The Tetradrachm – Demokrates is an ancient Greek silver coin issued at Ephesos in Ionia between about 370 and 340 BC, during the classical period of Greek history. On the obverse it features a bee with straight wings, the emblem of Ephesos, the Greek letters Ε and Φ (for Ephesos) and its famous sanctuary of Artemis, while the reverse shows the forepart of a stag turning its head back with a date palm in the field, accompanied by the magistrate’s name ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΗΣ.
Struck on the large tetradrachm standard, this coin would originally have contained around four drachmas’ worth of silver, making it a high‑value piece used in significant commercial and civic transactions. Today the Demokrates tetradrachm is prized not only for its economic history but also for its refined imagery, which blends local religious symbolism with the broader visual language of Greek coinage.
