FORVM`s Classical Numismatics Discussion Board
Numismatic and History Discussion Forums => History and Archeology => Topic started by: Jochen on December 08, 2019, 07:46:41 am
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Desr Friends of the coins from Nikopolis ad Istrum!
My new coin of Marcus Aurelius from Nikopolis has induced me to pay attention to his coinage:
The coin:
Moesia inferior, Nikopolis ad Istrum, Marcus Aurelius as Caesar, AD 161-180
AE 20, 4.57g, 19.54mm, 180°
struck under governor Marcus Antonius Zeno
Obv.: AVPH OVH - POC KAIC
Bust, draped, bareheaded, n.r.
Rev: HΓE ZHNΩNOC - NEIKOΠOΛEIT
Artemis as huntress, in short double chiton, stg. r., holding in her extended l.
hand the bow and drawing with r. hand arrow from quiver over her r. shoulder
Ref.: (a) not in AMNG
(b) not in Varbanov
(c) not in Hristova-Hoeft-Jekov (2018):
Rev. No. 8.6.13.1 (for Antoninus Pius, same die)
Obv. e.g. No. 8.7.9.1 (same die)
Extremely rare (unique?), probably unpublished, F+, brown patina
If you look up the relevant reference works, you see that
AMNG I/1 for Marcus Aurelius knows only 2 types, RPC IV online only 3 types and Varbanov 4 types. Hristova-Hoeft-Jekov (2018) has listed 12 types so far (you can see the meaning of our monograph in which all coins are shown and described!):
(1) 8.7.6.1 Hades/Serapis sacrificing over altar I
(2) 8.7.6.2 Hades/Serapis sacrificing over altar II
(3) 8.7.7.1 Apollo Sauroktonos
(4) 8.7.8.1 Bundle of wine grapes
(5) 8.7.9.1 Nike
(6) 8.7.13.1 Artemis as huntress
(7) 8.7.14.1 Herakles stg. l.
(8) 8.7.30.1 Isis
(9) 8.7.32.1 River god
(10) Nemesis leaning against column
(11) Tyche stg. l. I
(12) Tyche stg. l. II
All but (4) of these types have the legend M AVPHΛIOC OVHPOC KAICAP in different variations. Only (4) has M AVPHΛIOC ANTΩNINOC. The types (5), (6), (9) and (19) are signed with HGE ZHNΩNOC, and with the exception of the types (1), (2), (9), (11) and (12) all reverses are struck with dies of Antoninus Pius.
Let us now look at his life data, which are of interest in connection with our coins:
Marcus Aurelius comes from a former family from Povinz Hispania and was born on 26.4.12 in Rome as (M. Annius?) Catilius Severus. He earned great merits and was adopted on 25.2.138 by Emperor Antoninus Pius under the name M. Aelius Aurelius Verus. In the beginning (?) 139 he was raised to Caesar. On 7.3.161 he was raised to Augustus as Imperator Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (Kienast).
Several reverses are signed with HΓE ZHNΩNOC. Tat is Marcus Antonius Zeno, who was from 140-ca. 145 governor of the then still undivided Thrace. Only after 187 - probably only at the beginning of the reign of Septimius Severus - Moesia inferior got his own governor. HGE stands for HΓEMΩNEVONTOC, which is the Greek translation of the Latin legatus Augusti pro praetore and means a praetoric legate, in contrast to the following governors who were consular legates as YΠATEVONTOC (from Greek YΠATOC = consul). These titles should not be translated with magistrate, as often happens by mistake. A magistrate is a city official. But as representatives of the emperor, these governors were also the commanders of the legions stationed in the province, the consular legate of several ones.
What can we infer from this? With the exception of the type with the bundle of grapes, all other 11 types have the legend OVHPOC KAICAP. This means that these coins were struck for Marcus Aurelius as Caesar under Antoninus Pius when he was still called Aurelius Verus. They date from the period between 139 and 161. The types signed with Zeno date from the years 140 to 145, i.e. from the beginning of his time as Caesar. This also explains that in 7 types dies of Antoninus Pius was used.
Only the type with the grape bundle carries the name M AVPHΛIOC ANTΩNINOC, which he carried as Augustus. But since a die of Antoninus Pius was also used here, there are some indications that this type was stamped shortly after his elevation to Augustus. That would mean, however, that from about 161 until the death of Marcus Aurelius on 17 March 180, the mint in Nikopolis had not struck any coins for him as Augustus for almost 20 years. That's astonishing, I think. The reason for this is unknown until now.
I have added a picture of a marble bust of Marcus Aurelius from the Capitoline Museums in Rome, so called Type 3 (Wikipedia)
Literature:
(1) Behrendt Pick, Die antiken Münzen Nord-Griechenlands (AMNG), 1898
(2) Arthur Stein, Römische Reichsbeamte der Provinz Thrakia, 1920
(3) Varbanov, Greek Imperial Coins, 2005
(4) Dietmar Kienast, Römische Kaisertabelle, 1990
(5) Hristova-Hoeft-Jekov, The Coinage of Nicopolis ad Istrum, 2018
(6) RPC IV online
(7) Wikipedia
Best regards