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Obol
| Issuer | Mykalessos |
|---|---|
| Year | 400 BC - 375 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| Obverse description | Boeotian shield depicted in high relief, shown face-on with characteristic cut-outs on either side forming the distinctive concave indentations of this regional type. The central boss of the shield is rendered in a slightly raised, convex form, with the curved lower edge and flanking notches clearly delineated. The flan is irregular and the die is well-centered, typical of small Boeotian fractional silver coinage of the early fourth century BC. |
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| Reverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Mykalessos was a small Boiotian town that achieved grim historical notoriety in 413 BC, when a band of Thracian mercenaries — dismissed from Athenian service and rampaging home — sacked it entirely, massacring the population including children in their schoolhouse. Thucydides called it among the most calamitous events of the entire war. That this tiny polis was issuing its own silver coinage in the decades immediately following that catastrophe suggests a recovery more complete than the literary sources imply.