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Tetradrachm
| Issuer | Mende (Macedon) |
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| Year | 450 BC - 430 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered, Incuse |
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| Obverse description | Dionysos, bearded and wreathed with ivy, nude to the waist and draped in a himation over the lower body, reclines in a relaxed posture upon the back of a walking donkey shown in profile to right. The god raises a cantharus in his right hand in a gesture of libation or revelry. Beneath the donkey's legs, a sinuous vine tendril bearing a bunch of grapes occupies the lower field, referencing the deity's association with viticulture. The composition is rendered with notable archaic vitality and fluid line work characteristic of the finest Macedonian mint production of the mid-fifth century BC. |
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| Reverse description | Within a slightly recessed square incuse, a central vine with three pendant bunches of grapes is depicted in relief, the motif echoing the Dionysiac theme of the obverse. Surrounding the incuse square, a broad raised band carries the ethnic legend ΜΕΝΔΙΟΝ distributed around the perimeter, identifying the issuing city of Mende. The bold, deeply cut incuse square and the careful arrangement of the legend reflect the mature competence of the Mendean die-cutters working within the conventions of late archaic Greek coinage. |
| Reverse script | Greek |
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