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Tetradrachm
| Issuer | Damastion (Illyria) |
|---|---|
| Year | 340 BC - 330 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A Delphic tripod cauldron set on a low base, rendered frontally with three leonine feet and a prominent bowl above a circular knop on the central shaft. Swastika symbols occupy the inner fields to the lower left and lower right of the tripod, serving as decorative or apotropaic devices. The ethnic legend ΔΑΜΑΣΤΙΝΩΝ (of the Damastioi) is inscribed in Greek characters, reading vertically along the left side of the field. The composition is bold and well-centered, consistent with the civic coinage tradition of the Illyrian mining center of Damastion. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Damastion was a mining settlement in the silver-rich interior of Illyria, likely located in the region of modern North Macedonia or western Bulgaria — its exact site remains unconfirmed. The city owed its entire monetary existence to the local mines, and ceased issuing coinage once those resources were exhausted or the settlement collapsed, probably before 300 BC. The tetradrachm series is consequently tight and finite.
May's die study identified only a small number of obverse dies across the full Damastion sequence, making this among the more quantifiably rare civic coinages of the northern Aegean periphery.