Sikyon occupied an awkward position during the Peloponnesian War — nominally allied with Sparta, it contributed troops to several Spartan campaigns while its own political structure shifted between oligarchic and more moderate factions. Small fractional silver like this hemiobol was the working currency of the agora, changing hands for single portions of food or ferry crossings, not dedications or mercenary pay.
The BCD collection reference places this among a carefully sequenced die study; Noe and later BCD attributions refined Sikyonian fractions considerably, separating issues once lumped together by earlier catalogers.
Sikyon occupied an awkward position during the Peloponnesian War — nominally allied with Sparta, it contributed troops to several Spartan campaigns while its own political structure shifted between oligarchic and more moderate factions. Small fractional silver like this hemiobol was the working currency of the agora, changing hands for single portions of food or ferry crossings, not dedications or mercenary pay.
The BCD collection reference places this among a carefully sequenced die study; Noe and later BCD attributions refined Sikyonian fractions considerably, separating issues once lumped together by earlier catalogers.