385-350 BCE
AE 15.09mm 3.64g
Obverse: Laureate head of Apollo right
Reverse: B-O-TIA-IÆN; Kithara
SNG ANS 926
Bottiaea was a city, which as far as I can tell has not yet been found, that was inhabited by the Bottiaians. Per ancient records, they were Cretans who traveled to the site under their leader, Botton. Plutarch, on the other hand, says they were slaves of King Minos of Crete and had been taken from Athens.
It’s also possible that the coins were minted in a region instead of just one city, as the Bottiaians per record had more than one city. Later on, they were pushed by the Macedonians into Chalkidike, where they were eventually conquered by Philip II.
As you can see, the coinage of Bottiaea and the Chalkidian League are similar, likely indicating they were allies (probably against Macedon). After Alexander’s death, many of the Bottiaeans were moved by Kassander to found his new city, Thessaloniki.