| Last additions - Nemonater's Gallery |
M. Junius Brutus Denarius Libertas/LictorsM. Junius Brutus, Denarius, Rome, 54 BC; AR (g 3,83; mm 20; h 6); O: Head of Libertas r., behind, LIBERTAS
R: L. Junius Brutus (Cos. 509), walking l., between two lictors and preceded by an accensus; in ex. BRVTVS.
- Crawford 433/1; Junia 31; Sydenham 906. ex Bertolami Fine Arts auction 37 lot 415 2017NemonaterMar 25, 2023
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Domitian denarius - Pegasus walking rightDomitianus Caesar, 69-81. Denarius 76-77, Rome. 3.50 g.
O: Laureate head right
R: Pegasus walking right.
- Coh. 47; RIC II 921 (Vepasian). ex -Hess Divo AG 14th eLive auction lot 1073 2016NemonaterMar 25, 2023
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Shekel Tyre RY 172 46/47 ADPhoenicia. Tyre. Year 172 = 46/47 AD. Shekel, 14.42g. (h).
O: Laureate bust of Melqarth right.
R: ΤΥΡΟΥ ΙΕΡΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΣΥΛΟΥ Eagle standing left with right foot on prow of ship and palm branch over right shoulder. In left field, date POB and club. In right field, KP over monogram (Θ M). Phoenician letter beth between legs of eagle. Border of dots.
- DCA Tyre Release 2 Part 1, 644 this coin, RPC 4672. Prieur 1433. BMC 207.ex Gemini IX Lot 169 2012NemonaterMar 25, 2023
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Shekel Tyre CY 157 (AD 31/2)PHOENICIA, Tyre. 126/5 BC-AD 65/6. AR Shekel (22mm, 13.66 g.). Dated CY 157 (AD 31/2). O: Head of Melkart right, wearing laurel wreath, lion skin around neck
R: Eagle standing left on prow; palm frond in background; to left, [P]NZ (date) above club; to right, KP above monogram; uncertain Phoenician letter between legs; TVPOV IEPAΣ KAI AΣVΛOV around.
Dated and die matched to Civic Year 157, extremely rare date, 6th known.NemonaterJan 19, 2022
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Herod IV Philip with Augustus / Tetrastyle templeHerod IV Philip, with Augustus. 4 BCE-34 CE. Æ (21.5mm, 8.94 g, 12h). Caesarea Panias (Caesarea Philippi) mint. Dated RY 12 of Herod IV (8/9 CE).
O: Laureate head of Augustus right
R: Tetrastyle temple façade (Augusteum of Paneas); L I B (date) between columns.
Meshorer 97; Hendin 1221; RPC I 4940.NemonaterJan 18, 2022
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Gordian I DenariusGordian I, 238. Denarius (Silver, 20 mm, 3.25 g, 7 h), Rome, March-April 238.
O: IMP M ANT GORDIANVS AFR AVG Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian I to right, seen from behind.
R: ROMAE AETERNAE Roma seated left on shield, holding Victory in her right hand and spear in her left.
- BMC 8. Cohen 8. RIC 4.
- From the collection of Regierungsrat Dr. iur. Hans Krähenbühl, privately acquired from Bank Leu on 29 June 1966
Gordian I and his son Gordian II share the dubious distinction of having the shortest reigns of any "legitimate" Roman emperors. Born in AD 159 during an era of peace and stability, Marcus Antonius Gordianus Sempronianus Romanus claimed a distant relation to the emperor Trajan on his mother's side and descent from those famous Republican reformers, the brothers Gracchi, on his father's.
Despite these illustrious genes, he had a rather uneventful career as a Senator and did not reach the Consulship until the advanced age of 64. He was approaching his 80s when, in AD 237/8, the Emperor Maximinus I appointed him governor of North Africa, where he was expected to enforce the regime's draconian program of taxation. In March of 238, a group of young African nobles rebelled and murdered the emperor's tax agent.
Realizing they'd passed the point of no return, the rich rebels sent a delegation to Gordian begging him to accept the purple as a rival to the unpopular Maximinus, who was preoccupied campaigning on the Rhine frontier. At first reluctant, Gordian accepted their acclamation on March 19 and appointed his son, Gordian II, as co-emperor.
The Gordians both assumed the title Africanus and dispatched a messenger to Rome proclaiming their program of reform. The Senate, which hated the brutish Maximinus, eagerly approved their elevation and began striking coins in their names. But Maximinus ordered his loyal governor in Numidia, Capellianus, to attack Carthage and crush the revolt. Capellianus duly set out with a veteran force, against which the Gordians could only pull together an ill-trained rabble. Gordian II died in battle on April 12, AD 238 and his father hanged himself upon hearing of its outcome. They had together reigned a mere 22 days.
An enduring mystery is the excellent quality of the Roman coinage of Gordian I and II, whose reign totaled 21 days, during which neither emperor left North Africa. Despite their brief production run, coins of Gordian I and II are notable for their fine portraiture and careful quality control.
Both portraits are distinctive, carefully engraved, and clearly modeled on the actual rulers. There seems to have been no "interim phase" during which the imperial portrait was simply a modified version of the predecessor (as with Trajan and Maximinus I, both of whom were absent from Rome when raised to the purple).
Two possibilities suggest themselves: (1) The "spontaneous" revolt of the Gordians in Africa had actually been carefully planned in advance, with coin dies prepared in secret from busts provided to the mint workers by their backers in the Senate; (2) the production of coins for Gordian I and II extended well beyond their brief reign, perhaps running concurrently with the coinage of Balbinus, Pupienus and Gordian III as Caesar, allowing time for proper effigies of the deceased rulers to be provided to the mint.
NemonaterNov 27, 2021
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The Year of the Six Emperors Part IIIn order from top left to right: Maximinus Thrax, murdered; Maximus Caesar, murdered; Gordian I suicide; Gordian II killed in battle; Pupienus, murdered; Balbinus, murdered; Gordian III, probably murdered but possibly died in battle.
It's often better to be a peasant!NemonaterNov 27, 2021
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Siglos Artaxerxes II to Artaxerxes III With KerykeionAchaemenid Empire. Time of Artaxerxes II to Artaxerxes III. Circa 375-340 BC. AR Siglos (15mm, 5.37 g).
O: Persian king or hero right, in kneeling-running stance, holding spear and bow; kerykeion (caduceus) in left field
R: Rectangular incuse punch.
- Cf. Carradice Type IV C var. Extremely rare with caduceus. NemonaterJun 19, 2021
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Siglos Xerxes II to Artaxerxes II Engraved Reverse DiePERSIA, Achaemenid Empire. temp. Xerxes II to Artaxerxes II. Circa 420-375 BC. AR Siglos (15mm, 5.45 g). Sardes or subsidiary mint.
O: Persian king or hero, wearing kidaris and kandys, quiver over shoulder, in kneeling-running stance right, holding dagger in right hand, bow in left
R: Incuse punch with small ivy leaf or spear head.
- Carradice Type IV B; BMC Arabia pl. XXVII, 10 var. (no symbol on rev.); I. Carradice, “The Dinar Hoard of Persian Sigloi” in Studies Price, Rev. Die 58, 264 (same dies).
In his description of the Persian coinage in the Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Coinage (Oxford, 2012), M. Alram notes (p. 69) that “in the earliest phase of type IV sigloi small images, engraved into the original die, are sometimes included in the reverse punches.” What is interesting about the current coin is that it is from Group B of type IV, a fact confirmed by Carradice’s placement of this issue in the Dinar Hoard under the “middle” groups of type IV (interestingly, Carradice failed to note the presence of the symbol on this die). Thus, Alram’s statement must be expanded to include issues beyond the earliest of type IV sigloi. - CNG
NemonaterJun 15, 2021
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Nerva / Palm IVDAICINerva Æ Sestertius. 27.84g, 33mm, 6h. Rome, AD 96.
O: IMP NERVA CAES AVG P M TR P COS II P P, laureate head to right
R: FISCI IVDAICI CALVMNIA SVBLATA, palm-tree, with two clusters of dates; S-C across fields.
- RIC II 58; BMCRE 88. From the Antonio Carmona Collection.
According to the Roman historian Suetonius: "More than any other, the Fiscus Iudaicus was administered very severely; and to it were brought, or reported, those who either had lived the life of a Jew unprofessed, or concealing their origin, had not paid the tax imposed upon by the people. I remember that it was of interest to me during my youth when a ninety-year-old man was brought before the procurator and a very crowded court to see wheather he was circumcised."
Marius Heemstra challenged the earlier interpretation of the reverse inscription. "The embarrassment (CALVMNIA) of the Jewish Tax (FISCI IVDAICI) is removed," ie., that the Jewish tax, which had been introduced by Vespasian after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, was repealed by Nerva, in whole or in part. Heemstra also disagrees with the theory that the CALVMNIA, was "the circumcision test" described by Suetonius (Dom. 12.1-2).
Rather, Heemstra maintains that the tax was not repealed, but, rather, that the legend should be translated: "The removal of the wrongful accusation (CALVMNIA) of the Fiscus Judaicus (the imperial tax collection agency)."
What was the CALVMNIA? Meestra explains that before the "removal" of the "wrongful accusation," by Nerva, it is highly plausible that the charge of 'leading a Jewish life without publicly acknowledging that fact' could have been levied against high-ranking Romans who could then have been victims of the Fiscus Judaicus, which would confiscate their wealth.
Conviction could occur either on political grounds, instigated by the emperor himself (Domitian), or because any affiliation with Judaism, however, small could lead to an accusation of "atheism," which to Romans meant not recognizing their pagan gods.
Meestra points out that an important impact of the new law was that it necessitated a clarification in the definition of who was the taxpayer, and, thus who was considered to be a Jew. Instead of "each one of the Jew"s (Josephus), or, "those belonging to the Jewish gens" (Suetonius), the definition changed to "those Jews who continued to observe their ancestral customs" (Dio). In practice, these were the Jews that had been paying the tax in the first place.
By removing the CALVMNIA "the wrongful accusation," Nerva succeeded in transforming the definition of 'Jew' from an ethnic one into a religious one, which both the Romans and Jews adopted.
The coin represents Nerva's order not to abolish the tax itself but of the insulting method of collecting the Jewish tax. - See discussion in: Marius Heemstra, "The interprretation and Wider Context of Nerva's Fiscus Judaicus Sestertius, Judaea and Rome in Coins 65 BCE - 135 CE, London: Spink and Sons, 2010, 187-201.
David Hendin quotes David Vagi for another theory for the Fiscus Judaicus in his Guide to Biblical Coins, Fifth Edition.
"In all likelihood (this reverse type) celebrates Vespasian's requirement of 71/2 CE that the annual didrachm Temple Tax, the Fiscus Iudaicus, be paid to Rome rather than to the Jewish Temple.
This tax was extended to every Jew, male and female, from the age of three, and even to slaves of Jewish households. The proceeds were earmarked for the rebuilding of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus Captiolinus in Rome, which had been destroyed in the last days of the Roman Civil War of 68-69."
"Thus, FISCI IVDIACI CALVMNIA SVBLATA ('the insult of the Jewish Tax has been removed') would refer to Vespasian's removal of the insult that prior to 71/2 the Jewish Temple Tax had been collected by Jews for their own use. After all, Romans considered themselves the only legitimate taxing authority within the empire, and the only rightful beneficiary of tax revenues."
"In summary, the idea that this coin represents a Roman apology, or a Roman acknowledgment of its own callous behavior, must be abandoned" (p. 458).NemonaterMay 25, 2021
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Titus / QuadrigaTitus. Silver Denarius (3.41 g 19mm), as Caesar, AD 69-79. Judaea Capta type. Antioch, under Vesapasian, AD 72/3.
O: T CAES IMP VESP PON TR POT, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Titus right.
R: Titus, togate, holding palm branch and scepter, standing right in triumphal quadriga advancing right.
- RIC 1563; BMC 521; RSC 395; Hendin 1493.NemonaterApr 24, 2021
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Titus / CaptiveTitus. As Caesar, AD 69-79. AR Denarius (19mm, 3.53 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 79.
O: IMP T CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG, Laureate head right
R: TR POT VIII COS VII, Bound captive kneeling right before trophy.
- RIC 1; RSC 334a; BMCRE 1. Ex Künker 318 lot 1118, Exemplar der Sammlung Dr. Klaus Berthold, erworben 2013.NemonaterApr 24, 2021
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Mazaios, Satrap of Cilicia AR StaterCILICIA, Tarsos. Mazaios. Satrap of Cilicia, 361/0-334 BC., 10.78g. AR Stater
O: Baaltars seated left, head and torso facing, holding eagle, grain ear, and grape bunch in extended right hand, lotus-tipped scepter in left; TN (in Aramaic) to left, M (in Aramaic) below throne, B’LTRZ ("Baal of Tarsos" or "Baaltars" in Aramaic) to right
R: Lion attacking bull left; MZDY (Mazaeus in Aramaic) above, monogram below.
- Casabonne Series 2, Group C; SNG France –; SNG Levante 106. -Ex Walter M. Shandruk Collection
The obverse of this coin depicts the Baal of Tarsos.
"Baal" is a Semitic word for "Lord" or "God." The symbols of an eagle, wheat stalk, grapes, and a scepter may represent Baal’s capacity as a god involved in the seasonal cycles of life and death.
The reverse features a lion-and-bull motif as did earlier Anatolian coins of Kroisos/Croesus. But here, on the reverse, the full bodies of both lion and bull are shown, and the lion is ferociously jumping on the back of the bull, who's kneeling.
If you assume that a kneeling bull (without a lion) on the scores of later Greek and Roman coins is symbolic of Zeus, a position that Marvin Tameanko has persuasively argued for (Celator, Jan. 1995, pp. 6-11), and that the lion is symbolic of the supreme god, or Baal, of the Celicians, the symbolism of this coin, may be direct and simple: Our god is more powerful than your god.
The Baal obverse of Mazaios' coinage may have been used as the model for the Zeus reverse of Alexander the Great's huge output of silver coinage, though Martin Price believed that both coinages were based on similar models. Price did feel, however, that the celator who engraved the latter Mazaios staters also engraved Alexander III's Tarsos tetradrachms.
Mazaios (also referred to as "Mazaeus" and "Mazday") was the Persian satrap of Celicia beginning c. 361 BC, then the satrap of both Celicia and the larger territory of Transeuphratesia/Transeuphrates (Syria and Palestine, also known as Abar Nahara) beginning c. 345 BC.
Mazaios fought Alexander the Great at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. After this loss, he fled to Babylon. With the Great King Darius III of Persia also fleeing Alexander's army, Mazaios was the person who surrendered the capital of the Persian Empire, Babylon, to Alexander later in 331 BC, which prevented the sack of the city. For doing this without a fight, Alexander appointed him governor of Babylon, which at the time was the world's largest city. Mazaios died in 328 BC.
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=baal
Nemonater
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Siglos Artaxerxes II to Artaxerxes III With KerykeionAchaemenid Empire. Time of Artaxerxes II to Artaxerxes III. Circa 375-340 BC. AR Siglos (15mm, 5.37 g).
O: Persian king or hero right, in kneeling-running stance, holding spear and bow; kerykeion (caduceus) in left field
R: Rectangular incuse punch.
- Cf. Carradice Type IV C var. Extremely rare with caduceus. Nemonater
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Yehud Persian King / FalconJUDAEA, Achaemenid Province, Yehud, Persian Period. Circa 375-332 BCE. AR Half Gerah or Hemiobol (7mm, 0.28 g)
O: Bearded Persian Great King, head right, wearing crown.
R: Falcon with wings spread and head right.
Hendin 1059; MCP YHD 15, O9/R10
The top of the 3 letters are visible. The most complete is the Yod, at bottom right of the right wing.
"The Yehud coinage is a series of small silver coins bearing the Aramaic inscription Yehud. They derive their name from the inscription YHD, "Yehud", the Aramaic name of the Achaemenid Persian province of Yehud; others are inscribed YHDH, the same name in Hebrew.
Yehud Medinata (Aramaic for "the province of Judah"), Yahud Medin'ta/Yahud Medinsa, or simply Yehud, was an autonomous province of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, roughly equivalent to the older kingdom of Judah but covering a smaller area, within the satrapy of Eber-Nari. The area of Yehud Medinata corresponded to the previous Babylonian province with the same name, formed after the fall of the kingdom of Judah to the Neo-Babylonian Empire (c.597 after its conquest of the Mediterranean east coast, and again in 585/6 BCE after suppressing an unsuccessful Judean revolt). Yehud Medinata continued to exist for two centuries, until being incorporated into the Hellenistic empires, following the conquests of Alexander the Great. - From Wikipedia
Persian Period shekel standard - 11.4 g.
Average Gerah - 0.48 g.
Average Half Gerah - 0.26 g.Nemonater
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