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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;The Meat man, post: 24720308, member: 135271&quot;]The object on the reverse is a &quot;cista mystica&quot; - a lidded container often shown holding a live snake, important in certain ancient mystery cults. Here&#039;s what <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cista" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cista" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a> has to say about it:</p><p><br /></p><p><i>&quot;In ancient Greek mystery cults, the cista mystica were wicker-work boxes which seem to have contained a live serpent, as represented in numerous ancient images, including coins on which a cista is shown half-open with a serpent creeping out of it. These cistra were sometimes oblong, but more frequently cylindrical, for example, as represented in a statue of Silenus sitting on a large drum-shaped cista, holding a wine-jug in his hand. Cistra mystica were also carried in procession in the Greek festivals of Demeter and Dionysus—these boxes were always kept closed in public, and contained sacred items connected with the worship of these deities. The cista mystica was also known to be sacred to Bacchus, but similar cult objects were probably also affiliated with Isis. In the Bacchic mysteries, the serpent was carried on a bed of grape leaves and was used as a stand-in for the god. The characteristic form of the serpent was an important component of the symbolism, and classical sources note it shares its shape with “the forms of men.”</i>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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