I first heard of the Cistophoric Tetradrachms when a man in Greece emailed me with a question about these ancient coins. I run a small internet website called "Coins in Movies" and he told me that he had seen such a coin in a movie or television program but could not remember the film or program. I found the film which was the 1995 film "Screamers". "Screamers" is a science-fiction film set on a distant planet where humans have been battling androids. Peter Weller was the star as Commander Hendricksson, the leader of the humans. At one point he shows his assistant an ancient Roman coin with the image of a Sphinx and the lettering "AVGVSTVS" on it. The "Screamers" ancient coin It was interesting that actor Peter Weller has a Ph.D. degree from UCLA in Italian Art History. He is a collector of ancient coins and it is more than likely that the coin shown in the film belonged to him. I looked up the coin and it turned out to be a Cistophoric Tetradrachm minted in the Roman era. I have been a coin collector for a long time but had never heard of these coins before. Cistophoric Tetradrachms were coins minted in ancient Greece from around BC 190 to around AD 130, first by the Greeks of the Attalid kingom and then by the Romans. The name came from the "cista" or sacred chest or basket associated with the Greek god Dionysus, the god of wine and festivals. The Romans worshipped Dionysus under the name Bacchus. A tetradrachm was a coin worth four Greek drachmas. Standard tetradrachms were minted of silver, were around 25 mm in diameter (about the size of a US quarter) and weighed around 18 grams. The cistophoric coins were minted to a lower weight standard of around 13 grams and over the years had many different designs. Many cities minted them including Pergamon and Ephesus. Some of these coins have a form of dating on them. Another film may feature Cistophoric Tetradrachms: In 1900 some Greek sponge divers were working in the waters near Antikythera Island. They found some statues, ancient coins, and other items. For the next few years divers brought up items which were sent to the National Museum in Athens. One item recovered, named the "Antikythera Mechanism", was believed to be part of a clock. It wasn't. In 1976 French explorer Jacques Cousteau took a group of divers to the wreck and made more discoveries including a number of silver coins, Cistophoric Tetradrachms of course. The coins dated the the sinking of the ship to around BC 76 to 67. The coins had been minted at Pergamon and Ephesus, cities near the Aegean Sea, now the west coast of Turkey. I have not seen the latest Indiana Jones film "Dial of Destiny" but the "Antikythera Mechanism" has been mentioned as being the main object in the film. There is also an underwater diving scene in the film. Two of the Indiana Jones films have featured coins. Possibly this one might also. So what did the "sacred basket" of Dionysus contain? The coins will tell us: Cistophoric Tetradrachm of Pergamon Mysia, BC 166 to 67 Silver, 25 mm, 12.20 gm Struck BC 166 to 67, Pergamon Obverse: Cista mystica within wreath with snake emerging from it. Reverse: Bow case with two entwined snakes around it. Cistophoric Tetradrachm of Ephesus Ionia, BC 83 to 82 Silver, 26 mm, 12.44 gm Struck: BC 83 to 82 Ephesus Obverse: Cista mystica within wreath with snake emerging from it Reverse: Bow case with two entwined snakes around it
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
HI All, To read an analysis of the Cistophoric tetradrachms found with the Antikethyra reck see “The coins”, in Ν. Κaltsas – E. Vlachogianni – P. Bouyia (eds), The Antikythera Shipwreck. The Ship, the Treasures, the Mechanism on Academia.edu. - Broucheion
MYSIA, Pergamon. Circa 166-67 BC. AR Tetradrachm (26mm, 12.44 g). Cistophoric type. Struck circa 88-85 BC. Cista mystica within ivy wreath / Two serpents entwined around bow and bowcase; BA and prytaneis monogram above, civic monogram to left, serpent-entwined thyrsos to right. Kleiner, Hoard 30; SNG BN 1730-1.
"Coins in movies" is an interesting topic I hadn't thought much about before... But I collect ancient coins with interesting "object biographies" or "backstories." I have coins that have been featured in numismatic books, academic journals, metallurgical studies, coin magazines, websites, Youtube videos, college lectures, museum exhibits, and so on... but as of yet, no movies! That's something I'll have to keep an eye out for. I knew Peter Weller was a PhD historian, and it sounds familiar that he collects coins, but I must've forgotten. Another interesting cinematic collector of ancient coins... Buddy Ebsen -- AKA Jed Clampett of "The Beverly Hillbillies"! I do not have any of his collection coins to my knowledge -- and I have no reason to believe he ever had any on screen in the show -- but I have the catalog annotated in my provenance research notes/database (the ancients are all from Ebsen Coll. portion of the sale, I don't annotate the non-ancient parts): Superior Galleries, 7 June 1987, Edwards Metcalf & Buddy Ebsen Collection = 780 lots ancient mostly ill. inline (plus 2 color plates; Lots 4001 – 4780, incl. some groups = Session One), all from the Ebsen Collection (several page bio), some provenances throughout (surely others can be found, considering the ex. high quality), many very high quality Greek AR incl. Dekadrachms of Kimon & Euainetos and Ptolemy II/Arsinoe II, 6 Lots (9 Coins) of Hermias Drachms but only 4 Lots (5 coins) as “ex Sitichoro Hoard,” pair of rare Parthian/Persis Diobols, & extensive gold, the Greek AV incl. many Alexander III Staters, Athens Stater, many Ptolemaic large AV, several RRC AV (incl. J.P. Morgan 60 Asses & sev. Caesar Aureii), and RIC incl. Claudius II Goth. Eight-Aurei medallion, very late/end-of-empire Roman AV; Greek (4001-4282A, AR, AV-EL, some AE Judaean & RPC), RRC (4283 – 4340, AR AV AE [3 Aes Grave & some struck]), RIC (4341-4709, AV AR, plenty of AE, some RPC [mainly 3rd cent., most AR]), Byzantine et al. (4341-4480, mostly AV-EL, few AR, incl. Medieval/Dark Ages, Crusader, Goth, Vandal, Lombard, some rarer, etc.); If I can remember some of the other actors with published catalogs/collections I'll share them too... For now, the one famous performer that comes to mind is the world-famous opera singer Enrico Caruso (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Caruso), whose collection was dispersed in a classic pair of sales in 1923, ancient & world gold from Italian dealer Canessa (unfortunately low-quality images on the plates at Hathitrust) EDIT: much better copy here on Gallica & the mostly non-ancient sale a few months later by American cataloger Henry Chapman). Apparently he did make a film or two, though!
