A small silver tetartemorion of Kolophon, dated to 530–500 BC, belongs to the early monetary issues of Ionia in the late Archaic period.
Kolophon was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League and is widely attested in ancient sources, including Herodotus and Strabo, as an important political and cultural center of the region. The development of coinage at Kolophon in the 6th century BC forms part of the broader process of establishing a silver-based monetary system in western Asia Minor.
The obverse depicts the head of Apollo facing left. The cult of Apollo was closely associated with Kolophon, particularly through the sanctuary of Apollo Klarios (Clarian Apollo), whose religious significance is well documented in literary and epigraphic sources. The image of the god appears consistently in the city’s Archaic coinage.
