Tetartemorion

Kyzikos was one of the ancient world's most prolific and commercially sophisticated mints, sitting astride the Propontis trade routes connecting the Aegean to the Black Sea. Its fractional silver — including pieces this small — functioned as genuine small-change currency in a port economy that needed every denomination. At 0.22 g, this tetartemorion represents one quarter of an obol, itself one sixth of a drachm: the arithmetic of everyday Greek commerce reduced to a nearly invisible silver flake.

The city's mint output was remarkably consistent through the fifth century, a discipline unusual among contemporaries.