Coins with prow reverses

[ancientone]

While researching coins with prows I came to a stopping point and decided to make this for fun.  Most are provincials with a few Greek mixed in.  Regards

[moonmoth]

Nice collection!  Of course there are many more.  Here are a couple of my favourites: a denarius of Vespasian and a didrachm of Korkyra.

Bill

[ancientone]

I should have added that these images are not mine.  Just examples for study.

Bill,  Nice Vespasian! I had not seen this reverse. Any info? Regards

[Aarmale]

Heres another:

This is a prow on a coin of H. Archelaeus.

[moonmoth]

Bill,  Nice Vespasian! I had not seen this reverse. Any info? Regards

It's a striking design, isn't it?

Rome mint, 77-78 CE.  7mm x 20mm, 3.14g
Obverse: IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG. Laureate head left.
Reverse: COS VIII. Prow of galley right, large eight-pointed star above.
Ref: RCV (2000) 2290; RIC II (2007) 942.

Here's another Vespasian:



Rome mint, 70 CE.  17mm x 19mm, 3.27g  (Not Lugdunum, as Curtis Clay has pointed out; thanks)
Obverse: IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG. Laureate head right.
Reverse: COS ITER FORT RED. Fortuna standing left, right hand on the prow of a galley, a cornucopia in her left arm.
Ref: RCV (2000) —; RIC II (2007) 19.

Of course, if you include coins showing Annona, you will probably find hundreds of Imperial examples, all very similar, but not usually grasping the prow like this Fortuna.

Bill

[Lloyd Taylor]

Babylonian prow in reverse left field.... used in this case as a mint control by the official LY....

[rover1.3]

Here is my hemidrachm from Kios-Bithynia 350-300 BC, Laurated Apollo/prow of galley ornamented with star.
 

[Lloyd Taylor]

Here is my hemidrachm from Kios-Bithynia 350-300 BC,Laurated Apollo/prow of galley ornamented with star.
 

Stunning definition and detail of the prow...in fact stunning coin all round!

Here's an Akarnanian prow.... one of my favorite coins. Despite the flat striking and disheveled flan, it has an almost mystical quality.... the last gasps of the Hellenistic age before it succumbed to the barbarians that were Rome.

[rover1.3]

Here is my hemidrachm from Kios-Bithynia 350-300 BC,Laurated Apollo/prow of galley ornamented with star.
 

Stunning definition and detail of the prow...in fact stunning coin all round!

Glad you like it Lloyd, the prow is nice but Apollo is what I really like.

Can't wait to see a nice Histiaian nymph on prow tetrobol posted here.

[Lloyd Taylor]

It is interesting to see the diversity of rams on the front of these prows.  Quite wide ranging in style and development.  Some such as the Akarnanian example I have posted above bear double rams, one below/at the waterline and one above the waterline. Some are plain, purely functional (generally below waterline examples) and some are ornamented, as with the lion's head on the above waterline ram on the Akarnanian prow.

[ancientone]

Bill, striking indeed! I'm still curious as to what is on the second ram?  Also, I would like to link your galley page: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/reverse_galley.html

Here is the "Athlit ram" from the Greek Classical Period.

[moonmoth]

Please feel free to link to my Galley web page!  Or any other.

On the coin from Korkyra, the blurred details below Pegasos' legs and in front of the prow are monograms, as far as I am aware.

How big is that Athlit ram? 

Bill

[rover1.3]

How big is that Athlit ram?  

The Athlit Ram consists of a unitary bronze casting weighing 465 kg,and measuring 226 cm long with a maximum width of 76 cm, and a maximum height of 96 cm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_ram

The ram is ornamented with a cap of the Dioskouroi,and a Kyrikeion.
I guess a reference to Dioskouroi as patrons of ships and sailors, while Kyrikeion is associated with Hermes and it was used to symbolize commerce.


 

[ancientone]

This is the coin that got me started on prow and galley reverses:

Uncertain mint, Asia Minor. Vespasian AE18. Head laureate l., OYE ... KAISAR S / Prow l., EPI[..]DIOYSIOY...
RPC 2.2805 = Lindgren 3.1661 (only catalogued specimen).

[moonmoth]

That's nice, and would be even if it were common.

Here's a variation on the theme:



A triobol of Amphipolis showing the head of a Maenad and the stern of a galley .. I don't know of any other sterns, though I expect some will turn up now I've mentioned it!

Bill

[David Atherton]

Titus as caesar issued the same reverse as Vespasian.

AR denarius
RIC V950 (R), BMC V226, RSC 68
Rome Mint, 77-78 AD
Obv - T CAESAR IMP VESPASIANVS; Head of Titus, laureate, bearded, r.
Rev - COS VI; Prow r.; above eight pointed star

[ancientone]

Thanks Bill!  Is that a helmsman holding the rudder?  Very nice coin!

David, super nice!  With a ram like that, why would you need two?

Here is an unusual stern from Skione, Macedon, found on acsearch.com:
http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=206446

[moonmoth]

Thanks Bill!  Is that a helmsman holding the rudder?  Very nice coin!

Just a crewman, I think; one of two.

Examples on acsearch are just shown as Macedonian; its Sear who says Amphipolis.

Bill

[Lloyd Taylor]

A triobol of Amphipolis showing the head of a Maenad and the stern of a galley .. I don't know of any other sterns, though I expect some will turn up now I've mentioned it!

Yep... the coinage of Phaselis is abundant with sterns and bows/prows....  and very nicely depicted ones at that!

[ancientone]

Its possible that it is a side-rudder or steering oar, normally attached to the starboard side in larger vessels.