Stater

Kyzikos, the prosperous Propontic city on the southern shore of the Sea of Marmara, dominated electrum stater production throughout the fifth century BC to a degree unmatched by any other mint in the Greek world. The city's coinage functioned less as local currency than as a widely trusted mercantile instrument, circulating across the Aegean and into the Black Sea trade networks. Athenian naval commanders are known to have paid mercenaries in Kyzikenoi, as these staters were called.

The electrum used at Kyzikos was not naturally occurring but artificially alloyed, giving the city direct control over fineness — a deliberate policy that underpinned the coinage's remarkable commercial credibility for well over a century.