A Troublesome Tripod

[DonnaML]

I guess I must have missed this thread the first time around. Here are a few types depicting tripods that I don't think anyone else has posted yet:

Nero AR Drachm, AD 56/57 (Year 3), Syria, Seleucis & Pieria, Antioch Mint. Obv. Laureate head of young Nero right, ΝΕΡΩΝΟΣ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ ΣΕΒΑ (beginning at upper right) / Rev. Tripod altar (supporting cauldron or lebes) with serpent entwined around center leg; ΔΡΑ-ΧΜΗ to sides (ΔΡΑ upwards on left; ΧΜΗ downwards on right), forming single word ΔΡΑΧΜΗ (“drachma”); above tripod, EP [for Year 105 of Caesarean Era) and Γ [for Nero’s Regnal Year 3]. McAlee 278(a) at p. 140 & n. 214 (ill. p. 141); Prieur 78; RPC [Roman Provincial Coinage] Vol. I 4179 (1992); RPC Online at https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/1/4179.  18 mm., 3.65 g., 1 h. Purchased at CNG [Classical Numismatic Group, LLC] E-Auction 512, 23 March 2022, Lot 399.*

*See @Roman Collector's post at https://www.cointalk.com/threads/tripod-and-serpent.358347/: "This reverse type, of a serpent entwined around a tripod, appears on numerous provincial coins of Moesia Inferior and Thrace in the third century AD. You may think it mundane, but when one dives into the iconography or the historical background of a coin, it usually turns out to be more interesting than it appears.The word tripod derives from the Greek word τρίπους (τρίποδος in the genitive, transliterated as tripodos), meaning three-footed, and refers to a three-legged structure.[1] It is one of the oldest words in Greek. In fact, no word in that language can be demonstrated to be older, for it appears in the Linear B script, dating to the 13th century BC! The word appears on a clay tablet with Linear B script discovered in Pylos, Greece, and which now resides in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens.[2] The word ti-ri-po-de appears in syllabic characters along with a drawing of a three-legged vessel on the tablet.

Used as a seat or stand, the form of the tripod is the most stable furniture construction for uneven ground, hence its ancient and widespread existence. In antiquity, tripods were most frequently used as a support for a lebes (cauldron) or as a base for other vases, although they could also function as ornaments, trophies, and sacrificial altars. 

A Serpent coiled round a tripod is typically referable to Apollo, or indicates the Delphic oracles.[4] This iconography stems from the myth of how Apollo chased the serpent-god Python from Mount Parnassus, slew the creature with his arrow, placed his bones into a tripod cauldron and deposited them into his new temple."

Vitellius AR Denarius, Jul 18-Dec 69 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate head right, A VITELLIVS GERM IMP AVG TRP / Rev. Tripod-lebes (cauldron) surmounted by dolphin lying right on top, with raven standing right below, XV VIR SACR FAC. RIC I 109, RSC II 111 (ill.), Sear RCV I 2201 (ill.), BMCRE 39. 18.5 mm., 3.1 g. [See Sear RCV I at p. 421, explaining that the reverse “refers to Vitellius’ membership in the priestly college of the Quindecimviri Sacris Faciundis, ‘fifteen men for the conduct of sacred matters.’ This body had care of the Sibylline prophecies and were famous for the opulence of their banquets, a feature of the priesthood which particularly appealed to the gluttonous emperor.”]

Elagabalus AR Denarius, 221-222 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate & draped bust right, bearded, with horn (or bull phallus) extending above laurel wreath, IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG/ Rev. Elagabalus standing left, sacrificing from patera over lit tripod altar, holding branch, star in field left, SVMMVS SACERDOS AVG.  RIC IV-2 146, RSC III 276 (bearded), Sear RCV II 7549.  17.71 mm., 3.97 g.

Diocletian, AR Argenteus, ca. AD 295, Heraclea Mint (1st Officina). Obv. Laureate head right, DIOCLETI-ANVS AVG / Rev. The four tetrarchs [the Augusti Diocletian and Maximian, and the Caesars Constantius Chlorus and Galerius], draped, sacrificing over a tripod altar, two of them on each side, before military camp gate with six turrets (four in front and two in rear), VICTORIA-SARMAT [referring to victories over the Sarmatians*]; in exergue, H A [Heraclea, 1st Officina]. RIC VI Heraclea 6 [see http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.6.her.6], RSC V Diocletian 488j, Sear RCV IV 12612. Purchased from Kenneth W. Dorney, Oct. 2021. Ex Ira & Larry Goldberg Auction 90, 2 Feb. 2016, Lot 3274. 19 mm., 2.70 g.   

*See Stephen Williams, Diocletian and the Roman Recovery (Routledge, 2000) at p. 76 (preview at Google Books): “In 294 Diocletian launced a fresh offensive against the main body of the Sarmatians. . . . By the latter half of 294 they [the Sarmatians] had sustained such a defeat that they ceased to be a threat for many more years. Sarmatian warriors were taken into the Roman armies in large numbers, either as mercenaries or under treaty, and later fought well under Galerius against the Persians.”

 

[MrMonkeySwag96]

 

Vitellius, AR denarius, Civil War Issue AR 18mm/3.1gm Rome mint c. 69 AD Con/ Slightly off-struck to left, otherwise, Very Fine. Obv/ [A VITELLIVS] GERM IMP AVG TR P; laureate head right Rev/ XV VIR SACR FAC; Tripod-lebes with dolphin laying right above and raven standing right below Ref/ RIC Vol One, 109, RSC111, BCM39

Edited September 1 by MrMonkeySwag96