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Hemihekte
| Issuer | Kyzikos |
|---|---|
| Year | 600 BC - 550 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 1.3 g |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Forepart of a tunny fish (tuna) facing left in high relief, rendered in an archaic Greek style characteristic of early Kyzikene coinage. The tunny, a civic emblem of Kyzikos, is depicted with boldly modeled body and fins against a smooth, unadorned field. The flan is irregular in outline, as is typical of early archaic electrum coinage struck by hand. No legend or inscription appears on the obverse. The overall design is compact and powerful, filling the small flan with a single dominant motif. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain, irregular |
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| Additional information |
Kyzikos, the Propontis city-state that became one of antiquity's most prolific electrum minters, produced these fractional pieces using naturally occurring alloy sourced from the Pactolus river region. The hemihekte — one-twelfth of a stater — served commerce at a scale the full stater could not, particularly in the busy trading emporium that Kyzikos operated along the Black Sea routes.
Von Fritze's classification remains the foundational reference for Kyzikene electrum, his 1912 work still unchallenged in its systematic arrangement of the series.