Tetradrachm caduceus

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.