Silver Cistophoric Tetradrachm from Tralleis, Lydia, C. 140-135 BC
The coins shows a snake emerging from a cista mystica (a basket used in the worship of Dionysus/Bacchus) surrounded by an ivy wreath. The reverse shows an ornate bow case between two serpents; a star is between the snake’s heads; Helios’ radiate head is to the right and a monogram is on the left.
According to Strabo, Tralleis aka (Tralles, map) was founded by the Argives and Trallians, a Thracian tribe. Along with the rest of Lydia, the city fell to the Persian Empire. After its success against Athens in the Peloponnesian War, Sparta unsuccessfully sought to take the city from the Persians, but in 334 BC, Tralleis surrendered to Alexander the Great without resistance and therefore was not sacked. Alexander’s general Antigonus held the city from 313 to 301 BC and later the Seleucids held the city until 190 BC when it fell to Pergamon. From 133 to 129 BC, the city supported Aristonicus of Pergamon, a pretender to the Pergamene throne, against the Romans. After the Romans defeated him, they revoked the city’s right to mint coins.
Tralleis was a conventus for a time under the Roman Republic, but Ephesus later took over that position. The city was taken by rebels during the Mithridatic War during which many Roman inhabitants were killed. Tralleis suffered greatly from an earthquake in 26 BC. Augustus provided funds for its reconstruction after which the city thanked him by renaming itself Caesarea.
Strabo describes the city as a prosperous trading center, listing famous residents of the city, including Pythodoros (native of Nysa), and orators Damasus Scombrus and Dionysocles. Several centuries later, Anthemius of Tralleis, architect of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, was born in Tralleis.