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Tetradrachm
| Issuer | Minaean Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 250 BC - 150 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Obverse description | Helmeted head of Athena facing right, rendered in a provincial 'barbarous' imitative style derived from Athenian new-style coinage. The Attic helmet is depicted with a decorated bowl and raised cheek-guards, surmounted by a palmette crest. The goddess's facial features are rendered with schematic, somewhat flat modeling characteristic of Arabian Peninsula imitations, with a visible earring and hair curls emerging beneath the helmet's rim. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
The Minaean Kingdom, centered in the Ma'in region of what is now northern Yemen, was primarily a trading state whose wealth derived from controlling overland incense routes connecting southern Arabia to the Mediterranean. Their coinage borrowed heavily from Athenian weight standards and owl types, a deliberate commercial choice meant to facilitate exchange with Greek-sphere merchants who trusted the familiar Attic format. It is less a local artistic expression than a trade credential.
Precise attribution within the Minaean series remains difficult — inscriptions naming individual rulers are inconsistently applied, and die studies are incomplete relative to comparable Hellenistic series.