Mytilene (BC 412-378) EL Hekte - B68

ca 430-400 BC. EL Hekte (2.56g). Female head facing right, wearing hair-net / Beardless head with grotesque features facing left, wearing a modius-like object at forehead, the hair covered by net; thin square frame, all in incuse square. About EF/VF.

Bodenstedt interpreted the male head on the reverse as a Daktylos or Telchine, both from mythical bands of miners and blacksmiths, sometimes described as having a sinister character. (A common feature of mythical blacksmiths - Hephaestus is the exception, but he was physically handicapped instead). The object at the forehead could be something like a miner's lamp, but this is by no means confirmed.