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Obol
| Issuer | Tenedos (Troad) |
|---|---|
| Year | 300 BC - 201 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | CN type#19372 |
| Obverse description | Janiform female head shown facing, depicting two conjoined female heads in profile facing left and right respectively, a characteristic device of Tenedian coinage. The heads are rendered in archaic-influenced style with simplified facial features typical of small-denomination Hellenistic silver issues. The flan is irregular and slightly convex, consistent with hand-struck production of this period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Double-headed axe (labrys) shown in full, displayed vertically and centrally on the flan, flanked by the Greek letters Tau (T) and Epsilon (E) in the upper field to the left and right respectively. Below the axe blade, two additional partial letters or symbols appear in the lower quarters of the field. The labrys is the principal civic emblem of Tenedos and appears prominently on all denominations of the city's coinage. |
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| Additional information |
Tenedos, the small Aegean island at the mouth of the Hellespont, controlled one of the most strategically valuable chokepoints in the ancient world — every ship moving between the Aegean and the Black Sea passed within sight of its harbor. That geographic leverage funded a remarkably sustained civic coinage program through the Hellenistic period, even as the island cycled through Macedonian, Ptolemaic, and eventually Rhodian spheres of influence.
At this fractional weight, the piece served local retail exchange rather than the long-distance grain and timber trade the island was known for facilitating.