A Companion to the Hellenistic and Roman Near East. Группа авторов
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with a personification of the river Orontes as a youth swimming at her feet (see coins 14.36 and 14.39 for later examples of the same figurative group).
Figure 14.4A Silver tetradrachm of Nero (54–68 CE), minted at Antioch. Under Nero the tetradrachms of Antioch began to utilize the reverse type of an eagle, which had hitherto been employed by Phoenician mints, especially Tyre (see coins 14.2C and 14.3B).
Figure 14.4B Silver denarius of Septimius Severus (193–211 CE), minted in the Near East, probably at Antioch. The obverse has a portrait of the emperor; the reverse a winged figure of Victory with a victor’s wreath and palm branch.
Figure 14.4C Silver “radiate” or antoninianus of Philip I (244–249 CE), minted at Antioch. The reverse shows a figure of Pax (Peace) with the legend PAX FVNDATA CVM PERSIS, “peace established with the Persians,” a reference to a treaty concluded between the Romans and the Sasanians after a Roman defeat in which the previous emperor, Gordian III (238–244 CE), was killed.
Figure 14.4D Silver tetradrachm of Philip I (244–249 CE), minted at Rome for circulation in Syria. Most of the coinage circulating in Syria was minted locally, but a few issues were produced at mints outside the region. That Rome was the mint for this coinage is apparent from the style, which is exactly like that of contemporary Roman imperial coins of Philip, and the abbreviation MON(eta) VRB(is), “mint of Rome,” beneath the eagle on the reverse.
Figure 14.4E Base silver tetradrachm of the Syrian usurper Uranius Antoninus (c. 253 CE), minted at Emesa. This ruler, known only through his coinage, may have been the last to produce a silver coinage of Greek type in the Near East. The reverse carries the image of an eagle with a wreath in its beak, following the tradition exhibited by coins 14.2C, 14.3B, 14.4A, and 14.4D.
Figure 14.5A Radiate of the eastern usurper Quietus (260 CE), produced at an uncertain mint in the east (Antioch?). The obverse bears a portrait of Quietus; the reverse depicts the goddess Roma.
Figure 14.5B Radiate of Maximianus (286–305 CE). The reverse shows the emperor receiving a figure of Victory from the god Jupiter, with the legend “to Jupiter the preserver of the emperor.” The mint for this coin is conventionally identified as the northern Phoenician city of Tripolis, based on the initials TR; but Tripolis was not a particularly prominent or important city, and TR might stand for Tyre instead.
Figure 14.5C Post-reform radiate of Constantius I, as Caesar (293–305 ce), minted at Antioch. The reverse type is identical to the preceding coin, but the accompanying inscription reads “with the agreement of the army.” At the bottom, the letters ANT identify the mint.
Figure 14.5D Copper-alloy coin of Nerva (96–98 CE), minted at Antioch, with the letters SC in a wreath. The coin does not refer to Antioch in any way, but all the evidence points to the bulk of the so-called SC coinage of the emperors being minted there.
Figure 14.5E Copper-alloy coin of Elagabalus (218–222 CE), minted at Antioch, with the letters SC in a wreath. Although there were later issues of SC coins, those of Elagabalus were the last to be struck in large quantities.
Figure 14.5F Copper-alloy coin minted in Judaea under Tiberius (14–37 CE). These issues bear a date according to the regnal years of Tiberius, year 16 (29/30 CE, not visible on this specimen), which places it during the time of the prefect Pontius Pilate. The obverse shows a ritual ladle (simpulum) and reads “of Tiberius Caesar, year 16”; and the reverse bears three ears of corn bound together, with the legend “Julia (Livia, the mother) of Caesar.” The coin does not bear any reference to Pilate, and, in deference to Jewish sensibilities to graven images, avoids imperial portraits in favor of inanimate objects; but some have seen in the depiction of a Roman ritual implement evidence of Pilate’s supposedly antagonistic stance toward Jews.
Figure 14.6A Silver tetradrachm minted at Aradus, dated year 172 of the city’s era (88/87 BCE). The obverse bears a head of a city-goddess; the reverse shows a winged figure of Nike holding an aphlaston (the decorative element of a ship’s stern). The inscription reads “of the Aradians”; the letters on the left-hand side combine Greek and Phoenician letters. The upper line is a number, 182, the year of minting; the function of the others is uncertain but they were probably control marks or initials of officials.
Figure 14.6B Silver tetradrachm minted at Tyre, dated year 99 of the city’s era (28/27 BCE). The obverse bears a head of the Tyrian god Melqart, assimilated to Heracles; and the reverse an eagle standing on a ship’s ram. The inscription in Greek reads “of Tyre, the sacred and inviolate, year 99.” Such coins circulated widely in the southern Levant in the first century BCE and later, until they were supplanted by Antiochene silver coins under the Roman emperor Nero (54–68 CE).
Figure 14.6C Copper-alloy coin of Antiochus IV (175–164 BCE), minted at Apamea. The obverse portrays Antiochus wearing the royal diadem; the reverse has a seated figure of Zeus with the legend “of the Apamaioi, who are on the Axios (river).” Axios was an alternative name for the river Orontes. Although the coin does not bear the king’s name and titles, it is likely that it was issued with royal consent.
Figure 14.6D Copper-alloy coin of Ptolemy, tetrarch of Chalcis (c. 84–40 BCE). The obverse bears a laureate head of Zeus; the reverse shows a flying eagle, with the legend “of Ptolemy the tetrarch.”
Figure 14.7A Copper-alloy coin of Sidon, issued in the second quarter of the second century BCE. The obverse depicts the city-goddess; the reverse shows a ship’s rudder, but it is the accompanying Phoenician inscription that makes this coin particularly interesting: “of Sidon, metropolis of Cambe (Carthage), of Hippo (a neighbor of Carthage), of Citium (in Cyprus), of Tyre.” On this coin, Sidon proclaimed its greater antiquity and therefore superiority as the founder of its southerly neighbor and rival Tyre. Naming Tyre last on the list may have been deliberate.
Figure 14.7B Silver drachm of the Nabatean king Rabbel II (70–106 CE), dated regnal year 3 (72/73 CE). The obverse has a laureate and diademed head of Rabbel, with an Aramaic legend “Rabbel, king of the Nabataeans, year 3” (the number is visible as three parallel strokes just above the shoulder); the reverse portrays his mother Shuqailat, with the Aramaic inscription “Shuqailat his mother, Queen of the Nabataeans.”
Figure 14.7C Copper-alloy coin of Trajan (98–117 CE) minted at Beroea. The obverse portrays Trajan; the reverse has the ethnic BEPOIAIWN (“of the Beroiaoi”) in a wreath. The meaning of the letter A at the bottom is uncertain but it is likely to be some kind of control mark connected with the organization of coin production in the city.
Figure 14.7D Copper-alloy coin of Macrinus (217–218 CE), minted at Laodicea. The obverse carries the imperial portrait; the reverse shows a figure of the satyr Marsyas, carrying a wine skin and with his hand raised, which was used as a coin type by many Roman coloniae in the Near East. The inscription on the reverse reads COL LAODICIAE METR IIII PROV, “of the colonia of Laodicea, metropolis of the four provinciae.” This is thought to refer to Laodicea’s status as a center for the four regions of the imperial cult in Syria. This role was probably given to Laodicea by Septimius Severus, for the city having supported him in his war against a rival, Pescennius Niger; Laodicea’s rival, Antioch, which had previously been the chief city of the Syrian imperial cult, had supported Niger and was demoted when Severus triumphed.
Figure 14.8A Copper-alloy coin of Macrinus (217–218 CE), minted at Damascus. The obverse bears a portrait of Macrinus; the reverse shows a temple on a platform, approached by a staircase, with an altar at the bottom. At the base of the platform is an arched grotto from which water flows; behind the temple is a tall vine. The image probably depicts the temple at Ain Fijeh, in the Antilebanon to the west of Damascus, which was the source of the Barada river that flows through the city. The surviving remains of the temple stand above a vaulted structure that still contains a spring.
Figure 14.8B Copper-alloy coin of Severus Alexander (222–235 CE), minted at Hierapolis. The obverse portrays the emperor; the reverse shows cult images of Hadad (seated on the left) and Atargatis (seated on the right), holding attributes and flanked by animals (bulls for Hadad, lions for Atargatis). Between them is a shrine with a triangular pediment, containing what looks like a military standard, which is