Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Trihemiobol
| Issuer | Delphi |
|---|---|
| Year | 500 BC - 450 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Round (irregular) |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Ram's head depicted in right profile, rendered in archaic Greek style with schematic facial features characteristic of the early Classical period. A dolphin in right profile appears below the ram's head in the lower field, serving as a civic symbol referencing Delphi's connection to Apollo and the sea. The flan is irregular and slightly convex, typical of early Archaic hammered coinage. No legend or inscription is present on this side. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Delphi's independent coinage is inseparable from the sanctuary's control over the Amphictyonic treasury and the extraordinary wealth flowing through it as pilgrims, city-states, and kings paid for oracular consultation and votive dedications. These small fractional pieces almost certainly facilitated transactions within the sanctuary precinct itself — payments to priests, purchases of sacrificial animals, fees for sacred services — rather than circulating widely in regional trade.
The BCD reference places this among the Lokris material, reflecting the geographic and numismatic complexity of classifying Phokian and Delphic issues, which specialists have debated for decades.