Hemidrachm

Kyrene's coinage was built almost entirely on one commodity: silphium, the now-extinct plant harvested from the Libyan plateau that served as ancient medicine, condiment, and contraceptive. The city's wealth — and its mint output — tracked silphium harvests directly. By the late sixth century, Kyrene had cornered the Mediterranean trade so completely that the plant appeared on virtually every denomination the city struck.

This hemidrachm falls within the period of Kyrene's Battiad dynasty, just before the final king, Arkesilas IV, was expelled around 470 BC and the monarchy dissolved entirely.