Æ16

Kyme was the largest and most prominent of the Aeolian Greek cities on the western coast of Asia Minor, yet it left a surprisingly thin mark on ancient literary sources — Hesiod's father reportedly emigrated from there, a biographical footnote the city clung to for centuries. By the time this bronze was struck, Kyme had passed through Seleucid hands and was navigating the increasingly aggressive presence of Pergamon and Rome in the region. The autonomous bronze coinage of this period represents the city issuing small-denomination currency for local exchange under conditions of shifting suzerainty.