Tetrobol - Protes

Abdera's silver coinage was among the most artistically ambitious of any Thracian coastal city, a reputation built during a period of genuine commercial reach across the northern Aegean. The city operated a rotating magistrate system in which an annually appointed official — the "protes" — lent his name to the coin issue, making each emission administratively distinct. This practice was unusual enough that May's foundational study of Abderan coinage organized the entire series around it.

The dating window here falls squarely in the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War, when Abdera was navigating pressure from both Athens and the expanding Odrysian kingdom inland.