Here is an interesting coin! The owner sent me these images to consider, and now I'm appealing to readers of this board for their thoughts...
Although it's a considerable
rarity, the coin is not unknown. It's been catalogued at least four times, but there is no real consensus on what the
reverse type represents.
We have here (the owner's description) an AE 27, 20.42g, 27.32mm, 1 h, of
Gallienus, from
Serdica in
Thrace.
Obv. AVT K GAL - LIHNOC.
Bust, draped and
cuirassed, seen from behind,
radiate, r.
Rev. OVLPIAC - CERDIKHC, in l.
field in 3 lines one below the other FILO / MOV / COC.
Eros, nude, winged, with unknown attribute on
head (tied up hairs?), stg. l., holding in lowered l. hand bow and arrow, and in extended r. hand small figure.
The
catalogue references are:
(1)
Moushmov 4955: he calls the
rev. figure a
Genius (
Apollo?) and has no name for the statuette.
(2)
Ruzicka 479
var., pl. IV: she writes laureate
head r. and calls the
rev. figure a winged
Genius holding a small figure with mantle and raised hand (the online version doesn't mention the
legend in l.
field!).
(3)
Varbanov III, 2636: he refers to a "winged male figure" and a statuette; in describing a similar coin,
Varbanov 2626, these become a "naked
Genius, winged" and an "idol".
(4) Hristova/Jekov 12.46.41.1: they call the
rev. figure a
Genius and the statuette a Muse.
Could this be an
Eros?
Although there are naked, winged male figures on
Roman funerary art (e.g. the base of the
column of
Antoninus Pius, in the
Vatican) that are unlikely to be Erotes, I am not familar with any on
Provincial coins.
My own theory tends in the direction of
Harpocrates, or a "Harpocratic
Eros", with the following (admittedly speculative) arguments:
(1) The shape of the
head suggests
Harpocrates.
(2) The "statuette" looks to me like a hawk.
(3) The bow/arrow/quiver etc. in the figure's l. could be a branch, also an attribute of
Harpocrates.
(4) Winged figures of
Harpocrates ("Harpocratic Erotes") though
rare are not unknown in ancient art.
Google and you will find them.
(5)
Isis, Sarapis and
Harpocrates all appear with reasonable frequency on coins of
Serdica.
This leaves FILOMOVCOC unexplained, of course. If it is not a personal name (and why should it be, on a late coin of
Serdica?), could it be a reference to
Apollo (but why not then portray
Apollo, rather than an ambiguous winged figure?) or even a flattering reference to the emperor (but wouldn't that be on the
obverse, like the mysterious epithet "Chrysogone" sometimes given to
his wife
Salonina, unless the
reverse actually showed
Gallienus?).
Perhaps we are missing something here. Let us know your thoughts on this mysterious coin, please!
