Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Æ- Magas of Cyrene
| Issuer | Kyrene |
|---|---|
| Year | 276 BC - 261 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A silphium plant depicted centrally, shown with its characteristic branching stem, feathery leaves, and basal cluster of roots, rendered in fine detail typical of Cyrenaican civic coinage. The four Greek letters of the city's abbreviated ethnic, KYPA, are distributed in the four quadrants surrounding the plant — K upper left, Y upper right, P lower left, A lower right — filling the field in an orderly arrangement. The silphium plant was the emblematic symbol of Cyrene and the basis of its renowned ancient trade. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | KYPA |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Magas governed Cyrene as a semi-independent ruler under the Ptolemaic umbrella before formally breaking with Ptolemy II Philadelphus around 274 BC and declaring himself king. The revolt coincided with the First Syrian War, and Magas reportedly marched his army toward Alexandria before a Libyan tribal incursion — the Marmaridae — forced him to turn back, effectively ending his military challenge. The breakaway kingship lasted until his death around 250 BC, making bronzes struck during his reign documents of a political rupture that nearly fractured Ptolemaic control of North Africa.