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Hemidrachm Uncertain mint
| Issuer | Achaean League |
|---|---|
| Year | 250 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 2.64 g |
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| Obverse description | Laureate head of Zeus facing right, rendered in fine Hellenistic style with a full, curly beard and thick, wavy hair beneath the laurel wreath. The facial features are boldly modeled, with a prominent brow, deep-set eye, and strong jaw conveying divine authority. The laurel wreath is rendered in crisp detail with overlapping leaves tied at the back. The portrait occupies most of the flan, with no legend or inscription in the field. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Achaean League's federal coinage is unusual in the ancient world for being a deliberate political instrument — member city-states surrendered individual silver coinage rights in favor of a unified federal type, a concession that reflected the League's growing institutional coherence from the mid-third century onward. The hemidrachm was the workhorse denomination of this system, circulating across the Peloponnese in substantial numbers.
BCD Peloponnesos 375 places this piece among issues where the originating mint remains unresolved — a recurring problem with early League coinage, as magistrate monograms and control marks have not been fully reconciled to specific member cities.