See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration! or register with email

Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!

Tetradrachm

Issuer Mende (Macedon)
Year 460 BC - 423 BC
Type Log in to see details
Value Log in to see details
Currency Attic drachm
Composition Log in to see details
Weight Log in to see details
Diameter Log in to see details
Thickness Log in to see details
Shape Log in to see details
Technique Log in to see details
Orientation Log in to see details
Engraver(s) Log in to see details
In circulation to Log in to see details
Reference(s) Log in to see details
Obverse description Inebriated Dionysos reclines leftward upon the back of a donkey walking right, his body languidly draped as he holds a kantharos in his outstretched hand. The god is rendered in a naturalistic archaic style characteristic of early Classical Macedonian coinage. A bird, likely a crow or raven — a creature associated with Dionysos — stands right on an ivy branch in the right field. The composition conveys the god's divine intoxication with expressive vitality, a hallmark of Mendean numismatic art.
Obverse script Log in to see details
Obverse lettering Log in to see details
Reverse description Within a deeply recessed incuse square, a stylized grapevine bears six prominent grape clusters arranged symmetrically around a central trunk with branching tendrils, rendered in a bold and decorative manner. The ethnic legend ΜΕΝΔΑΙΟΝ is arrayed around the vine, with individual letters distributed within the corners and borders of the incuse square. The stark, geometric framing of the incuse contrasts effectively with the organic form of the vine, reflecting the distinctive artistic sensibility of the Mende mint. The overall reverse design serves as a direct allusion to the city's fame as a wine-producing region in the Chalcidian peninsula.
Reverse script Log in to see details
Reverse lettering Log in to see details
Edge Log in to see details
Mint Mende, Chalcidian District, modern-day Kalandra, Greece
Mintage Log in to see details
Additional information Log in to see details

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE