Ephesos — Cistophoric Tetradrachm, Serpents, Ionia

Struck at Ephesos somewhere in the long window between about 180 and 67 BC. The cistophorus was the currency of the Attalid kingdom and the province of Asia that followed it, tariffed at three Roman denarii and struck on a standard deliberately kept apart from the rest of the Greek world, which is why so few of them travelled.

The obverse shows the cista mystica, the lidded basket of the Dionysiac mysteries, with a serpent escaping from under the half-open lid, the whole thing framed by an ivy wreath with berries. On the reverse two serpents coil around a bowcase. The ΕΦΕ monogram at the left is the city, a torch stands at the right, and the magistrate's name runs above. I have not attributed the magistrate, so the reference below is to the type rather than the officer.

Attribution: SNG von Aulock 1863

Mint: Ephesos, Ionia

Weight: 12.52 g

Diameter: 25 mm

Catalogued in the NumisLens cabinet — NL-086F8-1K88N

Combined shipping: buy more than one coin and the rest ship free in the same package.

Attributions are my own, made from the references listed. Ancient coins are not always

straightforward, and a reference can turn out to be wrong or open to argument, so please

study the photographs. They are part of the description, and if you read the coin

differently I would like to know.