3rd – 2nd century BCE
AE 11mm 1.06g
Dolphin left /
Large Φ with spear-like tip.
Lindgren Coll. II 1764
Phalasarna was nearly as much of a tourist attraction in ancient times as it is now. Back then, the attraction was the closed port, or a port surrounded by city walls. Two artificial channels fed it.
Today, the attraction is the ruins themselves along with a beach that was recently ranked one of the top 100 in the world. However, back then the closed port was a major deal and led to significant wealth for the city, which thus allowed it to mint its own coins – such as this one.
What I find interesting is the Φ on the reverse with a point, as compared to most other coinage of the era that included a hero. I believe this is because the city existed solely because of the port. There was no mythical history that predated it, so they simply put the first name of the city on the coin. In terms of the obverse, dolphins were common on bronze coinage of the era.
For some time, ending in 290 BCE, Phalasarna fought a war with Polyrhenion.