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Tetartemorion
| Issuer | Mykalessos |
|---|---|
| Year | 400 BC - 375 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 0.22 g |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Vertical thunderbolt depicted centrally within a shallow concave incuse circle, flanked by the Greek letters M (mu) to the left and Y (upsilon) to the right, forming the abbreviated ethnic MY for Mykalessos. The thunderbolt is rendered in a stylized form with radiating volutes at top and bottom. The incuse circle provides a defined field, a common reverse treatment on diminutive silver fractions of this period. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | ΜΥ |
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| Additional information |
Mykalessos, a small Boeotian town near the coast, was the site of one of the most savage atrocities of the Peloponnesian War — in 413 BC, Thracian mercenaries en route to Sicily sacked the city and massacred its population, including children in their schoolrooms. That the town recovered sufficiently to strike its own silver coinage within a generation is itself remarkable. At 0.22g, the tetartemorion was the smallest practical unit of ancient Greek silver coinage, fractional currency for the most granular commercial transactions a local economy could produce.