Apollonia, Illyria AR Drachm, cow & calf / floral in square, c. 229–100 BC

Apollonia (Illyria), drachm, silver, civic coinage, circa 229–100 BC, 3.20 g, 18 mm. Obv: APIΣTΩN; cow standing left suckling calf. Rev: AΠOΛ ΛY ΣH NOΣ; floral ornament within a double-lined square. Struck at Apollonia on a compact flan in the linear local style typical of the series. HGC 3, 4. Apollonia on the Illyrian coast was a major Adriatic trading center, and its cow-and-calf drachms, issued under rotating civic magistrates, formed a principal silver currency in the region. Together with the parallel coinage of Dyrrhachium, these pieces circulated widely across the Balkans and into Italy, appearing frequently in Hellenistic and Roman Republican hoards, illustrating the city’s commercial reach and its integration into trans-Adriatic trade before the denarius became dominant.