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Tetradrachm - Mausolus Halikarnassos
| Issuer | Caria, Achaemenid Satrapy of |
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| Year | 377 BC - 353 BC |
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| Currency | Drachm (550-330 BCE) |
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| Obverse description | Laureate head of Apollo rendered in three-quarter facing view, turned slightly to the right, executed in the refined late Classical style characteristic of Karian dynastic coinage. The deity's features are idealised with full lips and deeply modelled brow, the laurel wreath encircling the hair in precise detail. A light drapery is visible at the neck, suggesting a himation. The portraiture displays strong Rhodian stylistic influence, reflecting the artistic milieu of the Halikarnassos mint under Mausolus. |
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| Mintage | ND (377 BC - 353 BC) |
| Additional information |
Mausolus governed Caria as a satrap under Achaemenid authority but spent his reign systematically behaving like an independent dynast — relocating his capital from Mylasa to Halikarnassos around 370 BC, sponsoring Greek-style civic institutions, and commissioning the tomb that gave the word "mausoleum" to every language that followed. This coinage reflects that ambiguity precisely: a satrap issuing on the Rhodian weight standard, positioning Caria within Aegean trade networks rather than toward Persia.
His coinage continued under his widow Artemisia II after his death in 353 BC, making precise attribution of late-reign dies genuinely difficult.