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Tetradrachm - Polykrates
| Issuer | Abdera |
|---|---|
| Year | 386 BC - 375 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Silver |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Artemis advancing to right, depicted in flowing robes, holding a bow and arrow in her left hand and a laurel branch in her right hand; below her, a stag stands to the right, its head lowered as it nibbles upon a branch. The entire design is set within a shallow incuse square, a hallmark of early Thracian coinage. The magistrate's name ΠΟΛΥΚΡΑΤΗΣ is inscribed in Greek letters within the incuse field, identifying the issuing authority responsible for this emission. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Abdera's tetradrachms from this period reflect the city's unusual monetary confidence for a Thracian coastal polis — the mint maintained high silver standards well into the fourth century despite repeated disruptions, including the Triballi raids that periodically devastated the city's hinterland. The magistrate name Polykrates appears on this issue as part of Abdera's distinctive practice of naming a local official on each emission, a administrative habit that makes the coinage unusually traceable by issue sequence.
May's 1966 corpus remains the definitive reference for this series, and his die study placed #458 within a tightly clustered group sharing obverse die links with only a handful of other magistrate issues from the same decade.