(Koinon of Aeiolis at Assos)
ca 310 BCE
Æ 10,3mm, 0.72g
Laureate head of female (Hera?) right /
Thunderbolt, grape bunch
Lenger type N, Khalkous
Where this city differentiated itself compared to all the other cities listed here is that it never existed, or at least that’s what most scholars believe today. Perhaps I wouldn’t have purchased this coin had I realized it, but it is a rare coin and has a bit of an interested history even though its city didn’t exist.
In terms of where it’s from, that too is debated. There has been some speculation that it’s Methymna on Lesbos, but others argue that it was minted by a confederation of Aeolis. That would still qualify this coin as a ‘separate city’. The main problem with that theory is there are no known inscriptions mentioning such a confederation.
Of the coins found in excavations, the majority came from Assos. While some have speculated that there could be an unknown city where these coins were minted, that too has been doused based on the unlikeliness there was any room for one.
Today, the general understanding is that these coins were minted in Assos, under the Koinon of Aeolis.
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