SYRIA, Seleucis and Pieria. Apamea. Tessera (Lead, 22 mm, 6.40 g, 12 h), Seleucis and Pieria. Apamea, CY 24 = 43/2 BC. Bare imperatorial head to right. Rev. [AΠAM]EΩN / [THΣ] IE[P]AΣ - [K]AI AΣYΛ[OY] Elephant walking right; in field to right, ΔΚ. A very unusual piece of great historical interest. Some corrosion, otherwise, good fine.

The date 24 on the reverse of this interesting tessera is likely to the Pompeian Era, which dates it to 43/2 BC, a year which saw the expulsion of Quintus Caecilius Bassus from Apameia by Gaius Cassius Longinus and a major change in the coinage of the city, away from the old autonomous types of Zeus/elephant towards the Athena/Nike issues. Unlike the civic reverse, the head on the obverse of this tessera looks decidedly imperatorial and may represent either Bassus, or more likely, Longinus, one of the two leading assassins of Julius Caesar