Tetradrachm from Thasos (Thrace)

From about 170 BC, the image of a youthful Dionysus with his braided hair tied up and a wreath of ivy leaves and berries appears on new-style tetradrachms from the Thracian Thasos. The island in the northern Aegean, famous for its wine exports, had been minting coins with Dionysian imagery since the end of the 6th century BC, so the motif on the obverse of the newly introduced denomination issued on wide coin blanks, is not surprising. The reverse features Heracles with a club and a lion skin. Heracles, whose sanctuary was opposite that of the god Dionysus at the other end of the main street of the city, is referred to in the legend on the coin as the savior of Thasos. The new silver coins, which were minted in large quantities outside Thasos in later decades and became the dominant currency of the Thracian region, had apparently been introduced at the behest of the Roman Empire, which was expanding into the Balkans and could use this money to make payments to pacify local tribes.

Obverse: Head of Dionysos with ivy wreath to right. Reverse: HPAKΛEOYΣ ΣOTEPOΣ ΘAΣIΩN (Herakleous Soteros Thasion) inner left: M. Herakles standing facing, head left, holding club with his right hand, lion skin draped over left arm.