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Obol
| Issuer | Olympia |
|---|---|
| Year | 340 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Eagle of Zeus standing to left on a plain ground line, wings closed and tightly folded against the body, head turned back sharply to the right in a vigilant pose; the abbreviated ethnic legend FA (for FALEIΩN, of the Eleians) appears in the left field in archaic Greek characters. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | FA |
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| Additional information |
Olympia functioned not as a city-state but as a sanctuary administered by the Eleans, who controlled the site and its revenues for most of antiquity. This small silver issue belongs to a series struck specifically to facilitate exchange during the Panhellenic festival cycle — the Olympic Games drew tens of thousands of pilgrims every four years, creating a concentrated, temporary demand for small-denomination coinage that ordinary civic mints had little reason to supply.
By the mid-fourth century, Elis had already lost and regained control of Olympia following the conflict with Arcadia in 364 BC, when the Games were famously interrupted by armed fighting in the Altis itself.