Tetrachalkon

Rhodes issued bronze coinage throughout the third century BC to handle small commercial transactions that silver fractions made impractical, particularly in the busy harbor market at the city of Rhodes itself — one of the most active entrepôts in the eastern Mediterranean. The tetrachalkon denomination sat at the lower end of everyday exchange, the kind of coin lost in a market stall rather than hoarded.

The period 230–205 BC coincides with Rhodes navigating the volatile fallout of the First and Second Macedonian Wars, maintaining its carefully managed neutrality while growing wealthy on the grain trade from the Black Sea.