Miletos AR Diobol - Nice Archaic Greek

This pretty little thing was in the same lot as the Kyzikos obol. Not especially expensive (I think?) So into the permanent collection it goes!

Ionia, Miletos (Miletus)
AR 1/12 stater or diobol, 9mm, 1.05g
C. 550 - 494 BC
Protome of lion right, head left and roaring, paw below
Star/sun/flower ornament incuse



Miletos was, in its heyday, the pre-eminent Greek city of Ionia on Asia Minor (Turkey). All of Asia Minor fell to the Achaemenids under Cyrus the Great, around 550-540 BC. These coins are attributed to the Persian tyrants installed after this defeat. Clearly flourishing economically, these are among the first mass-produced coins and survive in high numbers today - they are not expensive coins for their age!

Unlike many coins of the ancient world, we can pin the end of this series to a specific date. In 499 BC, the tyrant of Miletos, Aristagoras, united the cities of Ionia in a revolt against the Persians. They failed muster sufficient support from the free Greek city-states, and Miletos fell to the forces of Darius I following a seige in 494 BC. To punish the city for their role in the rebellion, all males in the city were massacred, and the women and children sent into slavery, ensuring that the people of that city would be no more.

Here is a good page on this series, although all the guides I have encountered so far are a bit tough to wrap my head around.

http://rjohara.net/coins/lion-sun/

My example is a bit outside of the quoted Weight Tolerance, which could perhaps indicate a shifting weight standard, or even that mine is a "trihemiobol"? I'd welcome insights.

Also, feel free to post your own coins from this series!