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Æ31 - Severus Alexander ΜΗΤΡ ΚΟ ΕΔΕϹϹΗΝωΝ
| Issuer | Edessa (Mesopotamia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 222-235 |
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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 | Tyche of the city of Edessa seated left upon a decorated base or throne, holding stalks of grain in her extended right hand; before her feet, a lighted altar. Globes or orbs are positioned on either side of the central type, likely symbolising the city's cosmological significance. In the exergue, a river god swims left, personifying the Daisan river flowing through Edessa. The reverse legend naming Edessa as a metropolis encircles the scene. |
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| Additional information |
Edessa's civic coinage under Severus Alexander reflects the city's unusual political position: a client kingdom only recently absorbed into direct Roman provincial administration, following Caracalla's annexation of the Abgarid dynasty's territory around 214 AD. The city retained its Syriac cultural identity while producing bronze for local circulation that loudly advertised its new metropolitan status — the ΜΗΤΡ ΚΟ abbreviation marking it as a Roman colonia metropolis, a designation carrying real fiscal and legal privileges.
Edessa sits on the Silk Road's western terminus, and coins of this type circulated in one of the ancient world's most commercially active corridors.