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0969 Hadrian, Cistophorus BITHYNIA Koinon of Bithynia mint, Temple
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Reference.
RPC III, 969; RIC II 461b; Metcalf Metcalf B2
Issue Reverse legend includes COM BIT
Obv. IMP CAES TRA HADRIANO AVG P P
Laureate head right
Rev. COM - BIT (in field), ROM S P AVG (in entablature)
Octastyle temple on podium of three steps; three pellets in pediment
10.52 gr
27 mm
6h
Note.
The temple depicted is that of Roma and Augustus erected by the koinon of Bithynia at Nicomedia, of which no archaeological remains have been discovered.
Cistophori were produced in the name of the Commune Bithyniae only once, under Hadrian. The inscription on the frieze, reconstructed as ROM(ae) S(enatui) P(opulo) AVG(usto) and translated as "To Rome, the Senate, the People, and Augustus" tentatively identifies the building as a temple of Rome and Augustus at Nicomedia. No archaeological remains of this structure have as yet been found, and reconstructions of it are based entirely on the second century numismatic evidence. Both Tacitus and Dio Cassius report that in 19 BC Augustus did authorize the construction of a temple to Rome and himself at Pergamum, an event commemorated on his cistophori there. No such evidence for a temple at Nicomedia occurs earlier than this cistophorus.
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