Mysia, City of Pergamon, Silver Diobol with Heracles & Athena

These ancient Greek silver coins are from the city of Pergamon, a powerful city in modern day Turkey. They are known as diobols—a denomination worth two obols, or one-third of a drachm. Diobols sat on the lower end of the currency system, used for everyday small purchases, and were widely issued across the Greek world.

Pergamon was an ancient Greek city in what’s now western Turkey. Its political relevance in the Hellenistic period comes from the fact that it rose from a minor fortress in the former Achaemenid realm to one of the major powers of the post-Alexander world. When Alexander the Great’s empire fractured, Pergamon initially belonged to the Seleucids, but its local rulers—the Attalid dynasty—gradually asserted independence. What began as a modest stronghold would transform into a flourishing cultural and political center between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE.

These diobols show the head of Herakles (Hercules) on the obverse side, adorned with a lion skin. The reverse shows a statue of Pallas Athena, the goddess of wisdom.

Each includes a Certificate of Authenticity.