Thebes struck these staters during the city's brief but extraordinary period of Panhellenic dominance following the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC, when Epaminondas shattered Spartan military supremacy and left Thebes the preeminent land power in Greece. The magistrate name Arka appearing on this issue places it within a narrow administrative window, cross-referenced across the BCD and Hepworth sequences, that corresponds closely with the height of Theban hegemony under the Boeotian League's reorganized coinage authority.
The SNG Copenhagen comparison piece catalogued as a variant suggests minor die differences exist within this magistrate's issues — not unusual given the relatively small output expected from a city whose silver coinage was always secondary to its military ambitions.
Thebes struck these staters during the city's brief but extraordinary period of Panhellenic dominance following the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC, when Epaminondas shattered Spartan military supremacy and left Thebes the preeminent land power in Greece. The magistrate name Arka appearing on this issue places it within a narrow administrative window, cross-referenced across the BCD and Hepworth sequences, that corresponds closely with the height of Theban hegemony under the Boeotian League's reorganized coinage authority.
The SNG Copenhagen comparison piece catalogued as a variant suggests minor die differences exist within this magistrate's issues — not unusual given the relatively small output expected from a city whose silver coinage was always secondary to its military ambitions.