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Tetradrachm Kapostal Type
| Issuer | Hercuniates |
|---|---|
| Year | 200 BC - 1 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Celticised laureate and bearded head of Zeus facing right, rendered in a strongly abstracted La Tène artistic style. The hair is depicted as a series of bold, parallel wavy ridges sweeping back from the brow, while the laurel wreath is reduced to schematic leaf forms above the cranium. The eye is rendered as a prominent spherical pellet, and the beard is indicated by a field of granular bosses across the chin and jaw. A border of large pellets encircles the design, a characteristic feature of the Kapostal type series. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Hercuniates were a Celtic tribe settled in the region of Pannonia, roughly corresponding to modern western Hungary and eastern Austria. Their coinage derives from Macedonian prototypes absorbed through trade and military contact, with the Kapostal type representing a late phase of this tradition — the abstract stylization so extreme by this point that the original Macedonian source types are barely legible. This devolution was deliberate, not degradation; Celtic die-cutters were working within their own visual grammar, not failing to copy Greek models.