Owner Comments:
IONIA. Phokaia. EL Hekte (2.56 gms), ca. 478-387 B.C. NGC Ch AU★, Strike: 5/5 Surface: 5/5. Fine Style.
NGC lumps all of the "Phocaea. Ca. 477-388 BC" hectes together in its population, although there are almost a dozen or more different types including this one. That population is 284 with 7 in CH AU, 2 in CH AU with a star, and just one in MS.
Bodenstedt-90. Obverse: Young female head left; below, small seal left; Reverse: Quadripartite incuse square. Probably following the Lydians, the Phocaeans were among the earliest in the world to make and use coins as money. Its earliest coins were made of electrum.
High relief and perfectly centered obverse. Just like on the other Phocaea hecte from about 100 years earlier, this coin features an unidentified and apparently regular person.
Ancient Phocaea was highly active in sea exploration and colonization in the earlier part of the millennium. Modern Marsailles in France, Velia in Italy, and Empúries in Spain were all colonies founded by Phocaea. The ancient site is now within Foça in Izmir Province, Turkey.
After the defeat of the Persians under Xerxes I by the Greeks in 480 BC, and the subsequent rise of Athenian power, Phocaea joined the Delian League, paying tribute to Athens of two talents of silver per year. In 412 BC, during the Peloponnesian War, with the help of Sparta, Phocaea rebelled along with the rest of Ionia. The Peace of Antalcidas, which ended the Corinthian War, returned nominal control of Phocaea to Persia in 387 BC. This coin is attributable to some time within this 90 year period after the defeat of Xerxes and before return to Persian rule.