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Tetradrachm
| Issuer | Tenedos |
|---|---|
| Year | 100 BC - 80 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Tetradrachm (4) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Janiform (double-faced) head depicted in opposing profile: a laureate bearded male facing left and a female wearing a stephanos facing right, rendered in the Hellenistic style characteristic of late Republican-period island coinage. The two effigies share a single neck, a hallmark of Tenedian iconography. The modeling of the male face shows careful attention to the beard and laurel wreath, while the female portrait displays refined drapery at the neckline. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central device is a double-headed axe (labrys), the emblematic symbol of Tenedos, set vertically in the field. The legend TENEΔIΩN arcs above. To the left appear a monogram and a bunch of grapes; to the right stands Athena Promachos in frontal pose, helmeted and armed. The entire composition is enclosed within a wreath of laurel, framing all subsidiary devices and the inscription in the Hellenistic fashion. |
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| Additional information |
Tenedos, the small Aegean island near the mouth of the Hellespont, owed its monetary significance almost entirely to geography. Ships passing between the Aegean and the Black Sea were subject to Tenedian tolls and harbor fees, giving the island an economic punch far exceeding its size. These late Hellenistic tetradrachms were struck precisely when that leverage was fading — Rhodes and Rome were tightening their grip on Aegean trade routes, and the island's independent coinage would not survive much further into the first century.
The HGC 6, 390 classification covers a relatively tight chronological window, and surviving examples are scarce enough that auction appearances remain infrequent even in major sales.