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Tetrachalkon - Megara
| Issuer | Megara |
|---|---|
| Year | 400 BC - 338 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A seven-stringed lyre depicted centrally in the field, rendered in a schematic yet recognizable manner consistent with fourth-century BC Greek bronze coinage. The ethnic inscription MEΓAΡEΩN is divided around the central type, with MEΓA appearing to the right and ΡEΩN to the left, identifying the issuing city of Megara. The design is executed in low relief, and the coin exhibits an irregular flan typical of hammered municipal bronze issues of the period. |
| Reverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Megara's copper coinage of this period was struck by a city perpetually caught between larger powers — Corinth to the west, Athens to the east, and Sparta asserting dominance across the Isthmus throughout the early fourth century. The city had lost its colony Byzantium decades earlier and never recovered the commercial weight it once held. These small bronzes served local exchange in a polis that was politically diminished but still functioning as a transit point on the Corinthian road.
The BMC Greek and McClean references both place this type firmly within the civic bronze issues produced before Philip II's reorganization of Greek affairs following Chaeronea in 338 BC — the terminal date for this series.