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Tetradrachm caduceus
| Issuer | Kyzikos |
|---|---|
| Year | 390 BC - 341 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Left-facing lion's head depicted with open jaws and protruding tongue, rendered in bold and vigorous style characteristic of Kyzikene coinage of the period. Beneath the lion's head, a tunny fish swims to the left, serving as the civic badge of Kyzikos and a standard reverse device on the city's issues. Behind the lion's head, a caduceus is placed vertically in the field, functioning as a secondary control symbol. The abbreviated ethnic ΚΥ ΞΙ appears in the field, denoting the issuing city of Kyzikos. The overall composition is dynamic and well-executed, consistent with the high artistic standard of late Classical Greek civic coinage. |
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| Reverse lettering | ΚΥ ΞΙ |
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| Additional information |
Kyzikos occupied a uniquely privileged position in 4th-century Aegean trade — the city operated two parallel currency systems simultaneously, issuing electrum staters for large-scale interstate commerce while producing silver tetradrachms like this one for regional transactions. The caduceus type falls within a period when Kyzikos was navigating the competing pressures of Persian satrapal authority and Athenian commercial interests, both of which had reason to keep the city's mint productive and its currency credible.
Von Fritze's classification of this type places it among the later civic silver issues, after the electrum coinage had begun its decline.