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Tetradrachm
| Issuer | Eretria (Euboia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 525 BC - 500 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | 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 |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | An octopus is depicted centrally within a shallow square incuse punch, its rounded mantle at the top and eight tentacles symmetrically splayed and curling outward with decorative volutes at their tips. The rendering is stylized yet naturalistic, displaying the confident draftsmanship typical of late Archaic Greek coinage. The incuse square, a hallmark of early Greek silver coinage, frames the design with clean, recessed borders. The field within the incuse is plain, focusing all visual emphasis on the boldly modeled cephalopod, which served as a civic badge of Eretria. |
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| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Eretria was among the wealthiest poleis of the Euboian league during the late Archaic period, its silver coinage circulating across the Aegean on the strength of the city's commercial reach. That prosperity ended abruptly in 490 BC when Persian forces razed the city, deported its surviving population to Cissia in the Persian interior, and left the site effectively abandoned for years. Any specimen from this issue was struck during — or just before — that destruction, giving the production window a hard terminus that no other historical inference can sharpen.