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Tetradrachm - Mandronax
| Issuer | Abdera |
|---|---|
| Year | 473 BC - 448 BC |
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| Composition | Silver |
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| Obverse description | Griffin advancing left in high relief, depicted with wings spread and right foreleg raised in a striding pose. The creature is rendered with careful attention to anatomical detail characteristic of Abderite coinage. In the left field, an eight-rayed star with a pellet between each ray serves as a control symbol. The composition fills the flan in the bold, confident style typical of Thracian mint production of the early Classical period. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Abdera's tetradrachms from this period follow the magistrate-naming convention common to Thracian coastal mints, with the name Mandronax identifying the issuing official responsible for this emission — a practice that makes Abderite coinage unusually traceable compared to most contemporary Greek civic issues. The city had been refounded around 545 BC by Tean colonists fleeing the Persian advance under Harpagus, and it flourished quickly enough on Thracian silver trade routes to sustain a prolific and high-quality mint within a generation.
May's classification in the Abdera corpus places these pieces within a tightly sequenced die study; #182-183 represent a narrow emission window within what was already a politically turbulent stretch for the northern Aegean, coinciding with the consolidation of Athenian league tribute pressure on allied and quasi-allied mints.