Recent acquisition from Edessa, Mesopotamia.

[Michael Stolt]

Sharing a recent acquisition from this weeks CNG 126 feature auction (top coin), together with an older one (bottom coin). Both of these are extremely rare drachms of Lucilla minted at Edessa, the second (top) and third (bottom) known specimens of each type.

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Ma'nu VIII, Philoromaios, with Lucilla. Augusta, AD 164-182. AR Drachm (18.5mm, 3.51 g, 6h). Edessa, Mesopotamia ca. AD 167-169. ΛΟΥΚΙΛΛΑ ϹΕΒΑϹΤΗ, Diademed and draped bust of Lucilla right / ΒΑϹΙΛЄΥϹ ΜΑΝΝΟϹ ΦΙΛΟΡωΜΑ, Nike advancing left, holding wreath and palm frond. RPC IV.3 1832/2 (this coin). The second known specimen of this type. Ex. CNG 126 (28 May 2024), lot 506.

Ma'nu VIII, Philoromaios, with Lucilla. Augusta, AD 164-182. AR Drachm (17mm, 3.02 g, 6h). Edessa, Mesopotamia ca. AD 167-169. ΛΟΥΚΙΛΛΑ ϹΕΒΑϹΤΗ, diademed and draped bust of Lucilla right. / ΒΑϹΙΛЄΥϹ ΜΑΝΝΟϹ ΦΙΛΟΡωΜΑΙϹ, Hygieia/Salus seated left, feeding from patera serpent arising from altar and holding cornucopiae. RPC IV.3 1827/4 (this coin). The third known specimen of this type. Ex. Sol Numismatik, Auction XXIII (13 January 2024), lot 567.

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Edessa was the capital of Osrhoene, a small kingdom located in Mesopotamia, on the far eastern edges of the Roman Empire, bordering the Parthian Empire. It acquired independence around 136 BC from the collapsing Seleucid Empire, through a dynasty of the nomadic Nabataean Arab tribe from Southern Canaan and North Arabia, known as the Osrhoeni. Osrhoene's name either derives from the name of this tribe, or from Orhay, the original Aramaic name for Edessa.

After a period under the rule of the Parthian Empire, it was absorbed into the Roman Empire in AD 114 as a semiautonomous vassal state. While it aided Rome in their campaigns against the Parthians on several occasions, in AD 116, the Romans, under the general Lucius Quietus, sacked Edessa, and quelled an uprising which put an end to Osrhoene's independence. However, Hadrian restored the client kingdom under Ma'nu VII in AD 123. Following the Roman–Parthian War of AD 161–166, Marcus Aurelius expanded the forts and city walls, and stationed a garrison at the nearby city of Nisibis.

In AD 195, following a civil war in which the kingdom had supported his rival Pescennius Niger, the emperor Septimius Severus mounted an invasion and annexed the territory as a new province, making Nisibis its new capital. However, the emperor did allow the current king, Abgar VIII, to keep the city of Edessa and a small territory surrounding it. In AD 212, Abgar VIII was succeeded by his son, Abgar IX. The new king, along with his son, were summoned to Rome in AD 213, and subsequently murdered on orders of the emperor Caracalla. About a year later, the Roman emperor ended the independence of the kingdom, and the remaining territory was incorporated into the Roman province of Osrhoene.

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Edited July 1 by Michael Stolt

[kirispupis]

Nice pickups! I unfortunately have nothing from the kingdom to show, but the write up is interesting.

[Ursus]

Your knew coin is not only extremely rare but also visually appealing. To me, it looks stylistically quite similar to the Severan denarii formerly attributed to Emesa and now considered to be from a mint in Cappadocia.

 

My only Roman coin from Edessa is a bit younger:

Mesopotamia, Edessa, under Caracalla, AE 21, 198–217 AD. Obv: M AVR ANTONINV[S PF AVG]; head of Caracalla, laureate, r. Rev: COL MET ANTONINIANA AVR ALEX; bust of Tyche, draped and turreted, r. 21mm, 6.17g. Sear Greek Imperial 2702; BMC 19 (for Carrhae).

And here is a rather rare but not very attractive one from the short-lived County of Edessa, which was a product of the first crusade:

County of Edessa, Baldwin of Bourcq, AE Follis, 1110–1118 AD. Obv: Baldwin in conical helmet and chain-armor, standing l., sheathed sword at hip, holding globus cruciger, BA[Λ] - ΔOI[N] around. Rev: Ornamented cross in Byzantine style. 20mm, 4.01g. Ref: Schlumberger I,9; Metcalf 109–112; CCS 10.

 

[Michael Stolt]

20 hours ago, kirispupis said:

Nice pickups! I unfortunately have nothing from the kingdom to show, but the write up is interesting.

Thank you! 🙂

[Michael Stolt]

12 hours ago, Ursus said:

Your knew coin is not only extremely rare but also visually appealing. To me, it looks stylistically quite similar to the Severan denarii formerly attributed to Emesa and now considered to be from a mint in Cappadocia.

 

My only Roman coin from Edessa is a bit younger:

Mesopotamia, Edessa, under Caracalla, AE 21, 198–217 AD. Obv: M AVR ANTONINV[S PF AVG]; head of Caracalla, laureate, r. Rev: COL MET ANTONINIANA AVR ALEX; bust of Tyche, draped and turreted, r. 21mm, 6.17g. Sear Greek Imperial 2702; BMC 19 (for Carrhae).

And here is a rather rare but not very attractive one from the short-lived County of Edessa, which was a product of the first crusade:

County of Edessa, Baldwin of Bourcq, AE Follis, 1110–1118 AD. Obv: Baldwin in conical helmet and chain-armor, standing l., sheathed sword at hip, holding globus cruciger, BA[Λ] - ΔOI[N] around. Rev: Ornamented cross in Byzantine style. 20mm, 4.01g. Ref: Schlumberger I,9; Metcalf 109–112; CCS 10.

 

Thank you! The style is indeed interesting, differs a lot from her other provincial types. Nice coins, Edessa had a quite interesting history all the way into medieval times, and a quite interesting city if one is interested in the history of early Christianity, as the kingdom is said to have been the first to officially convert to Christianity in the early 3rd century AD.

Edited May 31 by Michael Stolt

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

nice coins and write-up

[JeandAcre]

Terrific write-up, and --oh, by the way-- stunning coins.  To @Ursus' and your / @Michael Stolt's points, it's interesting how, regardless of its own political status, Edessa persisted as a frontier town over the era of the earlier Byzantines and Caliphates, and as late as the Frankish Levant.  For the Franks, it was so far east, and correspondingly remote, that their initial control only lasted a half century.  (--Oh, Rats, the nearest coins I have are early folles of Frankish Antioch.  Thanks for the prompt, @Ursus; I might just go trawling for one of Baldwin II.)

[seth77]

Edessa c. 190 with Abgar VIII and Commodus, the first one has Abgar with a cross on the tiara:

[Alegandron]

Great coins @Michael Stolt.  Very nice.  Cool on the rarity.

I do not have an Edessa, rather Roman one minted a little east and in Mesopotamia...

RI Philip II 244-249 Nisibis Mesopotamia-farthest EAST Temple Tyche river god Mygdonius - sinister left