Tetras

Kroton's bronze coinage emerged late relative to its silver issues, and the tetras — worth three onkiai — occupied the lowest practical denomination in daily Italiote exchange. This particular issue dates to a period of severe pressure on the city: Kroton spent much of the late fifth and early fourth centuries contending with Dionysios I of Syracuse, whose campaigns across Magna Graecia disrupted trade networks and forced many poleis into economic contraction. That bronze small change was struck at all during this interval suggests the city retained enough civic infrastructure to maintain a functioning mint.