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Stater
| Issuer | Miletos |
|---|---|
| Year | 530 BC - 500 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Drachm |
| 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 |
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| Obverse description | Forepart of a roaring lion facing right in high relief, the mane rendered with finely stippled, scale-like detailing characteristic of Archaic Ionian die-cutting. The lion's head is turned to face the viewer in a three-quarter perspective, mouth agape, with a prominent round eye visible to the upper right of the muzzle. The flan is irregular and slightly domed, typical of early Milesian hammered coinage, with no legend or inscription present in the field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | An ornate floral rosette of eight petals radiating symmetrically from a raised central boss, rendered in incuse within a square incuse punch with clearly defined rectilinear borders. Each petal terminates in a rounded droplet form, with tapering linear extensions between the petals creating a star-like appearance. The enclosing square frame is sharply impressed into the flan, sitting within a broader raised and smoothly burnished round border. No legend or inscription appears on the reverse, consistent with the anepigraphic tradition of early Milesian silver coinage. |
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| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
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| Additional information |
Miletos sat at the commercial heart of the Aegean world during this period, and its early coinage circulated as far as the Black Sea colonies and into Egypt via Greek mercenary payments. The city's electrum fractions had already been in use for decades before silver staters of this weight standard became the dominant trading instrument. This issue falls within the generation that produced Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes — a coincidence that has given Milesian coinage an outsized presence in histories of early Greek philosophy as well as numismatics.
The stater follows the Milesian weight standard of roughly 11.9g, distinct from the Aeginetan and Euboic-Attic standards competing for dominance in the same decades.