Hemidrachm Patrai

The Achaean League's federal coinage was one of the ancient world's earliest experiments in a shared monetary union, with member city-states surrendering independent silver issues in favor of a common type. Patrai — modern Patras — was among the League's more active mints during this period, a stretch that ended abruptly when Rome dismantled the League's political structure following the Third Macedonian War and the defeat of Perseus in 168 BC.

BCD 502 places this hemidrachm within a tightly sequenced die study that has become the standard reference for League bronzes and silvers alike, compiled from the collection of a single dedicated specialist whose assemblage transformed scholarship on Peloponnesian federal coinage.