Stater

Kyzikos controlled one of the most strategically positioned mints in the ancient Greek world, sitting astride the Propontis trade routes where Aegean commerce funneled toward the Black Sea. The city's electrum staters circulated as a trusted international currency across the eastern Mediterranean and into Persia, valued partly because Kyzikene electrum consistently ran higher in gold content than the natural alloy from Lydian sources. Athens, Sparta, and various Persian satraps all used these coins to pay mercenaries and settle large debts when their own currencies lacked the reach.

Production ran continuously for over a century, with each issue distinguished by a changing reverse type — a practice that has allowed scholars to build a rough chronology despite the absence of mint dates. Von Fritze's classification remains the foundational sequence for that work.