Catalog
| Issuer | Soloi |
|---|---|
| Year | 500 BC - 480 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Siglos (1) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Facing Gorgoneion depicted in high relief, presenting the characteristic apotropaic visage with wide-staring eyes, broad flat nose, and protruding tongue flanked by prominent fangs; coiling serpents frame the face on either side. The design fills the roughly square field of the hammered flan, rendered in the bold archaic manner typical of late 6th to early 5th century BC Cypriot mint production. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Soloi was one of the ten kingdoms of ancient Cyprus, and its coins from this period reflect the island's position between competing Greek and Persian spheres of influence. The siglos denomination itself was Persian in origin, adopted across the eastern Mediterranean as Achaemenid commercial reach expanded westward. Zapiti & Michaelidou's cataloguing of this type remains the standard reference for Cypriot coinage, their work drawing heavily on hoards recovered from the island in the late twentieth century.