Tetradrachm

Rhodes issued this tetradrachm immediately following the synoikism of 408 BC, when the three major Rhodian city-states — Ialysos, Kamiros, and Lindos — merged to found the new city of Rhodes at the island's northern tip. The new polis required coinage that advertised its unified identity almost from the moment the city's streets were laid out. These are among the earliest issues from that new mint, produced within a narrow window before the type evolved.

The series falls during the Spartan hegemony over the Aegean following Athens' defeat, a period when Rhodian commercial interests aligned closely with Spartan naval power.