Circa 4th century BCE
AE 10 mm, 1.58 g, 12 h
Head of Athena to right, wearing crested Attic helmet.
Rev. ΠΗΔΑ-ΣΕΩΝ Owl with closed wings standing right, head facing.
H. von Aulock: Eine neue kleinasiatische Münzstätte: Pedasa (Pidasa) bei Milet, in: JNG 25 (1975), pp. 123-8
Ex collection of G. Plankenhorn
Coins from Pedasa are extremely rare and, until 2005, there was only one known in existence. That number has since blossomed into somewhere between ten and twenty, but they’re still extremely rare.
There are records showing that when Alexander the Great arrived, he gave it to Halikarnassos, most likely due to their friendship with him.
Herodotus provides a strange fact about the city, stating that they lived inland from Halikarnassos and, whenever something bad was about to happen to either them or their neighbors, the priestess of Athena would grow a beard. This happened three times. He also mentions that they were they only ones in Caria to hold out against the Media general Harpagos, due to an ambush they set for them on the road.
Another tale by a different ancient writer tells of a sacrifice to Zeus each year where a she-goat is led to its doom. The goat walked seventy stades to its slaughter, but always in front of its driver, so evidently it knew where it had to go. There were also two ravens who hung out at the sanctuary, with one having a white spot on its neck.