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Stater
| Issuer | Chios (Ionia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 525 BC - 510 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | A sphinx, the civic badge of Chios, rendered in archaic Ionian style, seated in left profile upon a plain ground line, the body leonine with haunches turned to face the viewer. The creature raises its right forepaw in a characteristic striding pose, while the arched, elaborately striated wing rises prominently above the feline back, its feathers rendered in fine parallel ridges. The human head is shown in left profile, with long tresses falling before the chest, the facial features modelled in the bold, high-relief manner typical of late archaic electrum coinage. The design fills the irregular flan, with the raised relief standing out sharply against the unornamented field. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Chios was among the earliest Greek poleis to adopt electrum coinage, and its staters circulated widely across the Aegean trade network at a moment when the island's wine exports made it one of the wealthiest commercial centers in the eastern Greek world. The late sixth century dating places this issue squarely within the period of Achaemenid expansion into Ionia — Chios submitted to Persian authority following the Ionian Revolt's failure at Lade in 494, but coins of this type predate that capitulation, struck while the island still operated with full autonomy.
Mavrogordato's classification of this type remains the foundational reference for Chian electrum, his 1915 Numismatic Chronicle study still cited ahead of later corpora.