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Tetradrachm Sattelkopfpferd Type
| Issuer | Dacians of Muntenia |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse description | Highly stylized depiction of a galloping horse to the left, characteristic of the Sattelkopfpferd ('saddle-head horse') type, in which the horse's neck and head are rendered as a bold angular saddle-like form. The body is a rounded mass with four legs represented by elongated lines terminating in prominent globular pellets, evoking a sense of motion. A curved element above the horse's back may represent a rider's whip or tail. The design is entirely devoid of inscription or legend, reflecting the abstract, non-epigraphic Dacian imitative style derived from Philip II of Macedon tetradrachm prototypes. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Sattelkopfpferd ("saddle-head horse") group represents one of the final stages in the long degeneration of Macedonian tetradrachm types as they were copied, recopied, and abstracted by Celtic and Dacian workshops in the Carpathian basin. By the time Muntenian Dacian moneyers were producing this type, the prototypes had passed through so many generational removes from their Macedonian originals that the iconographic connection was essentially lost to the die-cutters themselves. What survived was a local visual vocabulary, not imitation.
The specific die references across Kostial, Pink, and Preda reflect decades of scholarly effort to untangle overlapping regional series — attribution to Muntenia rather than neighboring Transylvanian or Oltenian groups rests primarily on findspot concentration data.