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Stater
| Issuer | Knossos |
|---|---|
| Year | 360 BC - 320 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 10.92 g |
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| Obverse description | Head of a youthful male deity, most likely Apollo, facing right, depicted in fine Classical Greek style with flowing hair bound by a laurel wreath. The facial features are rendered with naturalistic precision, showing a straight nose, slightly parted lips, and a strong jaw. The hair falls in loose, detailed locks behind the neck. The field is plain, with no legend or inscription. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Mintage | ND (360 BC - 320 BC) |
| Additional information |
Knossos in the fourth century BC was trading heavily on a mythological identity it had been cultivating for centuries — the Minotaur legend was not incidental local folklore but an active political and commercial brand. The city had long ceased to be the Bronze Age palace-centre of Minoan civilization, yet its civic coinage consistently exploited that deep ancestry to assert prestige among Cretan poleis competing for regional dominance.
The Svoronos Cr#45 classification places this piece within a well-documented sequence, though die linkage studies by later scholars have revealed considerable variety within the type — attribution to a specific die pairing can affect collector valuation significantly.