Obol

Kroton, the Achaean colony on the toe of Italy's boot, was among the wealthiest and most influential poleis of Magna Graecia in this period — home to the Pythagorean brotherhood and, not coincidentally, to the physician Demokrates, whose school of medicine gave the city outsized intellectual prestige. The colony's early coinage was minted under the influence of that same Pythagorean community, which held significant political control over Kroton through much of the late sixth century BC.

At 0.22 g, this obol represents the smallest practical denomination in Kroton's silver series — a coin that would have changed hands daily in the agora rather than being hoarded.