Phanes of Halicarnassus was a wise council man, a tactician, and a mercenary from Halicarnassus, serving the Egyptian pharaoh Amasis II. Most of what history recounts of Phanes is from the account of
The earliest inscribed coinage: electrum coin of Phanes from Ephesus, sometimes attributed to Phanes of Halicarnassus, 625-600 BC. Obverse: Stag grazing right, ΦΑΝΕΩΣ (retrograde). Reverse: Two incuse punches, each with raised intersecting lines.