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Æ33 - Maximinus ΕΠ ϹΤ ΑΥΡ ΕΛΕΝΟΥ ΕΡΥΘΡΑΙΩΝ
| Issuer | Erythrae (Conventus of Smyrna) |
|---|---|
| Year | 235-238 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| Reverse description | Frontal view of a tetrastyle temple with four columns surmounted by an arcuated lintel, rendered in the standard provincial architectural style. Within the intercolumniation stands a figure, tentatively identified as Heracles, depicted facing front with head turned to the right, and apparently holding a spear and club. The architectural detail of the temple façade is characteristic of civic pride coinage from Ionian cities of the Severan and early Gordian periods. The reverse legend, distributed around the field, names the local strategos Aurelius Helenos and identifies the issuing city of the Erythraeans. |
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| Mint | Erythrae (Ionia) |
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| Additional information |
Erythrae, a coastal polis on the Ionian littoral opposite Chios, maintained active bronze production well into the Severan and post-Severan periods, issuing coins under the authority of locally appointed magistrates whose names appear prominently in the legends — here the strategos Aurelius Helenus. The city had long traded on its mythological associations with the Sibyl of Erythrae, one of the canonical prophetesses of antiquity, and civic pride in that connection was a live political currency well into the third century.
The years 235–238 bracket the reign of Maximinus Thrax, the first emperor never to set foot in Rome — a soldier-emperor whose legitimacy provincial mints like this one were effectively asked to perform through bronze coinage.