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Stater
| Issuer | Melos (Cyclades) |
|---|---|
| Year | 440 BC - 416 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 14.31 g |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A fig leaf rendered in fine incuse relief, displayed symmetrically with a pronounced central midrib and deeply lobed outline, occupying the full field of the die. The leaf is enclosed within a partial dotted border visible at the upper portion of the flan. The field surrounding the leaf is recessed and granular in texture, consistent with fifth-century BC Cycladic hammered coinage technique. No legend is present. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Melos maintained its famous neutrality during the early Peloponnesian War, refusing alliance with either Athens or Sparta — a position Athens ultimately found intolerable. In 416 BC, the Athenians besieged the island, executed the adult male population, and sold the women and children into slavery. The episode is recorded with brutal clarity in Thucydides' Melian Dialogue. This stater was struck somewhere within the generation that ended with that annihilation, making the closing date of this series not a mint reform but an extinction.