Tetradrachm - Herakles, Aristoph... and Mened...

This piece belongs to the "New Style" Athenian tetradrachm series introduced around 196 BC, which replaced the archaic "owl" coinage after roughly three centuries. The magistrate names partially preserved in the catalog title — Aristoph... and Mened... — correspond to the annual officers whose names authenticated each issue, a system that allows modern scholars to date these coins with unusual precision. Thompson's 1961 corpus remains the definitive reference, cross-linking die combinations to establish the sequence.

By the 130s BC, Athens was nominally free but effectively within Rome's orbit following the events of 168 BC.