God Apollo & Lyre – Silver tetradrachm coin - Short History

The original coin, exhibited in the Numismatic Museum of Athens-Greece, is one of the 33 ancient tetradrachm coins belonging to the same hoard, found during the excavations of 1931 in ancient Olynthus.

All coins found were minted in Olynthus, a city-state in the Northern Greece that was the capital of the Chalcidian league and a strong political, economic and military power from the 5th to the 4th BC century. The Chalcidian league was dissolved by Phillip II in 348 BC.

Most of them have god Apollo depicted on the obverse side, and this representation is considered to be as one of the most masterly representations of ancient engravings. The god’s lyre, the Chalcidian league’s emblem, is depicted on the reverse side.