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Stater
| Issuer | Melos (Cyclades) |
|---|---|
| Year | 440 BC - 416 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Silver Stater (3) |
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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 | An apple depicted in high relief at center, rendered in a stylized archaic manner characteristic of Cycladic coinage. The fruit is shown in frontal view with visible calyx segments radiating outward, serving as the principal type and civic emblem of Melos, whose name in Greek (melon) signifies apple. The field surrounding the device is broad and largely plain, with the irregular flan exhibiting typical characteristics of hand-struck hammered coinage of the fifth century BC. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Mintage | ND (440 BC - 416 BC) |
| Additional information |
Melos maintained its independence from the Athenian-dominated Delian League longer than most Aegean island communities, a position that ended catastrophically in 416 BC when Athens dispatched a fleet to force submission. The island's refusal, and the Athenian response — execution of the adult male population and enslavement of the remainder — was recorded by Thucydides as one of the starkest illustrations of imperial power in the ancient world. Staters struck in the decades before that destruction are among the few surviving artifacts of a functioning Melian civic economy.