Tritartemorion

Massalia — the Greek colony founded by Phocaeans around 600 BC at the site of modern Marseille — produced fractional silver at remarkably small denominations from very early in its coining history, suggesting an active local market economy rather than purely interregional trade. The tritartemorion represents three-quarters of an obol, a division that most Greek mints never bothered to strike.

Phocaean refugees fleeing the Persian conquest of Ionia after 546 BC swelled the colony's population, likely accelerating both its commercial activity and its need for small change.