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Hemihekte - Alyattes II to Kroisos Sardes
| Issuer | Kings of Lydia |
|---|---|
| Year | 610 BC - 546 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Plain, deeply struck incuse square punch occupying most of the reverse field, divided into four quadrants by raised ridges forming a rough X-pattern within the depression, characteristic of early Lydian coinage produced at the Sardis mint. The incuse is deeply recessed with an irregular, striated surface resulting from the striking process. No legend or additional devices are present. The surrounding rim is plain and slightly raised. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Lydia's electrum coinage is often credited as among the earliest true coinages anywhere — though the precise claim remains contested by scholars pointing to contemporaneous issues from Greek Ionia. What is not contested is the role of the Pactolus River, which ran through Sardes carrying natural electrum deposits that gave the Lydian kings both the raw material and the economic motive to standardize it. The hemihekte, at one-twelfth of a stater, served the smallest transactional needs of that system.
Kroisos eventually abandoned electrum entirely in favor of separate pure gold and silver coinages — a monetary reform ancient sources treat as deliberate policy to eliminate the variable gold-to-silver ratio inherent in natural electrum alloys.