The much-maligned Cistophoric Tetradrachm

"Vedute antiche e moderne le più interessanti della città di Roma", Rome, 1820, published by V. Monaldini, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

This Cistophoric Tetradrachm is from a class of coins that are much maligned. One author has described it as "the ugliest coin in the Greek series" (Robinson,1954). Another calls it "the most uninspiring of all Greek coin designs" (Jenkins, 1990). Adding insult to injury, auction houses do not usually (perhaps never?) explain well the dating of these coins.

This coin has a date on it based on a "Sullan Era" - the auction listing of AD 133-67 could be much more specific. It is from Tralleis in Lydia, Asia Minor (modern Aydın, Turkey). It is a challenging coin to find, especially with good style and a fully visible year, Γ, the third year of a Sullan Era.

This coin comes with a bit of history: it was issued at the end of the First Mithridatic War, at the start of the Second Mithridatic War, 83/82 BCE, with Lucullus in Asia Minor, with Sulla headed home to retake Rome at the Battle of the Colline Gate on Kalends (1st) of November 82 BCE.

Lydia, Tralleis, 85-76 BC, AR Cistophoric Tetradrachm, dated Sullan Era, third year (83/82 BCE), Ptol- (ΠTOΛ), magistrate.
Obv: Cista mystica with serpent; all within ivy wreath
Rev: Bow case with serpents; (Γ == third year) to left, ΠTOΛ above; to right, Dionysos standing right, holding thyrsos and two flowers.

As always, comments, corrections and additional information are all appreciated. For anyone interested in references, additional coins and longer description of the context, see my notes pages: A "Sullan Era" Tetradrachm.

Post your Cistophoric Tetradrachms, coins with cryptic coded dates, or anything else that you find interesting or entertaining.

 

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Pergamon, Mysia (133 - 67 B.C)
AR Cistophoric Tetradrachm
O: Cista mystica with half-open lid, from which a snake emerges, all within wreath of ivy with berries.
R: Two serpents entwined around bow and bowcase; above, ME, prytaneis monogram, and A (controls), (Pergamon monogram) to left, serpent-entwined thyrsos to right.
11.36g
26mm
Kleiner, Hoard 40; SNG BN 1744

Ex. Glenn Schinke, March 1995


Claudius (41 - 54 A.D.)
AR Cistophoric Tetradrachm
O: TI CLAVD CAES · AVG, bare head left.
R: COM ASI across field, distyle temple of Roma and Augustus, enclosing standing facing figures of Claudius, holding scepter, being crowned by Fortuna, holding cornucopia; ROM ET AVG on entablature.
Ephesus mint. Struck AD 41-42
10.08g
28mm
RIC I 120 (Pergamum); RPC I 2221; RSC 3; BMCRE 228; BN 304-6


Domitia (82 - 83 A.D.)
AR Cistophoric Tetradrachm
O: DOMITIA AVGVSTA, draped bust right.
R: VENVS AVG, Venus standing right, leaning on cippus, holding helmet and spear.
Ephesus mint. Struck 82-83 AD.
10.29g
26mm
RIC II 230 (Domitian); RPC II 870; BMCRE 256 (Domitian); BN 226; RSC 19.

 

Thanks for the write-up! Interesting stuff. I've been meaning to go deep and really study the vast amounts of types in the series. Just a few roadblocks currently in the way before I get there.

Here's my contribution:

Republican Cistophori. C. Fabius M.f, proconsul. AR Cistophoric tetradrachm, Tralles 57 BC. Serpents emerging from cista mistica; all within wreath / C. FABI M. F. PRO COS, Two serpents standing by bow case, eagle above. In the left field, zebu over a meander, TPAΛ. In the right field, Apollo. In exergue, ΠΑΝΝΕΝΗΣ. Stumpf 32.
26.90 mm., 12.20 g.​

 

Don't have one yet but I've admired the cistophorii from afar, particularly those of Augustus. I disagree with some of those outdated opinions.

 

Thanks for your writeup. Really nice to know the background history of this interesting coin type. I currently only have one of this type.


MYSIA. Pergamum. Ca. 166-160 BC. AR cistophorus. 29mm, 12.82 gm
O: Serpent emerging from cista mystica; all within ivy wreath
R: Bow in bowcase decorated with aphlaston, flanked by two serpents; ΠΕΡΓ civic monogram to left, horizontal caduceus right to right.
Kleiner-Noe Series 7.

 

A nice trio @Mat, the portraits of Claudius and Domitia are wonderful.

Metcalf's 2017 book is an excellent resource on these coins. Your coin a particularly outstandingly busy reverse!

A nice example of the early Cistorphori.

 

Informative and engaging write-up, @Sulla80! I have only one in my collection.


Antony and Octavia.
AR cistophorus, 25.6 mm, 11.71 gm.
Ephesus, 39 BCE.
Obv: M ANTONINVS IMP COS DESIG ITER ET TERT, Jugate heads of Marcus Antonius and Octavia to right; he wears ivy wreath.
Rev: III VIR RPC, Cista mystica surmounted by figure of Bacchus, standing to left, holding cantharus and leaning on thyrsus; on either side, coiled serpent.
Refs: SNG Cop. 408; SNG von Aulock 6555; Franke KZR 472; RSC 3; Sydenham 1198; RPC 2202; Sear 1513; BMCRR East 135-137.

 

@Sulla80, a great coin. I don't think these coins are ugly at all! If I did, I wouldn't have bought my own cistophoric tetradrachm from Tralleis, the date of which has also been brought forward by about 50 years as a result of recent scholarship (see my footnote, based in large part on sources you provided to me if I recall correctly):

Lydia, Tralleis/Tralles, AR Cistophoric Tetradrachm, 78/77 BCE, Magistrate ΠTOΛ (Ptol-). Obv. Cista mystica with lid ajar and serpent emerging; all within ivy wreath / Rev. Bowcase (gorytos) with two serpents (one to left and one to right, heads at top); H [= date = Year 8 = 78/77 BCE, based on Year 1 of Sullan era being 85/84 BCE*] over ΠTOΛ [PTOL] above, between serpents’ heads, TPAΛ [TRAL] in left field; to right, Dionysos in short chiton standing facing, head left, holding thyrsos in right hand and mask of Silenos in left hand. SNG Copenhagen 662-663 var. [different year] [Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Copenhagen, The Royal Collection of Coins and Medals, Danish National Museum, Part 28, Lydia Part 2 (Copenhagen 1947)]; BMC 22 Lydia 46-48 (p. 333) var. [different years] [Head, B.V., A Catalogue of Greek Coins in the British Museum, Vol. 22, Lydia (London, 1901); SNG von Aulock 3262-3264 var. [different year] [Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Deutschland, Sammlung Hans Von Aulock, Vol. 2: Caria, Lydia, Phrygia, Lycia, Pamphylia (Berlin, 1962)]; Pinder 159 [same year -- “H”]; see also id. 157-158 [different years] [Pinder, M., Über die Cistophoren und über die kaiserlichen Silbermedaillons der Römischen Provinz Asien (Berlin, 1856) at pp. 565-566]. 24 mm., 12.64 g. [probably = 3 drachms, not 4], 1 h. Ex: CNG Auction 225 (13 Jan. 2010), Lot 144.



* According to the traditional scholarship reflected in BMC 22 Lydia at p. cxxxvii, the date is Year 8 since 133 BCE, when the Pergamene kingdom passed by bequest to the Roman Republic upon the death of Attalus III, and became part of the Province of Asia. No coins minted in Tralleis had been found (as of 1901) bearing dates later than Year 8. [Since then, coins dated Year 9 have been discovered.] The author suggests that after Tralleis participated in the unsuccessful revolt against Roman rule by Aristonicus (a/k/a Eumenes III), who claimed to be the illegitimate son of Attalus III’s father Eumenes II, the Romans may have punished the city by depriving it of various privileges, including the privilege of minting silver coins. But all the more modern sources reject the idea that Tralles and the other Pergamene cities had the time (or the inclination) to start issuing coins dated by a new Roman era as soon as Attalus's will became public, particularly given the immediate rebellion of Aristonicus. Nor, given that this rebellion had been suppressed by 129 BCE, does it appear likely that such a punishment would have been imposed only after 126 BCE, when the last dated coins were issued in Year 8 (now known to have been issued even later, in Year 9).

Instead, current scholarship has concluded, based on hoard and other evidence, that the Tralleian cistophori dated Years 1-9, all bearing the name of the magistrate ΠTOΛ, were, in fact, minted beginning 50 years later, in 85/84 BCE after Sulla's defeat of the Mithraditic revolt. At that time, Tralles was under the control of Lucullus, the Roman commander and the administrator of the Province of Asia after the First Mithraditic War (see generally https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucullus). It was Lucullus who caused the cistophori to be minted during that period, at Sulla’s command, to pay the city’s taxes in arrears. See Noe, Sydney P. & Fred S. Kleiner, Early Cistophoric Coinage (ANS, 1977) at n. 14, available at http://numismatics.org/digitallibrary/ark:/53695/nnan30795 (citing Regling, F., “Ein Kistophorenschatz aus der Provinz Brussa,” Frankfurter Münzzeitung 3 (1932) pp. 506-510); Callatay, de F., "L’Histoire des Guerres Mithridatiques vue par les Monnaies, Louvain-la-Neuve" (1997), p.178; Carbone, Lucia Francesca, “‘Romanizing’ Asia: the impact of Roman imperium on the administrative and monetary systems of the Provincia Asia (133 BC - AD 96)” (2016) [Doctoral thesis, Columbia University, available at https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8222TP0], pp. 170-173 (hoard evidence “enables us to determine the presence of a Sullan age in Tralles, and allows a precise dating of the ΠΤΟΛ issues to 85-77 BC, which corresponds roughly to Lucullus’ power in the province and to the exceptional issues caused by Sulla's command that taxes be paid in arrears, proving a further element of Roman involvement in the cistophoric issues”); Leschhorn, Antike Ä ren: Zeitrechnung, Politik und Geschichte im Schwarzmeerraum und in Kleinasien nördlich des Tauros (Stuttgart, 1993) pp. 202-221.

 

The Cistophorus is everything that @Sulla80 says it is and then some. But it is an important bridge as the Eastern Mediterranean transits from the Hellenistic world to that of the Roman. I believe we are only now beginning to unravel how the Romans used the regional coinage that they found to suit their own ends.
Cistophorus associated with Lucius Licinius Lucullus 68-67 AD Ephesos Obv. Cista Mystica Rv Bowcase flanked by coined serpents above grain ear flanked crossed cornucopia Kleiner 73 De Callatay 3.1 11.39 grms 25 mm Photo by W. Hansen In the AJN 23 2011 De Callatay wrote in the article " More Than It Would Seem" that this particular series of coins can be associated with Lucullus's campaigns again Mithridates of Pontus

 

This is an even harder coin to find than my OP coin. I've done a quick scan of all of the ΠTOΛ cistophori that there are to find in ACSearch, CNG Research and SixBid Coin Collectors Archive and most of them are either Year 1 or Year 2...your "Year 8" is the only one I find and none from years 5,6,7 or 9.

I was trying to decide if you could identify the years that are off-flan by looking at Dionysus on the right side of the reverse. It was inconclusive...not enough coins to compare but year 1 (grapes) and year three (two flowers) might be useful.

Year 1/no letter : looks like "bunch of grapes"

year 2/B coins with mask of Silenos are seem to be the most common - here the middle one is more clear than most:

Year 3/Γ seems to have this "two flowers" - although only two examples that I find on flan:

Year 4/Δ probably "mask of Silenos", but some lean more "bucranium"

 

Nice Cisto, @Sulla80 .


Mysia, Pergamum (Pergamon) 85-76 BC
Cista Mystica or Cistophoric Tetradrachm
AR Tetradrachm 12.46 x 26 mm (tariffed at 3 Denarii)
Obverse: Cista mystica with serpent; all within oak / ivy wreath
Reverse: bow-case with serpents, PRE monogram to left, KP / PRY monogram above, serpent-staff right.
Ref: Kleiner 36

 

Fascinating. BMC 22 Lydia 48 (at p. 333) (available online) is a Year 5 (E). It's not illustrated, but the reverse is described as depicting Dionysos holding a mask of Silenos. The year is described as being in the center (like mine) rather than on the left (like Year 3, which is the other example specified in the catalogue, as No. 46, with Dionysos holding two flowers). Pinder's 1856 catalogue Nos. 157-158 at pp. 565-566 (available online) are Years 4 and 5 (both described as depicting Bacchus holding a mask, as is No. 159, a Year 8 like mine -- the only one other than mine I've seen specifically mentioned).

 

They may not be the most attractive of the greek coinage, but I don't know about ugly!





Mysia. Pergamon. Cistophorus. 166-160 BC.

 

Interesting, about the variances in speculation on dating.

Any guesses on what date this one may be? I believe it to be a bunch of grapes w/ a panther below, at Dionysos' feet.


LYDIA, Tralleis. (133-100 BC). AR Tetradrachm. (26mm, 12.11g).
Cistophoric standard. Atta-, magistrate.
Obverse: Basket (cista mystica) from which snake coils; around, ivy wreath with fruits.
Reverse: Two serpents entwined around bow and bowcase; ATTA above; [TP]AΛ to left; in right field, Dionysos standing facing, holding bunch of grapes and thyrsos, panther at feet.

 

When I bought mine below, the prevailing attitude was that these were low relief, lacking portraits and mainly collectable by people who could not afford 'real' Greek tetradrachms.
1989 from Frank Robinson because I wanted a larger silver coin:

This came about a week later from Stacks - Coin Galleries but I had placed both bids before the other closed so I considered it a duplicate. They were different enough that I kept both but have not looked ant another since. Even today I am not sure which I like better. One is higher grade and the other has a better basket and smiling snake. We all have our specialties and coins we feel the need to own exactly one. At the time I was unaware they came with obverse portraits but when I knew, I was not into Republicans in that price bracket.

 

Mine is similar, but Octavia is on reverse
AR Cistophorus
39 BC
Ephesos

 

Here's my cistophoric tetradrachm, from Mysia, Pergamon, in worn condition (Fine or so).

I guess they are the wallflowers of Greek tetradrachms, but they do have interesting motifs.

Mysia, Pergamon, Circa 76-67 BCE
Cistophoric tetradrachm
Obverse: Cista Mystica with serpent.
Reverse: Bow case with serpents, IE and monogram, civic monogram to left.
Pinder 109
12.1 grams

 

That's a stunning example!