Tetartemorion

Kolophon, one of the twelve Ionian cities, was among the earliest Greek mints to strike fractional silver at this extreme denomination — a quarter of an obol, itself already a fraction. At 0.14g, these pieces served real commercial need in a port economy where small transactions demanded hard currency smaller than most modern sequins. Kraay and Hirmer's classification of this type reflects decades of effort to untangle the dense, often undated output of Ionian mints whose civic autonomy was repeatedly interrupted by Persian administrative pressure following Cyrus's conquest of Lydia in 547 BC.