PHRYGIA, Laodicea ad Lycum. Pseudo-autonomous issue (Po. Ailios Dionysios Sabinianos, magistrate). c. 139-147 AD

Orichalcum Assarion, 5.95g (20mm, 6h).Draped bust of Dionysos to r., wearing wreath of ivy and fruit. / Dionysiac mask of Silenos, wearing wreath of ivy and fruit, lying to right on cista mystica entwined by serpent; pedum under cymbalsPedigree: Ex Hirsch 173, 19 February 1992, lot 452References: BMC 96. RPC IV.2 online 2114.23. SNG Copenhagen 532.Grade: Some areas of wear on obverse showing through patina with a slight golden color. Both faces well centered with all details visible. VF+ / EF (re1292)This interesting type from Laodicea ad Lycum in Phyrgia is pseudo autonomous (it is apparently struck under the magistrate Po. Ailios Dionysios Sabinianos) but bears a dramatic reverse type. An obvious allusion to the magistrate, it shows the head of Dionysos placed atop a cista mystica. A cista mystica was simply a basket with snakes typically entwined around it. The basket was a magical one and was used in conjunction with certain cults, like that of Dionysos, the god of wine-making, fertility and an plethora of hedonistic acts. Not much is known about the intended use of the magical baskets but they were thought to be used as part of an initiation process to the cult.