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Hemidrachm - Xenophantos
| Issuer | Rhodes |
|---|---|
| Year | 170 BC - 150 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Facing head of Helios, rendered in three-quarter view turned slightly to the right, with radiate crown emitting stylized rays arranged loosely around the hair. The face is rendered in high relief with a characteristically idealized Hellenistic style, featuring full cheeks, a broad forehead, and deeply set eyes. The hair falls in wavy locks around the temples and neck. No legend or inscription appears in the field. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A rose in full bloom with stem and a secondary bud to the right, all set within a shallow incuse square characteristic of the Rhodian plintophoric coinage series. A six-pointed star appears in the left field. The magistrate's name ΞENOΦANTOΣ is inscribed above the rose. The composition is compact and centered, with the floral motif serving as the primary civic emblem of Rhodes. |
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| Additional information |
Xenophantos served as magistrate on Rhodes during a period when the island's commercial influence was quietly eroding — Rome had established Delos as a free port in 166 BC, a direct punitive response to Rhodes' perceived neutrality during the Third Macedonian War, and the blow to Rhodian trade revenues was severe. These fractional silver pieces continued to circulate through the Aegean trading networks Rhodes still maintained, but the mint's output was contracting.
The Jenkins typology places this emission squarely in the mid-second century, identifiable by the magistrate's name rather than any formal dating system — Rhodes used an eponymous magistrate sequence rather than a continuous era.