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Trichalkon
| Issuer | Tegea (Arkadia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 230 BC - 170 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Athena, helmeted and draped, stands facing right, extending her right arm to present the severed head of Medusa to Sterope, who stands to the left in a long chiton with her arms outstretched to receive it. The scene references the local Tegean myth in which Athena gave Sterope the Gorgon's head to protect the city. The ethnic inscription ΤΕΓΕΑ appears in the field, divided on either side of the figures. The composition is rendered in a compact, summary style consistent with small bronze civic issues. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Tegea was one of the few Arkadian poleis to maintain a genuinely independent civic coinage deep into the Hellenistic period, resisting full absorption into Achaean League monetary conventions longer than most of its neighbors. The trichalkon denomination itself reflects a localized accounting system rooted in Arkadian bronze fractions rather than the Aeginetan or Attic weight standards that dominated much of the Peloponnese.
The BMC references cluster this type across a span suggesting continuous municipal production through some of the most disruptive decades in Peloponnesian history, including the Social War of 220–217 BC and the repeated Macedonian interventions that destabilized the region.