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Æ
| Issuer | Pessinus (Galatia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 100 BC - 30 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 22 mm |
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| Obverse description | Draped bust of Kybele (Cybele), identified with Tyche, facing right and wearing a turreted mural crown, her hair rendered in loose waves falling to the neck. The effigy is rendered in the Hellenistic style characteristic of civic coinages of Asia Minor, with fine drapery visible at the truncation. A dotted border frames the design along the upper periphery of the flan. |
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| Reverse description | A lion seated to the right in a dignified, heraldic pose, its mane rendered with bold, stylised locks and its tail curling upward behind the haunches. The sacred animal of Kybele is depicted with forepaws extended and head raised. The Greek legend ΜΗΤΡΟΣ ΘΕΩΝ ΠΕΣΣΙΝΕΑΣ, meaning 'of the Mother of the Gods of Pessinus', is distributed around the field, identifying the issuing sanctuary city of Pessinus in Galatia. |
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| Additional information |
Pessinus was the most sacred city in Anatolia — home to the great sanctuary of Cybele, the Phrygian mother goddess, whose black meteorite cult stone was famously transported to Rome in 204 BC at the Sibylline oracle's instruction during the Second Punic War. The city retained enormous religious prestige under Galatian rule, though its political autonomy fluctuated sharply as Rome tightened its grip on Asia Minor through the first century BC.
Civic bronze issues from Pessinus are poorly documented and attribution remains contested across the reference corpora, with Aulock and the France series assigning overlapping but non-identical specimens to this type group.