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Didrachm
| Issuer | Pergamon |
|---|---|
| Year | 166 BC - 67 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 6.25 g |
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| Obverse description | A Heraklean lion skin draped over an upright club, centrally positioned within the field. The entire design is enclosed within a broad ivy wreath composed of stylized leaves and berries, characteristic of the Pergamene civic coinage tradition. The composition is bold and emblematic, emphasizing the Dionysiac and Heraklean iconographic program associated with the city of Pergamon. |
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| Reverse description | A pendant grape cluster with flanking vine leaves occupies the central field, serving as the primary civic emblem of Pergamon. A monogram appears above the grape cluster, a civic monogram is placed to the left in the field, and a winged kerykeion (caduceus) is positioned to the right, all serving as control marks or magistrate symbols typical of Hellenistic civic coinage. |
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| Additional information |
Pergamon's cistophoric coinage — of which this didrachm is a fractional part — was introduced around 166 BC following Rome's reorganization of western Asia Minor after Apamea, effectively replacing Seleucid and Attalid regal issues as the dominant regional currency. The Attalid dynasty struck these in enormous quantities through their three royal mints at Pergamon, Ephesus, and Apamea. When Attalus III died in 133 BC without an heir and bequeathed his kingdom to Rome, the cistophoric standard was retained — Rome found it too commercially entrenched to displace.
The series ran uninterrupted into the late Republic, with Roman magistrates eventually issuing under their own names on the same fabric.