The Arcadian League's federal coinage, produced at Mantineia, was among the earliest attempts in the Greek world to issue coins under a shared federal authority rather than a single city-state — a political arrangement that made this mint unusual for its time. Mantineia's role as a minting center ended abruptly in 385 BC when the Spartans forcibly dissolved the city, scattering its population into villages in a process the Greeks called synoikismos in reverse. The coins predate that destruction by decades.
The Arcadian League's federal coinage, produced at Mantineia, was among the earliest attempts in the Greek world to issue coins under a shared federal authority rather than a single city-state — a political arrangement that made this mint unusual for its time. Mantineia's role as a minting center ended abruptly in 385 BC when the Spartans forcibly dissolved the city, scattering its population into villages in a process the Greeks called synoikismos in reverse. The coins predate that destruction by decades.