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Assarion ΑϹϹΑΡΙΟΝ
| Issuer | Chios (Conventus of Pergamum) |
|---|---|
| Year | 138-192 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | The civic badge of Chios depicted as a sphinx seated to right, its wings folded against its body and its right forepaw raised over a bunch of grapes resting in the field before it. The figure is rendered in a bold, summary provincial style within a beaded border. The Greek ethnic legend ΧΙΩΝ appears in the right field, identifying the coin as an issue of the Chian community. |
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| Reverse description | A tall, narrow amphora with twin handles occupies the centre of the field, flanked symmetrically by two eight-rayed stars, one to the left and one to the right. The denomination legend ΑϹϹΑΡΙΟΝ is distributed across the field around the central devices, all contained within a beaded border. The amphora, a long-standing emblem of Chios and its celebrated wine trade, is rendered in a plain, schematic style characteristic of provincial bronze coinage of the Antonine period. |
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| Additional information |
Chios sat comfortably within the Pergamene conventus throughout the Antonine period, its civic bronze issues functioning as small-denomination exchange within a prosperous Aegean trading port. The city had long enjoyed favored status with Rome — Caesar himself had granted privileges to Chiot communities — and that relationship translated into consistent, if modest, minting activity under the Antonines. The assarion denomination was the workhorse of provincial civic coinage in Asia Minor during this stretch, and Chios produced recognizable, well-documented types that survive in reasonable numbers across European collections.