Circa 400-338 BCE
Æ 16,5mm 4,11g
OBV: Head of Demeter r.
REV: ΣΚΑΡΦΕΙΩΝ Ajax advancing r., with shield and sword.
BCD Lokris-Phokis 159.4; SNG Copenhagen 81
I have to admit that this is one city that I wasn’t even aware that it minted coins until one came up for sale. Predictably, there isn’t a lot of information about the city. The design, with Ajax, is nearly the same as the standard issues from Lokris Opuntii, with the notable difference being the inscription.
That being said, the city was mentioned in Homer (as Skarphe). Plutarch mentions a Lykon of Skarpheia, who added into a comedy verse a request for ten talents while performing in front of Alexander the Great. This took a lot of cojones, but Alexander only laughed and gave it to him.
Strabo mentions a great earthquake that occurred at Skarpheia that swallowed up “no less than one thousand seven hundred persons” and sent a gush of water toward nearby towns that caused further damage. Strabo also says that the city was originally called Eotonos.
Given how often Skarpheia is mentioned, I find it intriguing that its coins are scarce. Most likely they relied more often on the general coinage of Lokris, which may even have been minted at times in Skarpheia given the extreme similarity of the types.