bgr_1136718 - MYSIA - LAMPSAKOS Drachme

MYSIA – LAMPSAKOS / LAMPSACUS

(5th - 4th century BC)

Lampsaque, placed at the entrance of the Hellespont, was a Phocaean colony. A permanent stake in the rivalry between the Greeks and the Persians, Lampsaque entered the Delian confederation after the battle of Mycale in 479 BC. It broke away from Athenian tutelage in 412 BC, but was reprise. Between the fall of Athens in 404 BC and the battle of Cnide in 394 BC, then the peace of Antalcidas in 387 BC, the city often changed sides passing from Greek influence to that of the great King and his satraps. In 334, on the arrival of Alexander the Great, the city was spared although favorable to Darius III Codoman with Memnon, despot of the city. The city experienced great prosperity in the Hellenistic period.