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Tetartemorion
| Issuer | Tegea |
|---|---|
| Year | 423 BC - 400 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 0.27 g |
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| Obverse description | Helmeted head of Athena in left profile, rendered in archaic Greek style on this diminutive flan. The goddess wears a Corinthian helmet pushed back to reveal the face, with the helmet crest visible above the crown. The facial features are summarily but distinctly rendered given the small module, with the eye shown in early profile convention. The field is plain, and the irregular flan edge is characteristic of hand-struck fractional coinage of the period. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Tegea's fractional silver coinage was struck during a period when the city remained one of Sparta's most reliable Peloponnesian League allies, though that loyalty had not always been stable — Tegea had briefly flirted with an anti-Spartan alliance in the 470s before being brought back into line by force. At roughly a quarter-obol, this denomination was the smallest practical unit in daily exchange, used for transactions too minor to bother with larger silver.
The BCD collection specimen, lot 1721, is among the better-documented examples of this type.