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Stater
| Issuer | Kyzikos |
|---|---|
| Year | 450 BC - 330 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Electrum Stater (1) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Quadripartite incuse square, divided into four recessed compartments of alternating raised and sunken relief, the surfaces exhibiting a distinctive mill-grained or striated texture characteristic of Kyzikene electrum staters of the 5th–4th centuries BC. The incuse design is deeply struck and irregular in outline, consistent with the hand-hammered production technique of the period. No legend or inscription is present. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | ND - 5th-4th centuries BC |
| Additional information |
Kyzikos, a Milesian colony on the Propontis, dominated electrum coinage production in the eastern Aegean for roughly two centuries, issuing an extraordinary variety of stater types — each distinguished by a changing obverse type while the tunny fish remained constant on the reverse. The city's position on critical trade routes between the Black Sea and the Aegean made Kyzikenoi, as these staters were collectively known, the preferred currency for mercenary payment throughout the fifth and fourth centuries, referenced explicitly in Athenian naval records and Spartan campaign accounts.
The specific type catalogued across Greenwell, Von Fritze, and the major museum collections places it within a well-documented sequence, though exact die relationships across these reference corpora remain debated.