Stater - 90th Olympiad

The 90th Olympiad of 420 BC was politically poisoned before the games began. Sparta had been fined and barred from competing by the Eleans, who controlled the sanctuary, over a treaty violation involving an attack on Lepreon during the Olympic truce. Sparta threatened military intervention — armed Spartan soldiers were reportedly stationed at the sanctuary's edge — yet the games proceeded. Elis retained administrative control of the mint at Olympia, and these staters were struck under that same authority.

The HGC 5#343 classification places this within a well-documented sequence of Elean issues tied directly to festival cycles, not continuous civic production.