Stater

Teos, the Ionian coastal city best known as the birthplace of the lyric poet Anacreon, was also home to the technitai of Dionysus — a powerful guild of actors and musicians who held sacred status across the Greek world. This stater dates to a period when Teos was navigating the aftermath of Persian domination and its complicated relationship with the Delian League, paying tribute to Athens while maintaining enough civic autonomy to produce its own silver coinage. The city's access to Lydian trade routes kept its mint active even as neighboring poleis saw theirs decline.