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Stater
| Issuer | Teos (Ionia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 510 BC - 490 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A deep quadripartite incuse square occupies the entire reverse field, divided by two perpendicular raised ridges into four recessed compartments of roughly equal size, characteristic of early Archaic Greek coinage struck by the mill-and-punch technique. The incuse impression is boldly sunk and shows an irregular, slightly asymmetric outline consistent with hand-hammered production. The four quadrants display varying surface textures resulting from the punch tool, with no subsidiary devices or inscriptions present. This simple reverse type is wholly functional in origin, serving to grip the flan during striking and to distribute metal evenly across the obverse die. |
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| Mint | Teos |
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| Additional information |
Teos occupied an uncomfortable position in the late sixth century: a prosperous Ionian port city caught between Persian imperial expansion and the Greek world's fractured resistance. After Cyrus's conquest of Ionia in the 540s, Teos became one of the few poleis that responded by mass emigration — a portion of its population sailed north to found Abdera in Thrace rather than submit to Achaemenid rule. The staters struck in the decades bracketing 500 BC were therefore produced under Persian suzerainty, likely by a community still recovering from that demographic rupture.
The Balcer sequence places this piece within the earliest classifiable die groups for the series.