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Philip I the Arab, February 244 - End of September 249 A.D., Kallatis, Moesia Inferior
| Rome officially adopted the cult of Cybele during the Second Punic War (218 to 201 B.C.), after dire prodigies, including a meteor shower, a failed harvest and famine, seemed to warn of Rome's imminent defeat. The Roman Senate and its religious advisers consulted the Sibylline oracle and decided that Carthage might be defeated if Rome imported the Magna Mater ("Great Mother") of Phrygian Pessinos. As this cult object belonged to a Roman ally, the Kingdom of Pergamum, the Roman Senate sent ambassadors to seek the king's consent; en route, a consultation with the Greek oracle at Delphi confirmed that the goddess should be brought to Rome. The goddess arrived in Rome in the form of Pessinos' black meteoric stone. Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, supposedly the "best man" in Rome, was chosen to meet the goddess at Ostia; and Rome's most virtuous matrons conducted her to the temple of Victoria, to await the completion of her temple on the Palatine Hill. Pessinos' stone was later used as the face of the goddess' statue. In due course, the famine ended and Hannibal was defeated. |  |
RB73711. Brass pentassarion, Varbanov I 387 (R4), Moushmov -, SNG Stancomb -, BMC Thrace -, AMNG I/I -, VF, well centered, nice green patina, Kallatis (Mangalia, Romania) mint, weight 14.030g, maximum diameter 26.5mm, die axis 45o, Feb 244 - End Sep 249 A.D.; obverse AYT M IOYΛ ΦIΛIΠΠOC AYΓ, laureate and draped bust right; reverse KAΛΛATIANΩN, Cybele seated left, phiale in right hand, resting left elbow on drum, lion on each side of her throne, E (mark of value) in exergue; ex Forum (2005); rare; SOLD
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