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Message:: [QUOTE="TIF, post: 2215251, member: 56859"]Wonderful coins, [USER=74282]@red_spork[/USER] and [USER=44140]@Ancientnoob[/USER]! Ptolemaic coins from Kyrene are "on the list"  <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> I have only one example from Kyrenaika, a tragically and clumsily cleaned little silver rarity.  <img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/ae43f8_aa9fb54868fa49aaa29fcbae56aafc25.jpg_srb_p_850_424_75_22_0.50_1.20_0.00_jpg_srb" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> KYRENAIKA, Barke480-450 BCEAR hemidrachm, 13 mm, 1.57 gmObv: silphium plantRev: head of Zeus Ammon right within linear frame, B A P K aroundRef:  Müller MAA 301. Very rare. Additional information about the silphium plant, copied from my<a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancients-kyrenaikas-silphium-plant.245537/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancients-kyrenaikas-silphium-plant.245537/"> first posting of this coin</a>: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophrastus" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophrastus" rel="nofollow">Theophrastus</a> (371-287 BC), mentions silphium several times in Historia Plantarum: "In the Cyrenaica the cypress grows and the olives are fairest and the oil most abundant. Most special of all to this district is the silphium..." He goes on to describe the physical characteristics and plant product preparation <a href="https://archive.org/stream/L079TheophrastusEnquiryIntoPlantsII59/L079-Theophrastus%20Enquiry%20Into%20Plants%20II%3A5-9#page/n31/mode/2up" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://archive.org/stream/L079TheophrastusEnquiryIntoPlantsII59/L079-Theophrastus%20Enquiry%20Into%20Plants%20II%3A5-9#page/n31/mode/2up" rel="nofollow">here and in the next three pages</a>, noting that it grows wild and disappears upon cultivation of the land (although he further documents contradicting agricultural anecdotes). The plant appears to relatively new, or at least newly discovered: "The people of Cyrene say that the silphium appeared seven years before they founded their city; now they had lived there for about three hundred years before the archonship at Athens at Simonides." Other online references mention legends that silphium was viewed as a "gift from Apollo". An <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF02866492" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF02866492" rel="nofollow">article by Henry Koerper and A.L. Kolls</a>, "The Silphium Motif Adorning Ancient Libyan Coinage: Marketing a Medicinal Plant" had many interesting tidbits. It is available for downloading for $39.95 but you can get a free 5 minute peek (and that was enough time to screen cap the whole thing for more leisurely reading <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> ) <img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/silphium-motif-article-abstract-jpg.325525/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> In addition to use as a food, the list of purported medicinal applications of silphium is long: oral contraceptive and abortifacienttreatment for abdominal paintreatment for alopeciatreatment for anal exrescences and prolapseantidote for the poison of weapons, scorpion stings, snake bitestreatment of asthma, bronchitis, coughs, horsenesstreatment of dog bitestreatment of bruises and wounds (external application)a calefacient (warming) medicinetreatment for carbuncles, chillblains, callosities, and indurationstreatment of cardiac diseasestreatment for coeliacustreatment of convulsionscorn and wart removalpromotion of digestionas a diuretictreatment of dropsy, jaundice, and other visceral affections including intestinal woundstreatment of epilepsytreatment of eye diseasesfor gynecological problems (menstrual problems)treatment for intestinal wormsas a liniment for lumbago and sciaticatreatment of mangetreatment of nervous disorderstreatment of opisthotonuspain preventiontreatment of pleurisytreatment of quartran fever (malaria?)treatment of shiveringtreatment of sinew affections (tendonitis?)treatment of stomach colds (??)treatment for tetanustreatment for toothachetreatment for ulcerstreatment for inflammation of the uvulaas a vaginal suppository (for menstrual disorders?)a veterinary medicine for sheep Why did it become extinct? Speculative, but multifactoral: overharvesting due to exploitation of medicinal and veterinary uses. (Betcha it was really due to its reported aphrodisiacal qualities; some behaviors never change.) Pliny the Elder supposedly said that in Roman markets, silphium was worth its weight in silver denari. I could not find such a quote in <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D19%3Achapter%3D15" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D19%3Achapter%3D15" rel="nofollow">Pliny's writings on silphium</a>. However, he does mention that it supposedly acts as a soporific for sheep. Goats, not so much. They just go into fits of sneezing. [note to self: if I bring back silphium à la Jurassic Park, and if I decide to raise goats, keep them away from the silphium.] Map showing the location of Barce/Barke, from the <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF02866492" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF02866492" rel="nofollow">article by Koerper</a>: <img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/map-of-cyrene-jpg.325526/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]

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