Vabalathus and Aurelian Antioch 2nd Officina
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Vabalathus: 270 - 272 AD; Aurelian: 270 - 275 AD
Julius Aurelius Septimius Vabalathus Athenodorus (Wahb Allat), son of Septimius Odaenathus and Septimia Zenobia. Palmyrene Empire.
Obv: VABALATHVS V C R IM D R1; Bust of Vabalathus, laureate, diademed, draped and curiassed, facing right, seen from behind.
Rev: IMP C AVRELIANVS AVG; Bust of Aurelian, radiate and curiassed, facing right, from the front, B in exergue.
Denomination: billon antoninianus; Mint: Antioch; Officina: 2nd; Issue: 1st; Date: Nov. 270 - Mar. 272; Weight: 3.855g; Diameter: 20.5mm; Die axis: 180º; References, for example: RIC V v.1 381 correc; MER - RIC 3103; SRCV III 11718
Notes:
1VABALATHVS V[IR] C[LARISSIMUS] R[EX] IM[PERATOR] D[UX] R[OMANORUM]. See for example, Bland (2011), pp. 135, 141 and Estiot, p. 118, esp. note 462. Although Potter, page 267 and footnote 24 postulates V[IR] C[ONSULARIS] for the mint at Antioch I would certainly side with Bland and Estiot.
Which side of this coin is the obverse and which side is the reverse?
Webb in RIC V, v.1 puts great weight on the titulature of Aurelian and mentions that mint marks on the obverse of coins were not unknown at Antioch. He considers the coin to have been struck as a sign of vassalage instead of having been struck as an insult. Webb states that Aurelian's bust is on the obverse of the coin (p. 260). Robertson, pp. cxix and 142 also considers Aurelian's bust to be on the obverse of the coin, but does not state an explicit reason for her position. Mattingly (1936) holds that the mint mark is the determining factor, and therefore believes that Aurelian's bust is on the reverse of the coin. In SRCV III, p. 442 Sear follows the reasoning of Mattingly and although Vagi agrees that Aurelian's bust is on the reverse of the coin (p. 403) he does not explicitly state his reason for believing so. Estiot states that the officina mark under the bust of Aurelian clearly indicates that his portrait is on the reverse of the coin (p. 118). Bland (2011) follows suit. When discussing this issue from Antioch he states that the officina mark is always placed on the reverse of coins. He notes that the placement of the officina mark sent a signal that Aurelian was "...being accorded a lower status than Vabalathus, although he was given his correct titles of Imperator and Augustus, and he wore a radiate crown, also traditionally associated with the senior Augustus" (p. 142 - 3). Watson argues that Queen Zenobia's assertion of Palmyrene independence from Rome took place gradually (pp. 67 - 9). Bland believes that the placement of the officina mark under the bust of Aurelian on this coin was just another step in that assertion of independence.
Provenance: Ex Forum Ancient Coins September 5, 2017.
Photo credits: Forum Ancient Coins
Sources
Bland 2011: Bland, Roger.
"The Coinage of Vabalathus and Zenobia from Antioch and Alexandria" in Numismatic Chronicle, 171 (2011): 133 - 186.
Estiot, Sylviane. Monnaies de L’Empire romain XII.1: D’Aurelian à Florien(270 - 276 apres J.-C.). Paris: Bibliothèqu nationale de France, 2004.
Mattingly 1936: Mattingly, Harold. "The Palmyrene Princes and the Mints of Antioch and Alexandria." The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society, fifth Series, vol. 16, no. 62 (1936): pp. 89 - 114.
MER - RIC: Maison de l’Orient et la Méditerranée: Monnaies de l’Empire Romain / Roman Imperial Coinage AD 268-276. Accessed March 7, 2019. http://www.ric.mom.fr/en/home.
Potter, David S. The Roman Empire at Bay: AD 180 - 395. New York: Routledge, 2004
RIC V v.1: Webb, Percy. The Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. V, Part 1: Valerian to Florian, edited by Harold Mattingly and Edward Sydenham. London: Spink & Son, 1927.
Robertson, Anne. Roman Imperial Coins in the Hunter Coin Cabinet, Vol. IV Valerian I to Allectus. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978.
SRCV III: Sear, David. Roman Coins and Their Values, Vol. III: Maximinus I to Carinus. London: Spink, 2005.
Vagi, David. Coinage and History of the Roman Empire, Volume One: History. Sidney, Ohio: Coin World, 1999.
Watson, Alaric. Aurelian and the Third Century. New York: Routledge, 1999.
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