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Octodrachm
| Issuer | Orreskioi |
|---|---|
| Year | 479 BC - 465 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Octadrachm (8) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Nude male figure, interpreted as a local hero or deity, seated astride a walking bull to the right, grasping the animal's horn with his outstretched left hand in a posture of mastery. The bull is rendered in fine archaic relief with careful anatomical detail, its head turned frontally. The ethnic legend ΟΡΡΕ–Σ–ΚΙΟΝ is distributed around the field in archaic Greek characters. The entire design is enclosed within a beaded border, executed in the robust early Classical hammered style characteristic of Thraco-Macedonian silver coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Deep quadripartite incuse square divided by raised ridges into four equal recessed compartments arranged in a cruciform pattern, each compartment with a flat, slightly granular surface. This characteristic incuse reverse is typical of early Thraco-Macedonian octodrachms struck by the tribes of the Pangaion region in the early fifth century BC, functioning as the anvil die impression. No legend or subsidiary devices are present. |
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| Additional information |
The Orreskioi were a Thracian tribal people whose coins are documented almost entirely through a handful of surviving specimens. This octodrachm belongs to a class of large silver issues produced by several Thracian and Macedonian tribes in the decades immediately following the Persian Wars, when disrupted trade networks and the sudden withdrawal of Achaemenid influence created both the need and the opportunity for local authorities to assert coinage rights. The specific tribal identification rests on inscription evidence rather than any independent ancient literary source.