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Tetradrachm
| Issuer | Samos |
|---|---|
| Year | 477 BC - 460 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Silver |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Head of a bull facing right, rendered in profile with finely detailed musculature and a dotted border along the left edge of the incuse square. Above the bull's head, a Corinthian helmet faces right. The composition is set within a recessed square incuse field, a hallmark of early Greek silver coinage, with no legend present. |
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| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | ND (477 BC - 460 BC) |
| Additional information |
Samos in this period was navigating a precarious position within the Delian League — nominally an ally of Athens but one of the few member states still contributing warships rather than tribute, which preserved a degree of autonomy that smaller islands had already surrendered. That independence is visible in the mint's output: Samian coinage of the 470s and 460s maintains its own weight standard and iconographic tradition rather than conforming to Athenian pressure. The island's naval power, demonstrated at the Battle of Lade in 494 BC even in defeat, underwrote the commercial reach that made tetradrachms like this one viable instruments of eastern Aegean trade.