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Tetradrachm
| Issuer | Tenedos |
|---|---|
| Year | 100 BC - 75 BC |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Janiform double head, a distinctive iconographic type emblematic of Tenedos: to the left, a laureate and bearded male head identified as Zeus, and to the right, a diademed female head identified as Hera. The two portraits face outward in opposing directions and are rendered in the Hellenistic style, with finely detailed facial features and carefully delineated hair. The composition reflects the civic religious symbolism of the island of Tenedos in the Aegean. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A labrys (double-headed axe), the ancient symbol of Tenedos, depicted centrally within a finely engraved laurel wreath border. The legend ΤΕΝΕΔΙΩΝ arcs above the axe in Greek characters, identifying the issuing community. To the left of the axe appears a monogram alongside a bunch of grapes, and to the right a lyre, both serving as control marks or magistrate symbols. The overall composition is well-centred and characteristic of late Hellenistic civic coinage of the Troad region. |
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| Additional information |
Tenedos, a small island in the northern Aegean near the mouth of the Hellespont, derived its economic relevance almost entirely from its position as a transit point for Black Sea trade. By the late second century BC, the island was minting on the Attic weight standard — a deliberate alignment with the dominant commercial coinage of the eastern Mediterranean rather than any local tradition. The tetradrachm series to which this piece belongs coincides with a period of intensifying Roman involvement in the region following the collapse of Pergamene power after 133 BC.
Few Tenedian tetradrachms enter the market with firm provenance, and the CNGtype corpus lists only a handful of die combinations across the entire late series.