Despite their worn condition, I was pleased to get the following two coins of
Julia Domna at Nicaea from Automan's
countermark collection:
1. IOVLIA -
CEBACTH, draped
bust r., oval
countermark of
Victory standing r., holding out
wreath, on her neck.
Rev: CEOVHPEIA FILADELFEIA, in
exergue NIKAIEWN,
togate figures of
Caracalla and
Geta clasping r.
hands above prize
wreath on table. 30 mm, 15.32 gr,
axis 1 o'cl. This
type unpublished for
Julia, RG pl. 79.27 has the same
type on a coin of
Caracalla of the same size.
2. Same
obv. die, same
countermark in similar position, though from a different punch.
Rev: ANTWNINOC [
AVG GETAC KAI FILADELFEIA], in
exergue NIKAIEWN, laureate
head of
Caracalla facing
bare head of
Geta. 30-31 mm, 20.37 gr,
axis 7 o'cl. From the same dies as a previously unique coin in
Paris, RG pl. 77.13, which is much finer and shows the full legends.
These Great
Severan Games of Brotherly Love, as they are called on RG pl. 76.10, connected with a Holy Contest, IEPOC AGWN, RG pl. 76.11, are commemorated on a large series of coins at Nicaea, in which the figures of the emperors themselves assume unusual prominence. Apart from
Caracalla and
Geta clasping
hands over the prize table (the first coin above), we find individual standing figues of the emperors,
togate, holding eagle-tipped scepters and prize crowns, and a
type of
Caracalla riding in a
quadriga of horses, again
togate and holding prize crown and
scepter.
Is it possible that the emperors actually attended these games, on the occasion of a visit to Nicaea in c. summer-autumn 198 when they supervised the construction of siege engines for their second attempt to capture the city of Hatra in
Mesopotamia?
Septimius captured Ctesiphon in Jan. 198, and on that occasion made
Caracalla Augustus and
Geta Caesar. The Nicaeans, by adding the adjective "of brotherly love" to their
Severan Games, were hoping for
harmony between the two recently promoted imperial heirs. After unsuccessfully besieging Hatra on
his way back to
Syria, Septimius decided to attack that city again, "having first got ready a large store of food and prepared many siege engines," as Dio states. Some of those engines, Dio informs us, were made by
his fellow countryman Priscus of Nicaea; Priscus' engines were the only ones the enemy was unable to burn during the second siege, which also failed. The PROFECT
AVGG FEL type of Septimius' coinage seems to date the second expedition against Hatra to the early months of 199.
Now Dio does not say that Priscus' engines were constructed at Nicaea,
his native city,
nor that Septimius journeyed there to supervise their construction. But apart from Septimius' possible personal attendance at the
Severan Games of Brotherly Love at Nicaea, there is one other indication for
his possible presence in western
Asia Minor in 198: the small issue of silver
cistophori, the last coins of that series and the only ones to be produced since the reign of
Hadrian, for Septimius,
Julia Domna,
Caracalla as young
Augustus, and
Geta as
Caesar. Stylistically, these
cistophori are very similar to the Nicaean coins that commemorate the
Severan Games of Brotherly Love; the
cistophori take over some
rev. types from Nicaean coins, namely that of three standards with
legend horizontally between the standards, and that of
inscription within
laurel wreath; and one of Septimius'
cistophori is dated TR P VI, that is 198. An imperial visit is not needed for the production of
cistophori, but would certainly provide a suitable occasion; Septimius would have needed much local
money to pay for food and accommodations for
his family and court, the siege engines, gifts, and so on.
But would it make sense to construct siege engines in
Bithynia for an expedition hundreds of miles away in
Mesopotamia? Apparently yes: Dio informs us that while
Caracalla wintered at
Nicomedia in 214/5, "he built two very large engines for the
Armenian and
Parthian wars, so constructed that he could take them apart and carry them in
ships to
Syria."
The images of the coins are Automan's, from the
Forvm Countermark Gallery.
