Silver Tetradrachm, Ancient Greece - Pamphylia: Aspendos, c. 330-300 BC.
Obv: Two naked athletes wrestling, E between legs.
Rev: Slinger advancing right, Triskeles in right field.
24 mm/9.91 gm (S-5399)
Aspendos was one of the earliest cities to mint coins. It began issuing coinage around 500 BC, first staters and later drachmas; "the hoplite on the obverse represents the soldiery for which Aspendus was famous in antiquity," the reverse frequently depicts a triskelion. The legend appears on early coins as the abbreviation ΕΣ or ΕΣΤÏœΕ; later coinage has ΕΣΤÏœΕΔΙΙΥΣ, the adjective from ΕΣΤÏœΕΔΥΣ (Estwedus), which was the name of the city in the local Pamphylian language. The city's numismatic history extends from archaic Greek to late Roman times.
