Trihemiobol

Mytilene, the dominant polis of Lesbos, operated one of the Aegean's most active mints during the late Archaic period, issuing a coherent series of electrum and silver fractions that served the commercial traffic passing through the straits between the island and the Anatolian coast. The trihemiobol sits at the lower end of that fractional silver series, almost certainly produced to facilitate small-denomination exchange in markets and ports rather than tribute or state payment.

The dating bracket places this coin across the Ionian Revolt and its brutal suppression by Persia in 494 BC — a period during which Mytilene's political and commercial relationships shifted considerably.