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Stater
| Issuer | Karpathos |
|---|---|
| Year | 500 BC - 490 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Silver |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Within a dotted square border, two large dolphins arranged in opposing orientation: the upper leaping to left and the lower leaping to right, their bodies rendered in archaic relief. A smaller third dolphin appears in the lower right field. Floral or rosette ornaments occupy the corners of the square border, filling the remaining field. The composition reflects the early Archaic artistic style characteristic of Dodecanesian island coinage. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A broad rectangular incuse punch divided horizontally into two parallel compartments by a raised median bar, creating a distinctive mill-sail or divided incuse pattern. Each compartment is filled with irregular striations and rough surface texture resulting from the punch strike. This type of divided rectangular incuse is characteristic of early Archaic Greek island coinage of the late sixth to early fifth century BC. |
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| Additional information |
Karpathos, the elongated island midway between Rhodes and Crete, operated largely in the shadow of its more powerful neighbors throughout the archaic period. Its coinage output was small and geographically isolated, which is precisely why survivorship is so poor. The BMC Greek reference points to a tiny corpus — the entire known series fits comfortably within a single catalog page.
Production almost certainly ceased as Achaemenid pressure reshaped Aegean trade networks in the decades following Darius I's Ionian campaigns.