Speaker
Description
The small silver uninscribed coins showing a lion protome on the obverse and a quadripartite incuse square on the reverse are known in the numismatic literature as “the hemidrachms of the Thracian Chersonese''. They form one of the main currencies in Thrace during the 4th century BC. Only recently their intensive issue, together with the other poleis on the peninsula, has been revisited in some new studies (cf. Peter van Alfen, Selene Psoma, Angela Berthold, Boryana Russeva, and the author of this presentation). The publicationof several important hoards containing Chersonesan coins now makes it possible to address questions about the typology (distinguishing at least 200 coin groups) or narrow down the dating of these coins. The present study offers some observations with regard to the next level of inquiry: which authority is behind this copious coinage, and what are the reasons for its introduction.
