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Silver Unit - Regni Sussex Lyre
| Issuer | Atrebates and Regini tribes (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 55 BC - 45 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 1.2 g |
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| Obverse description | Diademed head facing right, rendered in a stylised Celtic idiom derived from classical Hellenistic prototypes. The diadem is clearly delineated across the brow, with the hair depicted as a series of bold, sweeping curls arranged in pronounced relief around the crown and behind the ear. Facial features — including a prominent nose, defined eye socket, and strong chin — are modelled with vigour characteristic of late Iron Age British die-cutting. The flan is slightly irregular, consistent with hand-struck production, and the design fills the field to the flan edge. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Atrebates arrived in southern Britain from Gaul in the late second or early first century BC, likely under Commius — the chieftain who had served as Caesar's envoy before turning against him. This coin type belongs to the transitional period when tribal minting in the region was shifting away from Gaulish prototypes toward increasingly abstracted local forms. The lyre motif on this unit descends through several generations of copying from a Mediterranean original, each iteration moving further from the source.
ABC 647 is among the smaller denominations in the Atrebatic silver series, struck at roughly half the weight of the standard unit.