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Hemidrachm
| Issuer | Cherronesos |
|---|---|
| Year | 386 BC - 338 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | SNG-B Raby#776, HGC 3.2#1437 |
| Obverse description | Forepart of a lion depicted in high relief, shown in right profile with the head turned back to face left, rendered in a bold and expressive archaic Greek style. The mane is rendered with distinctive segmented, pellet-bordered locks fanning across the neck and shoulders, a hallmark of Chersonesos coinage. The musculature of the haunches and forelimbs is modeled with confident plasticity, filling the flan. The field is unlettered, with no legend or exergual inscription. The design is well-centered within the irregular round flan, typical of hammered Greek silver coinage of the period. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Quadripartite incuse square divided diagonally into four triangular sections, with two diagonally opposite quarters left in sunken relief and two raised, forming the characteristic skewed windmill pattern of Chersonesos hemidrachms. One raised quarter bears a pellet, and another contains a barley grain or seed symbol, serving as control marks to distinguish individual dies or issuing authorities. The incuse is sharply struck, with clean geometric definition. No legend or inscription appears on the reverse. The design is entirely geometric and symbolic, without figural elements. |
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| Additional information |
Chersonesos (the Thracian Chersonese, modern Gallipoli peninsula) struck these hemidrachms in vast quantities over roughly half a century, functioning as a near-universal trade currency across the northern Aegean. Their widespread acceptance was so entrenched that civic and mercenary payrolls from Macedonia to the Black Sea coast routinely relied on them. Countermarks from dozens of different cities appear on surviving specimens — an unusually legible record of where individual coins actually traveled.
The type was eventually absorbed into Macedonian monetary dominance following Philip II's consolidation of Thrace after 346 BC.