Catalog
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| Issuer | Magnetes (Achaea) |
|---|---|
| Year | 238-244 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| Obverse description | Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Emperor Gordian III facing right, rendered in three-quarter view from the rear, a common provincial convention of the period. The imperial effigy displays the characteristic youthful features associated with Gordian III's portraiture. The encircling Greek legend identifies the emperor by his full nomenclature. The flan shows the characteristic irregular fabric typical of Thessalian provincial bronze coinage of the mid-third century AD. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Magnesia on the Maeander — not to be confused with Magnesia ad Sipylum — maintained a civic coinage under Gordian III that leaned heavily on its mythological claim to the Argonauts, the city having traditionally asserted a connection to the heroes through local foundation legends. The Β designation likely indicates a magistrate's mark or a second emission within the civic sequence, a common bookkeeping convention for provincial mints under the Severan and post-Severan administrations.
Gordian's reign was short enough that provincial issues dating to it carry an implicit chronological tightness — he died in 244, probably killed near Zaitha on campaign against Shapur I.