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Obol
| Issuer | Mallos |
|---|---|
| Year | 440 BC - 390 BC |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Half-length frontal figure of a winged deity, head turned to right, depicted with outspread wings visible on either side of the torso, holding a disk or pellet in the lower field. The figure is rendered in archaic style typical of Cilician coinage of the late 5th century BC, with bold, slightly crude engraving characteristic of hammered silver issues from Mallos. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse description | A swan striding to right with wings raised and flapping, rendered in profile. An ankh symbol appears to the right of the bird in the field, a motif closely associated with Cilician civic coinage of Mallos and likely reflecting Egyptian cultural influence. The design is set within an irregular incuse field, with engraving executed in the archaic Cilician style. |
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| Additional information |
Mallos sat on the Pyramos River in Cilicia, and its coinage of this period reflects a city navigating competing pressures from Achaemenid Persian administrators and its own claimed Argive foundation mythology. The city reportedly traced its origins to the seer Amphilochos, a detail that surfaces in ancient literary sources and likely shaped the civic identity expressed through its mint output. Persian satrapal oversight of Cilician cities during this period was exercised with variable intensity — Mallos retained enough autonomy to strike its own silver, though Persian influence on regional coinage standards was inescapable.