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Moesia inferior, Markianopolis, 17. Julia Domna, HrJ (2013) 6.17.31.01 (plate coin)
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Julia Domna, AD 193-217
AE 18, 4.04g, 17.85g, 30°
obv. IOVLIA DO - [MNA CEB]
Bust, draped, r.
rev. MARKIANO - [POLITWN]
Kybele, in girded double chiton and himation, wearing mural crown, enthroned l.
in remarkable nonchalant attitude, resting with l. arm on tympanon and holding
patera in r. hand; at both sides of throne a lion, the frontal one std.r.
ref. a) not in AMNG
b) not in Varbanov (engl.)
c) Hristova/Jekov (2013) No. 6.17.31.1 (plate coin)
The depiction of Kybele on this coin is very different from the usual boring ones we see on small coins from Markianopolis. Here we must have a creative artist. The ostensibly nonchalant attitude I know until now only from depictions of MATER DEVM. I think it is the sign of a kind of safety and carelessness. We can see SECVRITAS often in a similar position. So even small coins - often overlooked by collectors - can cause a nice surprise.
Pat Lawrence: (1) I've been hunting for, what I think I recall, another Cybele relaxing like that on a provincial coin. Though the sense of security is, I think, a perfectly valid interpretation, I think there's more to it.
The iconographic type, seated with the pair of lions, goes back to her 4cBC cult statue. But it is on a stiff throne and is decidedly blocky, as cult statues often are.
The pictorial type shown on this and (if I recall correctly) some other Greek Imperial coins, where she leans back as if in a landscape setting, probably is related to paintings or reliefs that re-interpreted the cult-statue type to make a 'natural' and womanly Cybele.
This is like taking the medieval, originally Byzantine (as in apse mosaics) Mary and treating her and the baby as the Renaissance did, kneeling in the woods (Filippo Lippi) or playing with him, offering him grapes as Hermes did to baby Dionysos (with the meaning adjusted appropriately).
(2) Sometimes at the Rome mint JD is shown slightly relaxed on her cult-image throne, but so long as you have that carpentry back-rest to the throne, you are dealing with the cult image as prototype.
Jochen's new Marcianopolis I am sure DOES have the same "pictorial" prototype and meaning (Cybele in Nature, her element) as the Anchialos coin.
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![Moesia inferior, Markianopolis, 17. Julia Domna, HrJ (2013) 6.17.31.01 (plate coin)
Julia Domna, AD 193-217
AE 18, 4.04g, 17.85g, 30°
obv. IOVLIA DO - [MNA CEB]
Bust, draped, r.
rev. MARKIANO - [POLITWN]
Kybele, in girded double chiton and himation, wearing mural crown, enthroned l.
in remarkable nonchalant attitude, resting with l. arm on tympanon and holding
patera in r. hand; at both sides of throne a lion, the frontal one std.r.
ref. a) not in AMNG
b) not in Varbanov (engl.)
c) Hristova/Jekov (2013) No. 6.17.31.1 (plate coin)
The depiction of Kybele on this coin is very different from the usual boring ones we see on small coins from Markianopolis. Here we must have a creative artist. The ostensibly nonchalant attitude I know until now only from depictions of MATER DEVM. I think it is the sign of a kind of safety and carelessness. We can see SECVRITAS often in a similar position. So even small coins - often overlooked by collectors - can cause a nice surprise.
Pat Lawrence: (1) I've been hunting for, what I think I recall, another Cybele relaxing like that on a provincial coin. Though the sense of security is, I think, a perfectly valid interpretation, I think there's more to it.
The iconographic type, seated with the pair of lions, goes back to her 4cBC cult statue. But it is on a stiff throne and is decidedly blocky, as cult statues often are.
The pictorial type shown on this and (if I recall correctly) some other Greek Imperial coins, where she leans back as if in a landscape setting, probably is related to paintings or reliefs that re-interpreted the cult-statue type to make a 'natural' and womanly Cybele.
This is like taking the medieval, originally Byzantine (as in apse mosaics) Mary and treating her and the baby as the Renaissance did, kneeling in the woods (Filippo Lippi) or playing with him, offering him grapes as Hermes did to baby Dionysos (with the meaning adjusted appropriately).
(2) Sometimes at the Rome mint JD is shown slightly relaxed on her cult-image throne, but so long as you have that carpentry back-rest to the throne, you are dealing with the cult image as prototype.
Jochen's new Marcianopolis I am sure DOES have the same "pictorial" prototype and meaning (Cybele in Nature, her element) as the Anchialos coin.](albums/userpics/10672/markianopolis_domna_unknown.jpg "Moesia inferior, Markianopolis, 17. Julia Domna, HrJ (2013) 6.17.31.01 (plate coin)
Julia Domna, AD 193-217
AE 18, 4.04g, 17.85g, 30°
obv. IOVLIA DO - [MNA CEB]
Bust, draped, r.
rev. MARKIANO - [POLITWN]
Kybele, in girded double chiton and himation, wearing mural crown, enthroned l.
in remarkable nonchalant attitude, resting with l. arm on tympanon and holding
patera in r. hand; at both sides of throne a lion, the frontal one std.r.
ref. a) not in AMNG
b) not in Varbanov (engl.)
c) Hristova/Jekov (2013) No. 6.17.31.1 (plate coin)
The depiction of Kybele on this coin is very different from the usual boring ones we see on small coins from Markianopolis. Here we must have a creative artist. The ostensibly nonchalant attitude I know until now only from depictions of MATER DEVM. I think it is the sign of a kind of safety and carelessness. We can see SECVRITAS often in a similar position. So even small coins - often overlooked by collectors - can cause a nice surprise.
Pat Lawrence: (1) I've been hunting for, what I think I recall, another Cybele relaxing like that on a provincial coin. Though the sense of security is, I think, a perfectly valid interpretation, I think there's more to it.
The iconographic type, seated with the pair of lions, goes back to her 4cBC cult statue. But it is on a stiff throne and is decidedly blocky, as cult statues often are.
The pictorial type shown on this and (if I recall correctly) some other Greek Imperial coins, where she leans back as if in a landscape setting, probably is related to paintings or reliefs that re-interpreted the cult-statue type to make a 'natural' and womanly Cybele.
This is like taking the medieval, originally Byzantine (as in apse mosaics) Mary and treating her and the baby as the Renaissance did, kneeling in the woods (Filippo Lippi) or playing with him, offering him grapes as Hermes did to baby Dionysos (with the meaning adjusted appropriately).
(2) Sometimes at the Rome mint JD is shown slightly relaxed on her cult-image throne, but so long as you have that carpentry back-rest to the throne, you are dealing with the cult image as prototype.
Jochen's new Marcianopolis I am sure DOES have the same \"pictorial\" prototype and meaning (Cybele in Nature, her element) as the Anchialos coin.")
