Stater

Lampsakos was among the most prolific issuers of gold staters in the fourth century, a position it held largely because the city sat at the narrowest crossing of the Hellespont and could extract tolls and tribute from every vessel moving between the Aegean and the Black Sea. That geography made it wealthy enough to sustain continuous gold coinage across decades when most Greek cities relied on silver. The Persians recognized the city's value too — Lampsakos had been granted to Themistocles by Artaxerxes I as one of his tribute cities, reportedly for his table wine.

The series to which this stater belongs ran from roughly the King's Peace of 387 BC until Alexander's arrival in 334 BC effectively ended the autonomous coinage.