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Kyrene 308-277 BC AR didrachm 7.37 g 1.79 cm 1.75 cm 7h

obverse: hd Karneios r
reverse: silphium plant KY - PA
GCV 2 6319
Catawiki Ancient Coins (Greek & Eastern) 7 June 2017 lot 40 (numismatik2016 I)

Cyrenaica (Kyrenaica), Cyrene (Kyrene)
630 BC Cyrene founded from Thera

The juice extracted from the stalk and root had medical properties.
The stalk was eaten as a vegetable.
The silphium appears to have become extinct in the 1C AD.
Legend said that it was a gift from the god Apollo.
Plant of the genus Ferula, perhaps a variety of "giant fennel".
The still-extant plant Ferula tingitana has been suggested as another possibility.

Many medical uses were ascribed to the plant. It was said that it could be used to treat
cough, sore throat, fever, indigestion, aches and pains, warts, and all kinds of maladies.
Hippocrates wrote:
When the gut protrudes and will not remain in its place, scrape the finest and most compact silphium
into small pieces and apply as a cataplasm.

It has been speculated that the plant may also have functioned as a contraceptive, based
partly on Pliny's statement that it could be used "to promote the menstrual discharge".
Many species in the parsley family have estrogenic properties, and some, such as wild carrot,
are reputed abortifacients (chemicals that terminate a pregnancy).
Given this, it is quite possible that the plant was pharmacologically active in the
prevention or termination of pregnancy. (Partly from Wikipedia).