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Priene (BC 180-44) Drachm
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ca 2nd-1st century BC. AR Drachm (4.04g). Facing bust of Athena Parthenos, draped and wearing triple-crested helmet / ΠΡIH, Nike advancing right, holding wreath in right hand and palm over left shoulder, AΘHNO/ΠOΛIΣ (magistrate) to right, within maeander border. Unpublished. Good very fine.
Athena was the usual type of Priene's civic coinage, advertising the city's temple of Athena Polias, dedicated by Alexander the Great. The specific types of this drachm - a frontal bust of Athena, paired with a Nike reverse - are new to Priene's silver coinage. The magistrate who signed this issue has a prominent name at Priene: at least two men named Athenopolis are mentioned in inscriptions found at the city, one a victorious wrestler, the other a priest of Dionysos.
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