Cistophorus

The Cistophori ( gr ) (also Cistophoren; singular Cistophorus ) were in the Hellenistic- Roman Asia Minor coins worth about three drachms, or three denarii. They were from the 2nd century AD BC to the 2nd century BC in use. At various times, the coins were minted in 15 different cities of Asia Minor, for example, in Pergamum, Sardis, Smyrna and in Bithynia Nicomedia.

Robinson has already led in the 1950s to prove that the first Cistophori with the first years of rule 2 to 4 and the entries under Eumenes II Eumenes not († 158 BC), but only under Aristonicus of Pergamon († 129 BC BC) were coined, who had given himself the ruler name Eumenes and was able to hold several years against the Roman expansion.

Other research shows that still are reflected in existing handbooks and encyclopedias, the first coinage of the Cistophori order for the kingdom emerged in the later form in the period 175-160 BC, however, already under Eumenes II of Pergamos, the Attalids with a replacement for the coins of the Seleucids and the tetradrachms of Philetairos to obtain a balance between the small Asian currencies. It reduced the chiisch - Rhodian or Ptolemaic coin weight standard to 12.75 grams.

The Cistophori were enclosed on the front of a laurel wreath, which dominated the central design. The obverse of the respective Augustus was representative of the previously used cista mystica of the Dionysian mysteries, half open basket in a wreath of ivy, from which emerged a snake.

On the reverse you put the Roman goddess Pax is, in perdamenischer time a Goryt or a quiver between two upright snakes. To the left was usually the name of the city in question.

Currency were drachmas and pence. But the very name of Cicero as proconsul of Cilicia (51/ 50 BC ) on these coins showed the acceptance of this tender. The Cistophori of Marcus Antonius 39 BC were estimated on the basis of their quality.

As a veritable " Kolonialmünzen " Cistophori were accepted by the Romans for payments already under Augustus. Its first issue 28 BC suffered from a lack of metal, so that you melted down a significant amount of Cistophori of days of the Republic and drachmas. The coins of Ephesus and Pergamon worked together to shape the immense amount of 15 to 20 million Cistophori 28-18 BC at all.

Over time, the Cistophori lost value. Had they Augustus still a weight of 11.71 grams, it decreased during the reigns of Claudius, Vespasian and Hadrian, who promoted the production again, to 10.8 and finally to 9.95 grams. Under Septimius Severus and Caracalla were the Cistophori to one equivalent of three denarii.

The Cistophori of Augustus taken as evidence for the return of prosperity, which had been due to the discovery of new silver mines in Thrace and Anatolia. The Cistophori covered the needs of the provinces according to a fixed currency for the next 150 years, so that the silver from the newly discovered mines soon became used more for embossing the Cistophori as the minting of denarii. Denarii sat down in Asia Minor through until the 2nd century AD.