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Tetradrachm New style
| Issuer | Athens |
|---|---|
| Year | 136 BC - 135 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Helmeted head of Athena facing right, rendered in the late Classical Athenian style. The goddess wears a triple-crested Attic helmet with visor decorated by four horse protomes in relief, accompanied by a Pegasos and a curvilinear floral ornament on the bowl. Athena is further adorned with a pendant earring and a beaded necklace, reflecting the refined artistic sensibility characteristic of New Style Athenian coinage. |
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| Reverse description | Owl of Athena standing right with head facing front, perched atop an amphora; flanking the central device, the magistrates' names are rendered in two lines in the right field: HPA / API – ΣTOΦ / EΠIΣTP; in the left field, a club draped in a lion's skin is set over a bow in its case, serving as a secondary control symbol. On the amphora body appears the letter Λ with AN below, identifying a further control mark. The entire design is enclosed within an olive wreath, a hallmark of the New Style series. |
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| Additional information |
Athens transitioned to the "New Style" tetradrachm around 164 BC, abandoning the archaic "Wappenmünzen" owl coinage that had dominated Mediterranean trade for centuries. The new series introduced annual magistrate names and symbols, making individual issues datable with unusual precision — Thompson's monumental 1961 study remains the standard reference, assigning each emission to specific magistrate combinations. The 335j designation places this piece within a tightly defined group from a single controlling magistrate sequence.
By 136–135 BC, Athens was producing these coins partly to service obligations within the Delian League's financial networks, though Macedonian and Roman pressures had already reshaped Aegean trade considerably.