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Hexachalkon
| Issuer | Lakedaimon |
|---|---|
| Year | 235 BC - 222 BC |
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| Currency | Drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Eagle standing left, depicted in profile with wings folded, perched atop a thunderbolt rendered in low relief. The bird is shown with head slightly lowered, a characteristic Laconian artistic convention. The design occupies the central field of the flan with no surrounding legend or border, consistent with the austere coinage traditions of Sparta. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Lakedaimon struck bronze coinage only reluctantly and relatively late — Sparta's ideological resistance to coined money was deeply ingrained, rooted in the Lykourgan tradition that prized iron currency and treated precious-metal coinage as a corrupting foreign influence. By the third century, that position was simply untenable. This issue falls squarely within the turbulent reign of Kleomenes III, who was simultaneously dismantling the ephorate, redistributing land, and attempting to rebuild Spartan military power against the Achaean League.
The BCD references 843–844 represent closely related die groupings documented in the Peloponnesos collection sale.