Unlike the Athenian tetradrachm, which at approximately 17.26 grams assumed the role of a high-value, exportable medium, the city’s hemidrachm acted as a local currency. Due to the lack of circulating bronze coinage, this fractional denomination most likely facilitated daily transactions, wage payments, market purchases, and small-scale religious offerings. Its limited foreign circulation is confirmed both by its relative scarcity in hoards outside Attica and by its frequent archaeological appearance in domestic and cultic contexts in the Athenian Agora. This duality reveals the existence of Athens' tiered monetary system. The hemidrachm remained closely tied to the local economy, underpinning daily life and civic religious practices, while the tetradrachm projected Athenian identity and power across the Mediterranean world.