Kingdom of Lydia, Croesus, Stater

The highest denomination in Croesus (c. 560-546 BC) bimetallic coinage system was the stater. It was made from gold and from silver. One gold stater equaled ten silver staters.

There were smaller coin fractions, in gold and in silver respectively, based on the stater: the siglos (1/2 stater), the trite (1/3 stater), the hecte (1/6 stater), the hemihecte (1/12th stater), and the myshemihecte (1/24 stater).

Croesus adopted the coin-type of the lion's head with wide-open maw from the coins of his father, Alyattes. He placed a bull's head opposite the lion's head. Both animals were widely regarded as symbols of power and strength, courage and stamina. As is the case with all early coins, the reverse bears the crude impressions of the obverse die, the so-called "quadratum incusum."