Silver Tetradrachm of Magnesia-on-Maeander, Ionia, 16.77 g.
Title
Silver Tetradrachm of Magnesia-on-Maeander, Ionia, 16.77 g.
Creator
Magnesia-on-Maeander, Ionia
Date
c. 155-140 BCE
Description
Obverse: Bust of Artemis facing right, wearing stephane, bow, and quiver over left shoulder.
Reverse: Within wreath, nude Apollo standing to left on maeander, leaning on tripod to his left, filleted branch in right; to left, ΕΥΦΗΜΟΣ ΠΑΥΣΑΝΙΟΥ: Euphemos Pausaniou; to right, ΜΑΓΝΗΤΩΝ: of the Magnesians.
Style/Period: Hellenistic
Magnesia-on-Maeander was an old Ionian city once located on the river Maeander, which is now silted up. In antiquity it was famous for its sanctuary of Artemis Leukophryene. It was made autonomous in the Treaty of Apamea in 188 BCE and issued its own wreathed tetradrachms in the middle of the second century.
The obverse of the tetradrachms depicts a bust of Artemis wearing a stephane or crown and with her attributes, a quiver and bow, at her left shoulder. It was typical of the autonomous cities of the period to abandon portraits of Alexander and his royal successors and to resume use of the cities' main deities on their obverses. On the reverse is Artemis' brother, Apollo, also worshipped at Magnesia. He stands on the maeander, emblem of the city. To the left is the name Euphemos Pausaniou (Ephemos, son of Pausanias), one of eight names occurring on the reverses of Magnesia's tetradrachms. The significance of these men for the coinage of Magnesia is unclear. It has been suggested that they were officials of the mint or that they were liturgists, wealthy men who contributed materially to the city, in this case to the production of its coins, and who were then honored with the appearance of their names on the reverses. Euphemos may be the same man, apparently a prominent citizen of Magnesia, who was the recipient of a Magnesian honorary decree of uncertain date and who was a temple steward of the cult of Artemis Leukophryene in 138 or 132 BCE. The evidence of the seven hoards in which the Magnesian wreathed tetradrachms have been found suggests that they were issued from c. 155-140 BCE.
-- Carol L. Lawton
Bibliography: N.F. Jones, "The Autonomous Wreathed Tetradrachms of Magnesia-on- Maeander," American Numismatic Society Museum Notes 24 (1979) 63-109.
The obverse of the tetradrachms depicts a bust of Artemis wearing a stephane or crown and with her attributes, a quiver and bow, at her left shoulder. It was typical of the autonomous cities of the period to abandon portraits of Alexander and his royal successors and to resume use of the cities' main deities on their obverses. On the reverse is Artemis' brother, Apollo, also worshipped at Magnesia. He stands on the maeander, emblem of the city. To the left is the name Euphemos Pausaniou (Ephemos, son of Pausanias), one of eight names occurring on the reverses of Magnesia's tetradrachms. The significance of these men for the coinage of Magnesia is unclear. It has been suggested that they were officials of the mint or that they were liturgists, wealthy men who contributed materially to the city, in this case to the production of its coins, and who were then honored with the appearance of their names on the reverses. Euphemos may be the same man, apparently a prominent citizen of Magnesia, who was the recipient of a Magnesian honorary decree of uncertain date and who was a temple steward of the cult of Artemis Leukophryene in 138 or 132 BCE. The evidence of the seven hoards in which the Magnesian wreathed tetradrachms have been found suggests that they were issued from c. 155-140 BCE.
-- Carol L. Lawton
Bibliography: N.F. Jones, "The Autonomous Wreathed Tetradrachms of Magnesia-on- Maeander," American Numismatic Society Museum Notes 24 (1979) 63-109.
Source
Former collection of Ottilia Buerger. Purchased from Münzen und Medaillen, 1973.
Identifier
91.082
Rights
Wriston Art Center Galleries, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI,wriston-gallery@lawrence.edu,920-832-6890
Subject
Hellenistic, Artemis, stephane, bow, quiver, wreath, Apollo, tripod, branch, Magnesia-on-Maeander, Ionia
Files
Citation
Magnesia-on-Maeander, Ionia, “Silver Tetradrachm of Magnesia-on-Maeander, Ionia, 16.77 g.,” Lawrence University Classics Department & Ottilia Buerger Coin Collections, accessed November 5, 2026, https://thor.lawrence.edu/omeka/buerger/items/show/222.