Tetradrachm

Knossos struck tetradrachms of this type during the final, turbulent decades of Cretan independence, a period defined by chronic inter-city warfare and the island's notorious reputation as a haven for pirates — a reputation that drew Rome's eventual attention. The Cretan cities had long resisted Macedonian-style coinage but eventually adopted the Attic weight standard, partly to facilitate the mercenary trade in which Cretan archers were the most commercially valuable export in the Mediterranean world.

Roman general Quintus Caecilius Metellus ended Cretan autonomy entirely in 67 BC, earning the cognomen Creticus in the process. Coins of this type ceased with that conquest.