KYRENAICA. Kyrene. Second Revolt of the Kyrenaikans, circa 305-300 BC. Tetrobol (Gold, 12 mm, 2.85 g, 1 h), Sosis, magistrate. Horseman riding slowly to left, petasos hanging down behind his neck; in field to right, star. Rev. KYPA Silphium plant with three pair of leaves and fruits; in field to right, monogram of Sosis. BMC 211b, pl. XX, 7 (same obverse die). Naville 168a and pl. VI, 168 (this coin). SNG Lockett 3472 (same obverse die). A lovely and well struck piece. Light marks on the obverse, otherwise, nearly extremely fine.


Kyrene and its neighboring cities gained their fabulous wealth not least from the export of the silphium plant, which grew wild in the Kyrenaika and was used both for medical purposes and eaten as a vegetable. Growing demand and the over-cultivation of the hinterland eventually led to the extinction of the wild plant, whose appearance we only know from coins, by the 1st century AD.