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Tetradrachm
| Issuer | Rhodes |
|---|---|
| Year | 408 BC - 400 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A rose in full bloom, the civic badge of Rhodes, occupies the central field with a budding lateral shoot extending to the right. Above the rose, the ethnic inscription ΡΟΔΙΟΝ is arranged in two lines. To the left of the rose, the magistrate's control mark Φ appears above a phiale (libation bowl). The entire composition is framed within a square incuse punch, a technique characteristic of early Greek coinage, contrasting the raised obverse design with a recessed reverse. |
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| Reverse lettering | ΡΟΔΙΟΝ Φ |
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| Additional information |
Rhodes consolidated its three major city-states — Ialysos, Kamiros, and Lindos — into a single federal state in 408 BC, and the new capital city of Rhodes was founded simultaneously. This tetradrachm belongs to the very first coinage issued by that unified polis, making it a product of the founding moment itself rather than a mature civic tradition. The type predates the island's entanglement with the shifting loyalties of the Corinthian War and the subsequent Persian pressure on Aegean autonomy.
Ashton's classification of this specific issue places it within the earliest emission sequence, where die links are tight and surviving specimens relatively few.