Catalog
Stater - Menes
| Issuer | Phaselis (Lycia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 250 BC - 220 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Prow of a war galley (trireme) advancing to the right, rendered in profile with the characteristic ram projecting forward and the hull planking indicated by incised horizontal lines. In the lower field, a seahorse facing right serves as a subsidiary device, its curled tail and segmented body rendered with fine detail. The composition fills the flan with bold relief typical of Lycian silver coinage of the Hellenistic period. The field is otherwise plain, with no legend present on this face. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Stern of a war galley (trireme) to the left, depicted with the aphlaston curving upward and the oar-bank rendered as a row of projecting strokes along the hull. Above the vessel, the magistrate's name and the city ethnic are inscribed in two lines in Greek characters: ΜΕΝΗΣ above and ΦΑΣΗ below, identifying the issuing magistrate Menes and the mint city of Phaselis. The bold, somewhat archaic letterforms are characteristic of Lycian civic coinage of the mid-Hellenistic period. The overall design is crisp and confidently struck within the irregular flan. |
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| Additional information |
Phaselis occupied an unusual position among Lycian cities — founded, according to tradition, by Rhodian colonists, it maintained closer commercial ties with the broader Greek world than with the Lycian League proper. By the mid-third century, the city was issuing coinage under magistrate names, of which Menes represents one of the better-documented series. The Heipp-Tamer typology for Phaselian staters established that these magistrate issues were sequential rather than concurrent, helping anchor the chronology of the entire civic series.