According to Ashton this is an emergency issue struck during the six month siege of Rhodos by Mithradates VI of Pontos (88 BC).
Such large bronzes of this type are associated with the later Rhodian silver plinthophoroi of Jenkins Group E (c. 88-84 BC) and probably replaced them due to the low quantities of silver supply during the siege.
As for the details, check Ashton's “Rhodian Bronze Coinage and the Siege of Mithradates VI” in NC 2001, an article I have missed so far ...
oh rover this is just the most marvellous snippet of information and i am so excited to get on with the research
i have no idea how you would come across such details but i am thankful that you have WOW thankyou for your time
Here is some more information now that I have obtained the article.
A reference to your
type is
Ashton,
Siege 11-21. R.
Ashton lists 13 examples of this variety (Winged Caduceus-Palmbranch) from 4
obverse and 11
reverse dies.
His catalogue is not intended to be a corpus so more dies and combinations are likely to be found around. Your example is unfortunately too worn to be able to identify the dies but nevertheless it remains interesting and nice (at least to me). The obverses of some of these large coins closely resemble the
style of some of the obverses of the late, low
weight Jenkins Plinthophoric Group E (c. 88-84 BC) AR Drachms. I believe that the same engravers were behind some of the dies in both series. The contemporarity of the late Plinthophoroi and these bronzes is also corroborated by their
field symbols; there is a remarkable degree of overlap of the
field symbols of these bronzes with the
symbols on group E. The
denomination of the large bronzes is uncertain,
Ashton suggests they are either Trihemiobols or light-weight Diobols.
The rest are known from
History: The crisis of 88 BC and the siege of Rhodes by Mithradates VI are described by Appian (see Appian, Mith. 24-27).
Characteristically, the siege is dramatically described in chapter 27, a fragment I used to accompany a write-up on a nice group E
Drachm from my
collection:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=80471.msg502571#msg502571Appian, (Mith. 4.27)
"The Rhodians were most dismayed by the sambuca, which was moved against the wall where the temple of Isis stands. It was operating with weapons of various kinds, both rams and projectiles. Soldiers in numerous small boats circled around it with ladders, ready to mount the wall by means of it. Nevertheless the Rhodians awaited its attack with firmness. Finally the sambuca collapsed of its own weight, and an apparition of Isis was seen hurling a great mass of fire down upon it. Mithridates despaired of his undertaking and retired from Rhodes."The events of 88 BC provide a plausible occasion for both the low
weight group E
plinthophoric AR Drachms and these large bronzes, an example of which you own now.
The shortage of silver due to the siege obliged the Rhodians to introduce the large bronzes during and immediately after it.
