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Tetradrachm
| Issuer | Tenedos |
|---|---|
| Year | 100 BC - 70 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Janiform conjoined busts facing in opposite directions, depicted as a youthful male head facing right and a mature female head facing left, both rendered in high relief with finely detailed hair; the male bust wears a laurel wreath, while the female bust displays an elaborate coiffure with flowing locks. The design, a hallmark of Tenedian coinage, evokes the island's mythological identity and is executed in the Hellenistic style characteristic of the late second to early first century BC. The field is plain, with no encircling legend on this side. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A double-headed axe (labrys) with a broad, symmetrical blade set upon a long handle, centrally placed within the field; the instrument is flanked by a bunch of grapes to the lower left and a pomegranate or similar fruit to the lower right, both serving as secondary symbols of the island's fertility. The ethnic legend ΤΕΝΕΔΙΩΝ arches above the axe head in bold Greek characters. The entire composition is enclosed within a wreath of olive or laurel branches tied at the base, framing the design in the Hellenistic civic tradition. |
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| Additional information |
Tenedos, the small island off the Troad coast, occupied a strategic position controlling access to the Hellespont and extracted considerable revenue from ships passing toward the Black Sea. By the time these coins were struck, the island had long since lost any real political independence, passing through Macedonian and then Attalid hands before coming under Roman authority. The continued issue of civic coinage in this period reflects a municipally retained privilege rather than genuine autonomy.
The fabric on this series runs notably broad and thin for the weight — a consistent characteristic of late Tenedian silver, not a strike anomaly.