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Æ44 - Trajan Decius ΕΠ ϹΤΡ ΑΥΡ ΑΡΤΕΜΑ ΜΕΝΕΜ ΛΑΙΑΝΟΥ ΜΑΓΝΗΤΩΝ ϹΥΠΥΛ
| Issuer | City of Magnesia ad Sipylum (Conventus of Smyrna) |
|---|---|
| Year | 249-251 |
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| Composition | Bronze |
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|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Reverse description | Cybele, the Magna Mater and principal deity of the region, seated to the left upon a throne, her right hand extended holding a patera and her left arm resting upon a tympanum. The goddess is depicted in a stately, hieratic posture befitting her status as mother of the gods, a iconography particularly appropriate to Magnesia ad Sipylum, a city closely associated with her cult. The multi-line Greek legend naming the local strategos is distributed in the field around the central figure, with the ethnic of the Magnesians of Sipylus completing the inscription. |
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| Additional information |
Magnesia ad Sipylum's civic bronze issues under Trajan Decius reflect a municipality aggressively cultivating imperial favor during a reign defined by crisis — Decius was the first emperor killed in battle against a foreign enemy, falling to the Goths at Abrittus in 251. The strategos named in this coin's legend, Aurelius Artemas son of Menelaus, is one of several local magistrates documented through surviving bronze issues from this city, which was administratively subordinate to the Smyrna conventus under the province of Asia.
At 44mm, this is among the largest module bronzes the city produced — a deliberate civic statement, not a routine issue.