coin
- Museum number
- EH,p697.3.Cyr
- Description
-
Silver coin. (whole)
-
Head of Zeus Ammon, right. (obverse)
-
silphium. (reverse)
- Production date
- 480BC-435BC
- Dimensions
-
Weight: 17.130 grammes
- Curator's comments
- This silver coin from Cyrene depicts the now-extinct plant silphium on its reverse. The city flourished thanks to the exportation of silphium, which was highly desired by the Greeks from the seventh century BC to the first century AD. It was used as a medicine to treat symptoms including nausea, colds and headaches and was thought to be a gift from the god Apollo.
On the obverse of the coin is a deity known as 'the lord of good counsel' that the Cyrenaicans referred to as 'Zeus Ammon'. Ammon was an oracle god worshipped by the ancient peoples of Libya.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2014/15, 1 Dec - 1 May, Athens, Museum of Cycladic Art, Hygieia: Health, Illness and Treatment in the Ancient Greek World
- Acquisition date
- 1816
- Department
- Coins and Medals
- Registration number
- EH,p697.3.Cyr
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: HSBC.1076 (Money Gallery Exhibited)
- C&M catalogue number
-
GC29 (BMC Greek (Cyrenaica)) (10) (42)
