Tetradrachm Pi Type

The "Pi type" designation comes from the distinctive arrangement of pellets or linear elements beneath the horse on the reverse, read by early catalogers as resembling the Greek letter — a shorthand that stuck despite ongoing disagreement about whether the similarity is intentional or coincidental. These coins circulated across a broad arc of the middle Danube region, where Celtic tribes absorbed and progressively abstracted the Macedonian tetradrachm of Philip II over several generations of die-cutting, each workshop moving further from the prototype.

Attribution to a specific tribe remains unresolved. The Kostial references cover two distinct die groups within this type.