CYCLADES, Melos. Melos. Pseudo-autonomous issue, 3rd century AD. AE (Bronze, 27 mm, 8.79 g, 6 h), time of Elagabal to Maximinus I, 218-238 (?). T/Y-X/H Tyche standing front, head to right, leaning with her right on column and holding naked child on her left arm; all within wreath. Rev. MH/ΛΙⲰN in two lines within wreath. RPC VI online 30785. SNG Copenhagen 697 var. Extremely rare. Slightly porous and with some deposits, otherwise, good fine.



The Cycladic island of Melos was inhabited by Dorian speakers who first appear around the beginning of the first millennium BC. Traditionally, the island maintained an isolationist stance, avoiding involvement in the conflicts and politics of its Greek neighbors. However, during the Peloponnesian War in 426 BC, the Athenians invaded Melos after the Melians made a modest financial contribution to Sparta, with whom they shared Dorian ancestry. The following year, the Athenians demanded tribute, which the Melians refused. This defiance is famously dramatized in Thucydides’ Melian Dialogue, a stark exploration of power, justice, and the fate of the weak in the face of imperial ambition. Ultimately, the Athenians conquered Melos, slaughtering the adult male population and enslaving the women and children, before resettling the island with Athenian colonists. After Sparta’s victory at the end of the war, the Spartans expelled the Athenian settlers and restored the few surviving Melians to their homeland.

Prior to the Athenian conquest, Melos minted coins on a stater weight standard of approximately 14 grams. Following the expulsion of Athenian colonists and the island’s resettlement, the coinage standard shifted to the Rhodian system, with a tetradrachm weighing just over 15 grams. This bronze coin was struck during the Roman period, likely in the early third century AD, under the reign of either Elagabalus, Severus Alexander, or Maximinus I. While the RPC notes that the precise reign is uncertain, it generally classifies the coin among the issues of Elagabalus.