Cistophorus from Pergamon (Mysia)

With the creation of a new denomination for his kingdom, which from 188 BC encompassed almost all of Asia Minor, Eumenes II of Pergamon hoped for political and economic advantages. One aim was to promote the unity of a territory that had grown out of disparate parts. Another aim was to facilitate domestic trade. In addition, the so-called cistophorus, which judging from the distribution and composition of treasure finds functioned as the exclusive domestic means of payment, weighed around 12.6 grams, a quarter less than the Attic tetradrachm common at the time. This meant enormous profits at an exchange rate of 1:1 favorable to the empire. The unique silver coin, along with its striking iconography consisting primarily of coiling serpents as well as the cista mystica (a round container) that gave it its name on the obverse of the coin, was retained under Roman rule when the Kingdom of Pergamon was part of the province of Asia. An example of this is the cistophorus from 85 to 76 BC shown here.

Obverse: Cista mystica from which snake coils, in ivy wreath with fruits. Reverse: Two snakes coiling around a bow case with aphlaston. ΠEP(gamon) to left, KT and ΠPY(taneis) above, snake-entwined staff to right.