SYRIA, Seleucis and Pieria. Apamea. C. Cassius Longinus (?), 43-42 BC. Tessera (Lead, 21 mm, 7.16 g, 12 h), CY 24 = 43/2 BC. Bare head of Cassius Longinus (?) to right. Rev. [AΠAMEΩN / THΣ IEPAΣ - KAI AΣYΛOY] Elephant walking right; in field to right, [ΔΚ]. Leu Web Auction 12 (2020), 959. Very rare. The reverse struck slightly off center, otherwise, 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.