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Tetrobol
| Issuer | Ainos (Thrace) |
|---|---|
| Year | 394 BC - 391 BC |
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| Currency | Drachm |
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| Obverse description | Facing head of Hermes rendered in three-quarter view, turned slightly to the left, with curling locks of hair framing the face and the brim of a petasus (broad-brimmed traveler's hat) visible along the upper edge of the effigy. The facial features are modeled with naturalistic detail characteristic of early fourth-century BCE Greek engraving, including well-defined eyes, a straight nose, and slightly parted lips. The field is plain, with no legend or additional devices. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse description | A goat standing in profile to the right, rendered with careful attention to musculature and fleece texture, occupying the center of a shallow incuse square. The legend ΑΙΝΙΟΝ, denoting the ethnic of Ainos, appears above the animal's back. A rhyton (drinking horn) is depicted in the lower right field of the incuse square, serving as a civic symbol of the mint city. The overall composition is characteristic of the mature Ainean series of the early fourth century BCE. |
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| Additional information |
Ainos sat at the mouth of the Hebros River on the Thracian coast, a position that made it commercially vital and strategically contested. The city's silver coinage — issued across a relatively narrow window before Thracian and later Macedonian pressures curtailed its independence — draws from the rich trade networks connecting the Aegean to the Thracian interior. The tetrobol denomination served everyday mercantile exchange rather than large transactions, and surviving examples circulated hard.
May's die study remains the authoritative reference for this series, with #364 placing this type precisely within the sequence of magistrate-controlled issues from the early fourth century.