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Coin of the Month

October 2025: A coin from Kallatis

The Coin of this Month is presented by Patrick Dörr


In the spotlight is a drachm of Kallatis

This time we take a closer look to a Greek coin from a polis situated at the Black Sea coast. We can see the coin of the city Kallatis, modern Mangalia in Romania. The presented coin is in the collection of the Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen. Due to the weight of 5.02g, the denomination of the coin can be identified as a drachm.

On the obverse we can recognise a well-known protagonist. A beardless, young man, facing right. On his head he wears a lionskin due to which we can identify him without any doubt as Heracles. His appearance is not unusual on Greek coins or in Greek iconography in general. In fact, we meet him quite often in different contexts and on different objects. Nevertheless, in this particular case it is noteworthy that Heracles appears as a young, unbearded man, as he most often appears bearded when depicted on Greek objects.

The revers  shows different elements: in the centre the minting authority of Kallatis can be clearly identified due to the inscription: KAΛΛATI(ANΩN). The orientation of the inscription will be explained later. On each side of the letters left and right are more pictorial elements.  On the left a club and an ear of corn can be seen, on the right a gorythos is visible. Last but not least, a small monogram can be seen in the left field.

Kallatis was a colony that was established by the city Herakleia Pontike on the south coast of the Black Sea region. Kallatis had the same mythological city founder as its mother city. Heracles was therefore also celebrated as such in the Polis. The two cities were not the only poleis that were founded by Heracles according to the myth of course. And this discussion of the founding history can also be identified within the iconography of the Drachm that we see here which shows Heracles on the avers and his attributes, the club and the gorytos on the revers. If one compares this with the coins from the motherland Herakleia Pontike, one can easily recognise that both cities have chosen an almost identical subject to depict on their coins.

Which is the role of the ear of corn on the left side of the iconographical field? Differently than the other elements on the outside border of the coin, it shows another very characteristic area of recognition for the city: Farming. Many areas bordering the Black Sea area in the West and North are well known for their fruitful areas and the grain cultivation and export that took place there. Loads of references can be found in literature about the fertile grounds of Thrace and particularly the Bosporanian empire which is well known for its grain exports. Herodotus also notes that the Persian king Xerxes had seen during his Greece expedition a boat filled with grain that was sailing from the Black Sea to the Aegean. Maybe the best known market would be Athens. But as soon as one sees the topography of the places discusses, one can recognise that the Chora of the city Kallatis also fits the bill. The position of the city allows grain cultivation and gives the opportunity to export any surplus. The decorative field of the coin shows different aspects of the self-understanding/identity of the city of Kallatis.

At last, we shall look at the orientation of the coin: The picture as well as this text are describing/showing the coin in a way that the attributes of Heracles and the ear of corn are shown standing. The inscription can only be read from one side in this perspective. One could argue about the orientation of the coin and one could also turn it by 90 degrees in order to discuss it. The decision to show the coin this way was made dependent on the ear of corn which according to the laws of nature is growing upward. The club and gorytos on their own would not be a good enough reason to depict the objects standing up. Finally, each user of the coin can decide which way works best for them intuitively since turning the coin around is of course always possible.


Selected literature regarding grain-trade in the black sea region:
T. S. Noonan, The Grain Traide of the norhern Black Sea in Antiquity, AJPh 94, 1973, 231-242
A. Ščeglov, Le commerce du blé dans le Pont septentrional, (seconde moitié du VIIe-Ve siècle), in: O Lordkipanidzé - P. Lévêque (Hrsg.), Le Pont-Euxin vu par les Grecs : sources écrites et archéologie. Symposium de Vani (Colchide), septembre-octobre 1987 (Paris 1990) 141-159
G. R. Tsetskhladze, On the Pontic Grain Trade in the Archaic and Classical Periods, in: V. F. Meščeriakov - V. I. Kadeev (Hrsg.), Anticnyj mir: Vizantija : k 70-letiju prof. Vladimira Ivanovica Kadeeva (Char'kov 1997)



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