogued series in Greek numismatics, courtesy of the collection assembled over decades by the collector known only by those initials.