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Æ - Metokos Type I, Horse facing left

Issuer Odryssa, Kingdom of
Year 405 BC - 391 BC
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Composition Bronze
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Obverse description A rampant horse rendered in profile facing left, depicted in mid-leap with forelegs raised, occupying the central field of the flan. The horse is modelled in a robust, somewhat archaic Thracian style, with a flowing mane rendered in relief. The irregular flan edges are characteristic of early Odrysian bronze coinage of the late fifth to early fourth century BC.
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Reverse description A bipennis (labrys, double-headed axe) centrally placed in the field, with the Greek legend ΜΗΤΟΚΟ distributed around the device, identifying the issuing Odrysian king Metokos. The letters are rendered in archaic Greek majuscules, arranged in segments around the axe symbol, which served as a dynastic or religious emblem of Thracian royal authority.
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Additional information

Metokos ruled the Odrysian kingdom during one of its most turbulent transitions — he was almost certainly a son or close relative of Seuthes I, and his reign fell in the fractured decades after the death of the great Odrysian king Cotys I's predecessor Amadocus had begun consolidating rival branches of the dynasty. The Odrysians at this period were minting bronze locally, which itself marks a significant step: earlier Odrysian rulers had relied almost entirely on silver, and the introduction of a bronze coinage reflects growing administrative ambition in the Thracian interior.

Peykov's corpus remains the essential reference for this series, and Type I specimens are notably scarcer than later issues attributed to Metokos.

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