Live auction - bgr_829531 - IONIA - PHOKAIA Hecté d’électrum

IONIE - Phocaea

(Sixth - fourth century BC)

Phocaea was located seventy kilometers northwest of Smyrna on the coast, on the border of Aeolis, opposite the peninsula of Ionia. Phocaea was one of the first cities of Asia Minor to strike coins in the second half of the seventh century or the first half of the sixth century BCE. The city, whose symbol was the eponymous seal, struck an important electrum coinage. The standard phoçaïque beamed throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. The city came under Persian rule in 545 BC After the revolt of Ionia in 499 BC and its terrible repression five years later, Phocaea lost much of its importance. At the end of the fifth century BCE she contracted with Mytilene, located on the island of Lesbos, a monetary alliance that lasted until the arrival of Alexander the Great in Asia Minor.