Post it and pick it!

[shanxi]

Faustina II
Alexandria
Billon-Tetradrachm
Obv.: ΦAVCTINA CEBACTH, draped bust right
Rev.: L Є = year 5 (AD 164/165 ), Aphrodite standing left, holding helmet and shield set on column on which is inscribed ΔV/NA/MIC,
Billon, 13.55g, 23mm
Ref.: Geißen 2113, Dattari 3606

 

Next: holding helmet

[Phil Anthos]

Taras, Calabria

333-331/30 BC (Period IV - Archidamos and the Third Lucanian War) AR Didrachm (20mm, 7.54g) Signed by the Kal... engraver.  O: Nude horseman right, wearing shield on left arm and holding two spears in left hand, preparing to thrust third spear held in right hand; |- behind, Δ before, ΚΑΛ and Δ below. R: Phalanthos astride dolphin right, holding crested helmet; stars flanking, ΤΑΡΑΣ to left, ΚΑΛ below. D'Andrea XXXII, 657; Vlasto 545; Cote 215; McGill II, 41; Evans IV, H3; HGC I, 794; HN Italy 896; SNG ANS 971; Sear 345 ex Monarch Beach Archidamos III reigned as King of Sparta from 360 BC until his death in 338. Summoned by the Tarentines to assist them in the first Lucanian war, he lead a mercenary army to Manduria in Calabria, where he fell in battle against the combined forces of the Messapians and Lucanians. The historian Diodorus suggests that the death of Archidamos and the massacre of his army was divine vengeance for his plundering of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. The 4th century artist known to us only as the KAL engraver was arguably the finest die engraver in Magna Graecia. Specializing in common everyday scenes and eschewing the more aristocratic themes, his work had a certain elegance and sensitivity rarely seen in numismatic art. The dolphin rider on this coin is bowing his head slightly and looking very pensively at the helmet in his hands. Is Phalanthos mourning for King Archidamos here? Sir Arthur Evans thought so, and the two stars on this reverse (one off flan), representing the Dioskouri and therefore Sparta the Mother City, lends credence to this idea.  Next: Sea goddess

[DonnaML]

No sea goddesses, but here's a sea creature:

Gallienus, Billon Antoninianus, 267-268 AD, Rome Mint, 9th Officina, 10th emission (Göbl & Reinhardt). Obv. Radiate cuirassed bust right, GALLIENVS AVG / Rev. Hippocamp swimming right, NEP-TVNO CONS AVG; in exergue, N [= Nu, for 9th Officina). RIC V-1 245, RSC IV 668 (ill.), Wolkow 23i9, Bust Type B3, Ribbons Type 3 (see p. 87), Sear RCV III 10292, Göbl MIR  Band 36, No. 743b [ill. at http://www258.pair.com/denarius/coinage.htm (Ed Flinn's site) & in Reinhardt at p. 136, no. 5]. 19 mm.,  g.  Purchased from Akropolis Ancient Coins, May 2021. 

Next, another mythical creature of the sea.

[Phil Anthos]

A strange synthesis...

Taras, Calabria

473-450 BC AR Drachm (Half Nomos) (16mm, 3.53g) O: Forepart of hippocamp with pointed wings right; TAPAΣ (retrograde) counterclockwise behind, scallop shell below. R: Head of nymph Satyra right; TA clockwise behind, all within incuse circle. D'Andrea IX, 115; Vlasto 157-59; Cote 60; SNG France 1610; HGC I, 822; SNG ANS 846; HN Italy 839 Rare ex Savoca Coins A rare early drachm, sometimes referred to as a 'half nomos'. The hippocamp could be seen as a Pegasus, but that device was unknown in Tarentine coinage while the hippocamp was quite common, and the scallop shell certainly lends credibility to that idea. Alfred Hands places this type much earlier, perhaps as early as 520 BC, while Ratto (the Cote catalog) suggests that the nymph is actually the obverse due to the retrograde ethnic. Next: Persephone

[ambr0zie]

16,6 mm, 4,58 g.
Sicily, Syracuse. Agathokles 317-289 BC. Ӕ litra. Period I, circa 317-295 BC.
ΣYPAKOΣION, head of Kore-Persephone / Bull butting, club and T, IE. SNG ANS 586-589.

 

Next - bull

[shanxi]

Lydia, Hierokaisareia
Pseudo-autonomous issue
1st century AD
Obv: ΠΕΡCΙ-ΚΗ , draped bust of Artemis Persica right, quiver at shoulder, holding bow at breast.
Rev.: IEPOKAI-CAPE-ΩN, bull standing right
AE, 3.17g, 15mm
Ref.: RPC 1861, GRPC Lydia 20

[ambr0zie]

I think we also need the new theme. 

50 minutes ago, shanxi said:

Lydia, Hierokaisareia
Pseudo-autonomous issue
1st century AD
Obv: ΠΕΡCΙ-ΚΗ , draped bust of Artemis Persica right, quiver at shoulder, holding bow at breast.
Rev.: IEPOKAI-CAPE-ΩN, bull standing right
AE, 3.17g, 15mm
Ref.: RPC 1861, GRPC Lydia 20

 

[shanxi]

Oops

 

Next: Lydia

[ambr0zie]

 

16 mm, 3 g.
Lydia, Saitta. Faustina II 147-175. Ӕ.
ΦΑVϹΤƐΙΝΑ ϹƐΒΑϹΤΗ, draped bust of Faustina II, r. / ƐΠ Φ ΗΡΚΛΑΝΟV ϹΑΙΤΤΗΝΩΝ, Artemis standing, r., drawing arrow from quiver at shoulder, holding bow; to r., dog.
RPC IV.2, 11561.

Next - Artemis

[Ryro]

next: RR

[expat]

L. Memmius AR Denarius (20mm, 3.77 g.)
Rome mint, struck 109-108 BC Gens Memmia
Obv. Apollo facing right, wearing oak wreath, mark of value below chin.
Rev. The Dioscuri standing facing, each holding spears and bridle of their horses, Xanthus and Cyllarus. Moneyer name in exergue.
Crawford 304

NEXT: Dioscuri

[Prieure de Sion]

1 hour ago, expat said:

NEXT: Dioscuri

 

 
Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus known as Caligula; Under the Magistrate Epikrates; Bronze of the Roman Imperial; Period 37/41 AD; Material: AE; Diameter: 20mm; Weight: 5.12g; Mint: Philadelphia, Lydia, Conventus of Sardis; Reference: RPC I 3022; Obverse: Bare head of Caligula, right; to left, star. The inscription reads: ΓΑΙΟΣ ΚΑΙΣΑΡ for Gaios Kaisaros (Gaius Caesar); Reverse: Laureate busts of the Dioscuri, jugate, right. The inscription reads: ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛ(ΦΕΩΝ) ΕΠΙΚΡΑΤΗΣ for Philadelpheon Epikrates (from the people of Philadelphia, Magistrate Epikrates).

 

Next: Caligula Imperial Bronze Coin please...

[Ryro]

next: am emperor's sister

[DonnaML]

Sister of Caligula:

Agrippina II (the Younger) (AD 15-59, 4^th wife and niece of Claudius I [Empress AD 49-54], mother of Nero, daughter of Germanicus & Agrippina I, sister of Caligula), AE diobol, Claudius I Year 13 [AD 52-53], Alexandria, Egypt Mint. Obv. Draped bust of Agrippina II right, crowned with corn wreath, hair in queue, ΑΓΡΙΠΠΙΝΑ - ϹƐΒΑϹΤΗ around / Rev. Draped bust of Euthenia right, crowned with corn wreath, holding two ears of corn; across fields, ƐΥΘΗ – ΝΙΑ [Euthenia], across fields below, L – Ι Γ [Year 13 of Claudius]. 24.40 mm., 13.19 g. RPC [Roman Provincial Coinage] Vol. I  5194 (1992); RPC I Online 5194 (see https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/1/5194); Emmett 103.13; BMC 16 Alexandria 110 (p. 14); Milne 127 (p. 4) (ill. RPC I 5194, Specimen 1); K & G 13.4 (ill. p. 54);  )]; SNG France 4, Alexandrie I 258 (ill. Pl. 19) [Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, France Vol. 4, Alexandrie I, Auguste-Trajan (Zurich 1998)].* 24.40 mm., 13.19 g. Purchased from Naville Numismatics, Ltd., London, UK, Auction 80, 2 Apr 2023, Lot 329. 

* See Jones, John Melville, A Dictionary of Ancient Greek Coins (London, Seaby, 1986) at p. 89 [entry for Euthenia]: “ ‘Plenty’, the equivalent of the Roman Abundantia. At Alexandria she was represented as the bride of the Nile, reclining like him, or seated, with corn wreath and sometimes with sceptre and uraeus (sacred cobra).” According to the Classical Numismatic Group’s catalog for the 1 Sep 2018 Triton XXI Staffieri Collection sale,  describing the specimen of this type (ex Dattari Collection) sold as Lot 11, “Agrippina Junior, wife and niece of Claudius, is assimilated to the goddess Euthenia (Abundance), the wife of Nilus, and symbol of agricultural prosperity, who appears on the reverse. The excellent and realistic portrait of Agrippina recalls, in particular, the marble head that resides in the collection of Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen (Catalog No. 636).” 

Next, a member of the immediate family of Claudius I : father, mother, sibling, wife, or child.

[shanxi]

Lydia. Hierocaesaraea
Agrippina Junior (Augusta, 50-59)
Bronze, AE 19
Obv.: AΓPIΠΠINAN ΘЄAN CЄBACTHN, draped bust right, hair in long plait down back of neck and looped at end, long loosely curled lock down side of neck;
Rev.: IЄPOKAICAPЄΩN ЄΠI KAΠITΩNOC, Artemis Persica standing facing, wearing long chiton, with right hand
drawing arrow from quiver on right shoulder, left hand on hip, stag at her side on left
AE, 5.93g, maximum diameter 18.8mm, die axis 0o
Ref.: RPC I 2387; BMC Lydia p. 106, 22, GRPC Lydia 69 (this coin)

 

Next: Artemis

[Prieure de Sion]

4 minutes ago, shanxi said:

Next: Artemis

 

Poppaea Sabina, Wife of Nero; Under the Archon Lucius Servenius Capito and his wife Iulia Severa; Bronze of the Roman Imperial Period ca. 62 AD; Material: AE; Diameter: 16mm; Weight: 2.72g; Mint: Acmonea, Phrygia; Reference: RPC I. 3175 (Specimens 19, 16 in the core collections), BMC 48; Obverse: Draped bust of Poppaea, right; on shoulder, lion; ears of corn in wreath. The Inscription reads: ΠΟΠΠΑΙΑ ΣΕΒΑΣΤΗ for Poppaia Sebasti (Poppaea Augusta); Reverse: Artemis, right drawing arrow and holding bow. The Inscription reads: ΣΕΡΟΥΗΝΙΟΥ ΚΑΠΙΤΩΝΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΙΟΥΛΙΑΣ ΣΕΟΥΗΡΑΣ ΑΚΜΟΝΕΩΝ ΕΠΙ ΑΡΧ (in field) for Serouiniou Kapitinos kai Ioulias Seouiras, Akmoneon, epi Archon (Servenius Capito and Iulia Severa, City of Acmonea, the Archon).

 

Next: another coin with the reference to hunting...

[shanxi]

On 10/19/2023 at 11:42 AM, Prieure de Sion said:

Next: another coin with the reference to hunting...

What about a modern medal

Medal ca. 1900
signed CA
Obv: DIANE, Laureate bust of Diana with crossbow
Rev: SOCIETE DES CHASSEURS DE COTE D’OR, Deer head between crossbow and hunting horn, below Mr G. LECORRE
Edge: ARGENT 950
Ag, 46mm

 

Next: modern medal depicting an ancient god or goddess in modern style (not a copy of an ancient depiction)

 

[Ryro]

6

Next: creature on helmet

[Phil Anthos]

Taras, Calabria

335-333 BC AR Diobol (12mm, 1.22g, 11h) O: Head of Athena right, wearing crested Attic helmet decorated with hippocamp; Ξ behind neck-flap. R: Herakles kneeling right, strangling the Nemean lion; [club] to left, TA above. D'Andrea XXX, 609; Vlasto 1296 (this coin); HN Italy 912 From the M.P Vlasto Collection. ex Pegasi Numismatics; ex MNS Vlasto plate coin, #1296. Next: biga/quadriga NOT pulled by horses

[shanxi]

Lydia. Hierocaesaraea
Time of Commodus
Bronze, Æ 27
Obv: ΔΗΜΟС, Head of youthful Demos right
Rev: IEPOKAICAPEΩN, Artemis driving biga of stags right, holding bow and drawing arrow from quiver on back.
Æ, 27.4mm, 8.67g
RPC IV.2, 11794 (temporary), Martin 1, SNG Hunterian 1377, GRPC Lydia 53 (this coin)

 

Next: stags

[ambr0zie]

17 mm, 3,36 g.
M. Volteius M. f. AR denarius. Rome. 75 BC.
Head of Bacchus (or Liber) right, wearing ivy wreath / Ceres driving biga of snakes right, holding torch in each hand; dolphin behind.
Crawford 385/3; Sydenham 776; Volteia 3.

Next - Ceres

 

Edit - too late, continue with 

  

Just now, shanxi said:

Next: stags

 

Edited October 20, 2023 by ambr0zie

[DonnaML]

Stags.

Because of the long footnote, I'm giving the next prompt up front: Diana or Luna in a biga or quadriga.

Roman Republic, Anonymous, AR Denarius 143 BCE. Obv. Head of Roma right, wearing winged helmet ornamented with stylized representation of gryphon’s head, and earring of pellets in form of bunch of grapes; behind, X [mark of value, 10 asses, issued before re-tariffing of denomination to 16 asses ca. 141 BCE] / Rev. Diana, with quiver slung on her shoulder, in biga of stags galloping right; holding torch in right hand and reins in left; below stags, a crescent moon; in exergue, ROMA. Crawford 222/1; RSC I Anonymous 101 (ill. p. 8); BMCRR I 895; Sear RCV I 98 (ill. p. 92); Yarrow p. 42 (ill. fig. 1.36) [Liv Mariah Yarrow, The Roman Republic to 49 BCE: Using Coins as Sources (2021)]; RBW Collection 946 (ill. p. 199). 18 mm., 4.13 gr. Purchased from cgb.fr., 13 Feb. 2023.*

 

*As Crawford notes, essentially stating the obvious, “the biga of stags and crescent are presumably present as the attributes of Diana.” Vol. I p. 260. See also BMCRR I p. 123 n. 3, referring to the crescent moon as “the symbol of Diana,” even though the crescent is associated  with Luna (the Greek Selene) as much as with Diana on Roman Republican coinage (see, e.g., Crawford 426/1 [Diana & crescent]; Crawford 480/26 [Luna & crescent]) -- including when it accompanies a goddess driving a biga, for example on Crawford 303/1 (the denarius of M. Aquillius showing Luna in a biga with crescent above). As John Melville Jones notes in A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins (Seaby 1990), in the entry for “Diana” at p. 197, it “is sometimes impossible to make any clear distinction between this goddess and Luna.” See also Crawford Vol. II at pp. 720-721 and n. 6, discussing a series of denarii introduced in the early 2nd century BCE with reverses depicting a goddess in a biga (beginning with Crawford 133), for all of which he identifies the deity as Luna rather than Diana: "It is not possible to distinguish firmly between Luna and Diana; I adopt the designation Luna here without total conviction; but in the coinage of Julia Domna, where Luna and Diana are explicitly identified, Luna bears a crescent on her head, Diana does not."

On this coin, however, the presence of the quiver on the goddess’s back, along with the torch and the stags, should confirm that a representation of Diana is intended (see Jones, op. cit., re Diana Venatrix [“Huntress”] and Diana Lucifera [“Light-bearer”]). See Harlan, RRM I [Michael Harlan, Roman Republican Moneyers and their Coins, 81 BCE-64 BCE (2012)], Ch. 19 at p. 115: “The earliest appearance [of Diana driving a biga of stags] was an anonymous issue dated to about 143 [i.e., this type]. Although the deity in the biga holds a torch in her right hand rather than a bow, she is clearly identified as Diana by the quiver over her shoulder”; Harlan also cites the crescent moon as proof of the identification even though that could signify Luna as well.

The most interesting aspect of this issue, apart from the attractive reverse design, is the very fact of its being anonymous. See Sear RCV I p. 92, pointing out that the “occurrence of an anonymous issue at this late date is exceptional and surprising.” Indeed, this type appears to be one of only two anonymous denarii issued after the early 150s BCE (not counting Crawford 262/1, universally ascribed to one of the Caecilii Metelli) – the other being Crawford 287/1, with Roma on the obverse and a reverse depicting Roma seated on pile of shields before wolf & twins with two birds above.

As long ago as 1852, the French numismatist and antiquarian Adrien Prévost de Longpérier published an article -- which I was able to find online, with some difficulty, so I could read what he said first-hand -- in which he listed a number of Republican denarii for which the design, in whole or in part, was a visual pun alluding to the moneyer’s name or family or a particular location. Referring to a denarius issued by L. Axsius L.F. Naso (Crawford 400/1a-b, RSC I Axia 1-2 [type dated to 71 BCE]), the article suggested that the reverse design, also depicting Diana in a biga of stags (a species of which was known in Latin as “axes”) was an allusion to the name of the Axia gens. See A. de Longpérier, “Interprétation du type figuré sur les deniers de la famille Hosidia” in Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de France, t. xxi (1852), at p. 357 (article reprinted in an 1883 collection of the author’s works, available at https://ia902705.us.archive.org/27/items/oeuvres01velagoog/oeuvres01velagoog.pdf; see p. 289).

In 1910, in BMCRR I p. 133 n. 3, Grueber cited Longpérier’s article in arguing with respect to my anonymous type (Crawford 222/BMCRR I 895) – even though it was issued many decades earlier than Crawford 400/1a-b and does not bear a moneyer’s name – that it is “very probable” that the similar design of Diana in a biga of stags on the anonymous type also constituted “a direct allusion to the name of the Axia gens.” See also BMCRR I 3348, pp. 409-410 n. 3 (making the same argument concerning the significance of the reverse of Crawford 400/1a-b). See RSC I Axia 1-2, p. 19 (“The stags [on Crawford 400/1a-b] (cervi axes) may be a punning allusion to the family name”). Yarrow illustrates Crawford 222/1 at p. 42 fig. 1.36, and notes the similar reverse design of Crawford 400/1a-b, but makes no reference to the axes/Axius theory for either type.

However, Crawford completely rejects the theory, with respect to both Crawford 222/1 (my type) and Crawford 400/1a-b. Thus, he states with respect to my anonymous type that “the recurrence of the type on no. 400/1a-b provides no adequate evidence for the attribution of this issue to a moneyer of the gens Axia” (Crawford Vol. I p. 260, citing a 1913 Kubitschek article as contra). And, even with respect to Crawford 400/1a-b, he asserts that “the axes attested by Pliny [citation omitted], natives of India, are of no conceivable relevance to the reverse type, despite the superficial similarity between their name and that of the moneyer” (Crawford Vol. I p. 412, citing the 1852 Longpérier article and an 1878 article by A. Klugmann as contra).

Unfortunately, Crawford provides no elaboration of the reasons – philological, historical, or otherwise – for his adamant rejection of any connection between “axes” and “Axius.” And I certainly don’t know whether “axes” was a sufficiently common or well-known term in Rome – either in 143 BCE or 71 BCE – for a kind of stag or male deer (for which I believe cervus was the general term) that such an allusion would have been widely recognized. Harlan, however, does elaborate on his reasoning in strongly agreeing with Crawford. In his chapter on Crawford 400/1a-b, he states:  “Longpérier interpreted the coin’s reverse design depicting Diana driving a biga of stags to be a punning allusion to the family name Axia, citing Pliny’s mention [in Naturalis Historia] of a strange animal found in India called axis, which had the hide of a fawn, but with more spots and whiter in color. This suggestion was frequently repeated in catalogs. Pliny, however, specifically said that the axis was sacred to Liber not Diana. Moreover, it is difficult to see how or why an Italian family would derive its name from an obscure and virtually unknown Indian animal. Crawford is surely right in saying the axis is ‘of no conceivable relevance to the reverse type.’” Harlan RRM I, pp. 114-115.  

If the obscure term for an Indian animal has no conceivable relevance to the reverse type on a named issue for which a member of the gens Axia is known to have been the moneyer, then it must be all the more irrelevant to my anonymous issue. Indeed, Harlan cites my anonymous issue, as well as the issue of C. Allius Bala from 92 BCE also depicting Diana in a biga of stags (Crawford 336/1b) in concluding that “these three similar appearances of Diana in a biga of stags by moneyers from three different families suggest that the type was more likely generic than a specific reference to the gens Axia.” Harlan RRM I, p. 115. 

Thus, as intriguing as the Longpérier/Grueber theory may be, I have to agree with Crawford and Harlan that it seems highly unlikely. Sometimes Diana in a biga of stags is just Diana in a biga of stags. (To paraphrase Freud’s famous but entirely apocryphal remark.)

 

Edited October 20, 2023 by DonnaML

[JayAg47]

My Secret Saturnalia gift from last year!

Furius Purpureo, moneyer, circa 169-158 B.C.
3.87 g
Obv: Helmeted head of Roma right; behind, X.
Rev: Luna in biga with murex-shell; below, PVR; in linear frame, ROMA.
Crawford 187/1

Next- a 'commercial product' depicted on a coin.

 

[Phil Anthos]

Taras, Calabria

302-290 BC (Period V - From Alexander the Molossian to Kleonymos) AR Didrachm (20mm, 7.98g) O: Naked warrior in crested helmet on horse prancing right, spearing downward with right hand, shield and two extra spears in left; ΔΑΙ below. R: Taras riding dolphin left, holding trident over shoulder with right hand and shield decorated with hippocamp in left; ΦΙ to left, ΤΑΡΑΣ to right, murex shell below. D'Andrea XXXIX, 848; Vlasto 594; Cote 239; Evans V, B5; Fischer-Bossert 1022a; SNG ANS 991; McGill II, 52; HGC I, 801; HN Italy 935 ex Heidelberger Munzhandlung Vlasto dates this coin to the time of Alexander the Molossian, but I believe it may be safely placed after the King’s death in 331, as the typical Epirote symbols are no longer seen (especially, as Evans points out, the eagle’s head). Alexander, uncle to Alexander the Great, arrived at Taras in 334 as defender, the leader of a mercenary army from Epirus hired to help defend Taras from the indigenous Italian tribes. However he was quickly seen to have something more in the way of conquest in mind. Having ignored the warning of the Oracle at the Temple of Zeus Dodona, Alexander pushed west and fulfilled prophecy, being killed while fighting the Lucanians at Pandosia, near the River Acheron. The murex shell played a very large part in the Tarentine economy, producing a rich purple dye. In fact the early reference books simply describe it as “a purple shell”. Purple cloth from Taras was considered a great luxury throughout the Mediterranean. Next: Julian

[Ryro]

Next: cool helmet