DOMITIAN
AD 81-96
AR Drachm. 3.0g, 19.4mm
MINTED: LYCIA LEAGUE, struck in Rome, AD 95 (Cos. 17)
REF: RPC II 1501
OBVERSE: AYT KAIC ΔOMITIANOC CEBACTOC ΓEPM, laureate head right.
REVERSE: ЄTOYC IΔ YΠATOC IZ, Lycian lyre.
 
Grade/Notes:
Almost Very Fine. Some patches of horn silver.
Extremely rare variety of this scarce issue of Lycian drachmas, very seldom available for sale.  This interesting series was struck in Rome (as evidenced by the fine style portrait and 6 o'clock die axis characteristic of the Rome mint) for use in Lycia.  Metallurgical analysis show that these drachmas had a silver fineness of 80%, lower than that of Roman denarii of the period, and corresponding to the standard of the cistophoric tetradrachm (3 drachmas to a cistophorus).
 
Historical Notes:
In AD 43, Lycia, a mountainous region in southwestern Anatolia, was incorporated by the Emperor Claudius into the province of Pamphylia et Lycia.  The Lycian League, a confederation of some thirty towns, nevertheless continued to function as a politically independent unit under a special dispensation by the Roman Senate.  Lycia was by and large a quiet, well-governed region during Imperial times and benefited from the building projects ordered by emperors such as Hadrian (who built a large granarium in the port city of Andriace), Antoninus Pius, Septimius Severus and Caracalla.