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Obol
| Issuer | Lakedaimon |
|---|---|
| Year | 309 BC - 265 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| Obverse description | Bearded head of Herakles facing right, clad in the Nemean lion skin headdress with the scalp tied beneath the chin, rendered in archaic Peloponnesian style characteristic of Lakedaimonian coinage. The facial features are boldly modelled in high relief typical of hand-struck ancient Greek silver. The lion's mane and open mouth of the pelt are visible framing the hero's face. The field is plain and unlettered. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse description | An upright Heraklean club depicted vertically at centre, its shaft ornamented with four pairs of knots or nodes arranged symmetrically along its length. Flanking the club on either side is a six-rayed star, each with clearly defined pointed rays, positioned in the left and right fields respectively. The design is unlettered and set within a plain field, the overall composition being bold and schematic in the tradition of early Lakedaimonian civic coinage. |
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| Additional information |
Sparta's use of iron currency — the infamous iron spits (obeloi) mandated by Lycurgan law — kept silver coinage off the table for centuries while every neighboring polis struck it freely. This silver obol represents the eventual, grudging abandonment of that policy, likely forced by the financial realities of maintaining mercenary forces and conducting interstate commerce during the turbulent decades following the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC, when Spartan power never fully recovered.
The BCD collection, assembled by a single dedicated scholar-collector over decades, remains the primary reference corpus for Peloponnesian coinage precisely because institutional collections neglected the region.