Nomos 7

THRACO-MACEDONIAN TRIBES, Bisaltai. Circa 475-465 BC. Oktadrachm (Silver, 28.68 g). CΙΣΑ ΛΤΙΚΩΝ (partially retrograde and inverted) Horse walking to right, its bridle held by a nude Hero, wearing petasos and holding two spears, who walks right, partially obscured by the horse. Rev. Quadripartite incuse square. AMNG III/2, 4 var. HPM pl. XI, 5-6 var. SNG Oxford 2242 var. Topalov 33. Rare. A very well preserved and well struck example in very good silver. A few very minor marks, otherwise, good extremely fine.

From the Mieza collection, ex Triton XI, 8 January 2008, 100.

The large denomination coins of the Bisaltai, as well as those of other tribal groups and of Alexander I of Macedon, were struck solely as a way of exporting the riches of the northern Greek silver mines, rather than for any form of normal daily use. The petasos-wearing hero on the obverse was a common type in both northern Greece and in Thessaly and is evocative of the horse-riding aristocracy that dominated those areas in archaic and classical times.