TETRACHALKON: COIN OF LAODIKEIA
Tetrachalkon, 133-67 BC: Laodikeia (Phrygia)
Phrygia — kingdom in the west-central part of Anatolia (now Asian Turkey). Historically, the coins of this distinctive highly developed nation are referred by modern researchers to the numismatic section "Greece" (close connection between the two Greek-speaking peoples at that time).
ΛAOΔIKEΩN: Laodikeia.
Double cornucopia filled with vegetables and fruits.
Goddess of beauty and love Aphrodite or Laodice (wife of King Antiochus II).
- Bronze: 18 mm - 8.98 g
- Reference price: 19$
COIN TETRACHALKON — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- ANCIENT WORLD (starting from the 5th century BC) — a number of different issuers on the territory of ancient Eurasia (ancient Greece, dependent territories and lands closely connected economically with the Greeks): tetrachalkon = 4 chalkon
TETRACHALKON as coin name.
Tetrachalkon (Greek "τετραχαλκον") — ancient Greek coin worth 4 chalkon. It was made of copper / bronze.
Approximately from the 5th century BC in the lands of Ancient Greece the issue of chalkons, — very small bronze coins — started. Gradually, fractional denominations appeared: hemichalkon (½ chalkon), dichalkon (2 chalkon), trichalkon (3 chalkon), tetrachalkon (4 chalkon), pentachalkon (5 chalkon), octochalkon (8 chalkon), dekachalkon (10 chalkon).
The following ratio between ancient Greek coins was common: 1 obol = octochalkon; 1 drachm = 6 obols. The tetrachalkon coin, respectively, was equal to 1/2 obol or 1/12 drachm.
Tetrachalkons were issued by various Greek city-states: Achaean League, Arcadia, Olympia, Laconia, Macedonian Kingdom, Gambrium, Kingdom of Pontus, Hellenistic Egypt, Laodicea, Thessaly... The coin was also issued in the lands of modern Ukraine (my state). The tetrachalkon of the Panticapaeum is considered the most widespread among domestic numismatists.
My attempts to find common features for all tetrachalkons proved futile. The analysis of various numismatic catalogs allows to draw the following conclusion: this coin was always made of bronze, but its weight varied greatly depending on the historical period and the issuer — there are specimens from barely more than 3 to almost 44 grams. Too large-scale discrepancies...
Therefore, personally, it is not clear to me: how this or that coin is attributed to chalkons, tetrachalkons, octochalkons... Currently, collectors obviously use numismatic catalogs. Everything is clear there. However, the question of how the compilers of the catalogs identified this or that coin remains open.
The absolute majority of coins (with a rare exception), which are called tetrachalkon on the Internet, date back to the period before the birth of Christ.
The name of the coin tetrachalkon literally translated from Greek means "four chalkons".
