Magnesia (AD 138-161) AE 34 - Antoninus Pius

Antoninus Pius, 138-161 AD. AE34 (26.53g), struck under grammateus L. Dioskurides Gratos Metr. [T AI]ΛIOC KAICAP - ANTΩNEINO[C], laureate head right / EΠI ΔIOCKOVPIΔ[OV] ΓP - MAΓ - NHTΩN, Themistokles, nude to hips, sitting left on throne with lion's-feet, left hand at parazonium hanging at his left side, with right hand holding an oval shield inscribed with (?)EM/(?)AN/OC in three lines set on cippus; right behind him a horse standing right, head turned left. Very rare, F+. Hoeft coll.

This coin was very difficult to interpret because of the depiction of the male figure, nude, with parazonium, very tall upper part of the body, but it suggests Themistokles. There is another rare type of him sacrificing before an altar, where he is similarily depicted. Themistokles is the famous hero of Salamis who had to flee from Athens after an ostrakismos. His former enemy, the Persian king Artaxerxes I, accommodated him and made him satrap of Lampsakos and Magnesia ad Maeandrum due to his merits at Salamis.