A study of 208 bronze coins associated with Hellenistic Kibyra in present-day southwestern Turkey is revealing how money from Rhodes, Lycia, and neighboring cities circulated together for centuries. The collection, held by the Burdur Museum since 1971, also suggests that Kibyra began producing some of its earliest coins much earlier than previously thought.
Archaeologist Hüseyin Köker examined the hoard in research published in the journal Gephyra. Museum records identify Gölhisar, near ancient Kibyra, as its place of discovery, although the precise location is unknown. Köker removed soil from the dark green coins with wooden needles to preserve their surfaces.
Of the 208 pieces, 152 were minted in Kibyra, three in Rhodes and four by the Lycian League. Two came from Boubon, three from Isinda and one from Selge. Another eight could not be assigned to a mint despite having partially visible designs, while 35 were too worn to identify.
Bronze coins from Hellenistic Kibyra may be older than previously thought
The earliest piece is a Rhodian coin dated to about 350-300 B.C., while the latest known issues are Lycian League coins dated to about 100-40 B.C. Köker believes the hoard was probably buried toward the end of the first century B.C.
Many Kibyran pieces show a helmeted young man’s head on one side and a charging humped bull on the other. The portrait may represent Kibyras, the city’s namesake founder, although scholars have also proposed another identification.
Köker places the city’s earliest bronze series around the late fourth or early third century B.C., challenging earlier chronologies that generally began in the second century B.C.
The study also identifies previously unrecorded variations, including a bull facing in the opposite direction and coins showing an unhelmeted male head. Three more pieces may be previously unknown Kibyran types, but their worn surfaces prevent a firm identification.
Rhodian roses and Lycian symbols help trace regional coin circulation
Rhodes is represented by designs featuring roses. Köker also links later Kibyran coins showing a veiled female head to Rhodian imagery, suggesting the design influenced Kibyra’s coin production around the late third or early second century B.C.
The Lycian League coins carry bows and quivers, with the latest examples attributed to Phellos and Trebenda. Together with coins from nearby Pisidian cities, they show that small change moved beyond the communities that issued it.
The coins measure 7 to 13 millimeters (0.28 to 0.51 inches) across, and 202 weigh less than two grams (less than 0.07 ounces). Their heavy wear suggests they remained in everyday use long after minting.
Köker argues that such small denominations gradually disappeared as Roman monetary units spread through the region, giving the hoard a clearer place in Kibyra’s economic history.
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