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Tetrobol

Issuer Kyrene
Year 305 BC - 300 BC
Type Standard circulation coin
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Obverse script Greek
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Reverse description A stylized silphium plant, the celebrated medicinal herb and primary symbol of Kyrene, depicted frontally with a prominent central stalk rising from a rounded base, multiple lateral branches terminating in globular seed-heads, and spreading lower fronds with berry-like terminals. The design fills the flan with remarkable botanical detail, reflecting the plant's singular economic and civic importance to the city. The legend KYPA appears in the field, identifying the issuing city of Kyrene in archaic Greek lettering.
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Additional information

Kyrene's gold coinage of this period reflects the city's position under the shifting control of Ptolemy I, who seized the region around 322 BC and installed a series of governors before absorbing it more firmly into the nascent Ptolemaic sphere. The tetrobol denomination in gold is notably rare — Kyrene's gold issues of the late fourth century are poorly represented in public collections, and the variations noted against both SNG Copenhagen and the Naville corpus suggest this die pairing sits outside the main documented sequences.

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