Adiras, Thrace
405-340 BCE
Æ 10 mm, 1,68 g
obv: front part of a female head l
rev: ΑΔ horizontally on top. Conical vessel with two handles under initials
Topalov 2005 p13 9.1
For some time, it was a mystery what the ‘AD’ on this coin stood for. Was it the abbreviation for some unknown king? Thanks to the Bulgarian researcher Stavri Topalov, we have a very strong guess. This is an abbreviation for Adiras, a city in Thrace. It’s also known as Athyras. While some of the coins were minted for rulers, others were minted for a particular city. A few listed both a city and a ruler.
Adiras was one of the capitals of the Odrysians and the city was located along the similarly named Athyras river. We know very little more about it.
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