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Æ26 - Marcus Aurelius ΕΡΜοϹ ΜΑΓΝΗΤΩΝ ϹΙΠΥΛοΥ (Α with curved crossbar)
| Issuer | City of Magnesia ad Sipylum (Conventus of Smyrna) |
|---|---|
| Year | 161-176 |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Reverse description | The river-god Hermos reclines to the left, depicted as a mature bearded male figure in the classical personification tradition of provincial coinage. He holds a long reed diagonally over his shoulder with his right hand, while his left arm rests upon an overturned water-urn from which water flows, symbolising the river's source. The figure is shown semi-recumbent, and the Greek legend naming both the deity and the issuing city appears in the field around the type. |
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| Additional information |
Magnesia ad Sipylum sat in the Hermus River valley beneath Mount Sipylus, a city whose civic identity was inseparable from its mythological geography — the mountain above it was where Niobe was said to have wept herself into stone. During the joint reign of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, and later Commodus as co-emperor, provincial bronze issues like this one were entirely a civic prerogative, funded and authorized locally with no obligation to Rome beyond acknowledging the reigning emperor's name.
The curved-bar alpha (Α) in the legend is a regional epigraphic habit worth noting for die attribution work within this series.