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Tetradrachm
| Issuer | Amphipolis, City of |
|---|---|
| Year | 362 BC - 361 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Facing head of Apollo rendered in the fine classical style, depicted frontally at center with a serene, youthful countenance. The god's long, wavy hair falls loosely to either side of the face, framing the features with naturalistic curls. A laurel wreath crowns the head, its leaves and berries rendered in careful relief. The portrait is executed with notable three-quarter plasticity characteristic of Macedonian coinage of the mid-fourth century BC. A beaded border runs along the coin's circumference. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A tall lighted torch set upright at center, depicted within a large incuse square that dominates the reverse field. The torch, rendered in fine relief, features a shallow bowl-shaped base and a flame rising from its tip, presented as the primary civic symbol of Amphipolis. Surrounding the torch, the ethnic legend ΑΜΦΙΠΟΛΙΤΕΩΝ is arranged in four segments along the inner edges of the incuse square, reading from the top and proceeding clockwise. The whole composition is framed by the deeply recessed square punch typical of early Macedonian silver coinage. |
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| Additional information |
Amphipolis sits on a bend of the Strymon River in Thrace, and its strategic position made it one of the most fought-over cities in the ancient Greek world — Athens lost it to Sparta in 422 BC and spent decades trying to recover it, ultimately failing. By 362–361 BC, the city was operating as an independent polis, just years before Philip II of Macedon seized it permanently in 357 BC, an annexation that triggered the long conflict between Macedon and Athens. These tetradrachms belong almost certainly to that final window of genuine civic autonomy.