Catalog
Drachm
| Issuer | Magnetes |
|---|---|
| Year | 168 BC - 140 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 4.02 g |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Artemis, draped, seated left upon the prow of a galley, holding a bow in her extended right hand with a quiver visible over her left shoulder. A monogram appears to the right in the field. The ethnic legend ΜΑΓΝΗΤΩ[Ν] identifies the issuing community of the Magnetes. The composition is well-centered and typical of the civic coinage of Thessalian Magnesia during the second century BC. |
| Reverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
The Magnetes occupied a narrow coastal strip of Thessaly between Mount Pelion and the Pagasetic Gulf, and their coinage as an independent federation dates to the period following the Roman defeat of Perseus of Macedon at Pydna in 168 BC — the very event that brackets this issue's opening date. Rome dissolved the Macedonian monarchy that year but left Thessalian leagues nominally intact, and the Magnetes appear to have exploited that window to strike civic coinage on the reduced Thessalian standard. The series is short-lived; by the 140s BC Roman administrative reorganization was tightening control over Greek minting activity throughout the region.