Drachm

Kyrene's economy in the fifth century BC was built almost entirely on silphium, a plant so valuable that the city maintained a state monopoly over its harvest and export. The plant — used across the Mediterranean as a seasoning, medicine, and contraceptive — was considered worth its weight in silver, which makes the mint's output during this period a direct measure of that trade's prosperity. By the late fifth century, overharvesting had begun visibly depleting the supply, and the coin types from this transitional period reflect a city still at peak wealth but approaching an ecological cliff it would not recover from.