| Image search results - "Mesopotamia," |
(0177) COMMODUS -- MESOPOTAMIA, CARRHAE177 - 192 AD
AE 22 mm 6.64 g
O: AVT K MANTWK[?]OCCEE (legend counterclockwise)
Commodus, Bust R
R: AVPHΛIΩN KAPPHN ΦIΛΩPΩM [AIΩN…]
Crescent, fillets tied in bows below
(no longer in collection)
UNRECORDEDlaney
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(0198) CARACALLAprobably Caracalla, 198-217 AD
AE 15 mm, 3.83 g
O: head right
R: vexillum
Mesopotamia, Rhesaenalaney
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(0198) CARACALLA198 - 217 AD
AE 17 X 19 mm; 5.31 g
O: Bust right, supported by eagle.
Rev: LEG-III; vexillum with star at center;
Mesopotamia, Rhesaenalaney
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(0198) CARACALLA98-217 AD
AE 14.5 mm; 2.90 g
O: Laureate head of Caracalla right
R: Turreted and veiled bust of Tyche right
Mesopotamia, Carrhaelaney
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(0198) CARACALLA198-217 AD
AE 17.5 mm, 8.34 g
O: Laureate head of Caracalla right
R: Turreted and veiled head of Tyche right
Mesopotamia, probably Carrhaelaney
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(0198) CARACALLA (or ELAGABALUS)198 - 217 AD
AE 15 mm; 3.11 g
O: Radiate head right
R: Two Leg III vexilla, with single standard between
Mesopotamia, Rhesaena
(reverse appears to be unpublished)laney
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(0198) CARACALLA AND GETAca. 208 - 211 AD
AE 18.7mm, 4.45 g
O: confronted busts of laureate, draped, cuirassed Caracalla, on left: and bare-headed, draped Geta, on right.
R: star of eight rays within crescent, legend around crescent
Mesopotamia, Carrhae mint; cf. BMC p. 87, 45-8; SNG Cop -; Weber -; McClean -; very rarelaney
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(0218) ELAGABALUS -- MESOPOTAMIA, EDESSA218 - 222 AD
AE 24.5 mm 9.27 g
O: AVT K M A ANTIWNEINOC CC
RAD DR BUST R, FROM BEHIND
R: MAP AV ANTW[KOEDEC]
TYCHE SEATED L, RIVER GOD BELOW FACING R
MESOPOTAMIA, EDESSA
BMC 59 LINDGREN 2590laney
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(0222) SEVERUS ALEXANDER222 - 235 AD
AE 26 mm 10.21 g
O: RADIATE HEAD OF SEVERUS ALEXANDER, R
R: TURRETED HEAD OF TYCHE, R, RAM LEAPING ABOVE, STAR BEFORE
MESOPOTAMIA, NISIBIS
SNG Cop 235; Mionnet 5, 170v; BMC 4v.
(Mionnet and BMC cite laureate head right)
laney
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(0222) SEVERUS ALEXANDER222-235 AD
AE 17.5 mm; 2.12 g
O: Laureate, cuirassed bust with paludamentum, right
R: Sagittarius, right; Right hand over right shoulder, bow in left hand
Mesopotamia, Rhesaena; cf. Castelin, Prague, 17A (Plate III); BMC Rhesaena, 9, Pl. XVIII, var. (no Vexillum)
laney
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(0238) GORDIAN III238 - 244 AD
AE 27 mm, 14.94 g
O: AYTOK K M ANT GOPDIANOC CEB. Laureate and draped bust, right.
R: MHT KOL KAPPHNWN. Turreted, veiled and draped bust of Tyche, left, with small figure (perhaps Aquarius or Apollo-Nebo) on a base or pedestal before her.
Mesopotamia, Carrhae cf. SNG Hunterian 2499; SNG Cop. 187; BMC 55-6. laney
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(0241) TRANQUILLINA241 - 244 AD
AE 15 mm, 3.29 g
O: Draped diademed bust right (countermark at back of head)
R: Vexillum
Mesopotamia, Singara (possibly unpublished)laney
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026a24. Septemius SeverusMesopotamia, Edessa. AE (13 mm, 1.80 g). Septimius Severus and Abgar VIII. Laureate head of Severus right / Draped and diademed bust right of Abgar VIII, wearing tiara. BMC 35. Agora Auc 2 (2023), Lot 347.lawrence c
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027a09. CaracallaAE16 of Mesopotamia, Rhesaena. 16mm, 3.76 g. Obv: AVT KAI ANTΩNEINOC CEB, laureate head right on eagle standing right, bull in left field facing downward, bull in right field facing upward (latter off flan). Rev: LEG III, vexillum, ribbons on middle of pole, holding banner for Legio III Parthica. Lindgren 2606.lawrence c
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036b02. TranquillinaAE28 of Mesopotamia, Edessa. 27.7mm, 18.15 g. Obv: Draped bust of Tranquillina right, wearing stephane, hair coiled at neck nape. Rev: Turreted and veiled bust of City-goddess left, with small altar and figure of Aquarius before. SNG Cop 222.lawrence c
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037b04. Otacilia SeveraMESOPOTAMIA, Nisibis. Æ 26. MAΡ ΩTAKIΛ CEOYHΡAN CEB, diademed draped bust right on crescent / IOV CEΠ KOΛΩ NECIBI MHT, tetrastyle shrine containing seated facing figure of the city goddess, ram leaping right above, river god swimming right below. BMC 27; Sear SGI 4065. Tiber Auction 4, Lot 234.lawrence c
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074p Philippus I. (244-249 A.D.), Mesopotamia, Nisibis, BMC 25 and 23 (obv./rev.), AE-25, -/-//--, Tyche seated facing in tetrastyle temple #01074p Philippus I. (244-249 A.D.), Mesopotamia, Nisibis, BMC 25 and 23 (obv./rev.), AE-25, -/-//--, Tyche seated facing in tetrastyle temple #01
avers: AYTOK K M IOYΛ ΦIΛIΠΠOC CEB, Radiate and cuirassed bust left, holding spear and decorated shield.
reverse: IOΛ CEΠ KOΛΩ NECIBI MHT, Tyche seated facing, above, ram (Aries) leaping right, head left, below, river-god swimming right, all within tetrastyle temple.
exergue: -/-//--, diameter: 24,0-25,0mm, weight: 9,45g, axis: 0h,
mint: Mesopotamia, Nisibis, date: 244-249 A.D.,
ref: BMC 25 and 23 (obv./rev.); SNG Copenhagen -; SNG Hunterian -; SNG Righetti 2620 (same dies), Rare bust!
Q-001quadrans
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1 Shekel Hematite weight1 Shekel Hematite weight
Sphendonoid Hematite weight
25mm by 10mm by 5 mm
8.15g
Hendin; 23, 24.
Sphendonoid weights have been found in Mesopotamia, Cyprus, Egypt, Syria, and Phoenicia as well as ship wrecks from the 14th/13th centuries BC.wileyc
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1/10 Shekel Hematite weightSphendonoid Hematite weight
25mm
.87g
Hendin; 51.
Sphendonoid weights have been found in Mesopotamia, Cyprus, Egypt, Syria, and Phoenicia as well as ship wrecks from the 14th/13th centuries BC. wileyc
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115 AD: Trajan's conquest of Armenia and Mesopotamia Orichalcum sestertius (26.2g, 33mm, 7h). Rome mint. Struck AD 116-117.
IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GER DAC PARTHICO PM TRP COS VI PP laureate and draped bust of Trajan facing right
ARMENIA ET MESOPOTAMIA POTESTATEM PR REDACTAE [around] S C [in field] Trajan standing right, holding spear and parazonium; on the ground, the reclining figures of Armenia, the Euphrates and the Tigris
RIC 642 [R]; Cohen 39; Foss (Roman Historical Coins): 105/71
Coin minted between 116 spring and 117 aug (PARTHICO in legend) on the occasion of the conquest of Mesopotamia in 115. Beginning in 114 AD, Trajan began his campaign against Parthia which had deposed the pro-Roman king of Armenia. By 115 AD Trajan had turned Armenia into a Roman province. He then moved southward through Mesopotamia, capturing the Parthian capital, Ctesiphon, in 116 AD.Charles S
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1409a, Julian II "the Philosopher," February 360 - 26 June 363 A.D.Julian II, A.D. 360-363; RIC 167; VF; 2.7g, 20mm; Constantinople mint; Obverse: DN FL CL IVLIANVS P F AVG, helmeted & cuirassed bust right, holding spear & shield; Reverse: VOT X MVLT XX in four lines within wreath; CONSPB in exergue; Attractive green patina. Ex Nemesis.
De Imperatoribus Romanis,
An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors
Julian the Apostate (360-363 A.D.)
Walter E. Roberts, Emory University
Michael DiMaio, Jr., Salve Regina University
Introduction
The emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus reigned from 360 to 26 June 363, when he was killed fighting against the Persians. Despite his short rule, his emperorship was pivotal in the development of the history of the later Roman empire. This essay is not meant to be a comprehensive look at the various issues central to the reign of Julian and the history of the later empire. Rather, this short work is meant to be a brief history and introduction for the general reader. Julian was the last direct descendent of the Constantinian line to ascend to the purple, and it is one of history's great ironies that he was the last non-Christian emperor. As such, he has been vilified by most Christian sources, beginning with John Chrysostom and Gregory Nazianzus in the later fourth century. This tradition was picked up by the fifth century Eusebian continuators Sozomen, Socrates Scholasticus, and Theodoret and passed on to scholars down through the 20th century. Most contemporary sources, however, paint a much more balanced picture of Julian and his reign. The adoption of Christianity by emperors and society, while still a vital concern, was but one of several issues that concerned Julian.
It is fortunate that extensive writings from Julian himself exist, which help interpret his reign in the light of contemporary evidence. Still extant are some letters, several panegyrics, and a few satires. Other contemporary sources include the soldier Ammianus Marcellinus' history, correspondence between Julian and Libanius of Antioch, several panegyrics, laws from the Theodosian Code, inscriptions, and coinage. These sources show Julian's emphasis on restoration. He saw himself as the restorer of the traditional values of Roman society. Of course much of this was rhetoric, meant to defend Julian against charges that he was a usurper. At the same time this theme of restoration was central to all emperors of the fourth century. Julian thought that he was the one emperor who could regain what was viewed as the lost glory of the Roman empire. To achieve this goal he courted select groups of social elites to get across his message of restoration. This was the way that emperors functioned in the fourth century. By choosing whom to include in the sharing of power, they sought to shape society.
Early Life
Julian was born at Constantinople in 331. His father was Julius Constantius, half-brother of the emperor Constantine through Constantius Chlorus, and his mother was Basilina, Julius' second wife. Julian had two half-brothers via Julius' first marriage. One of these was Gallus, who played a major role in Julian's life. Julian appeared destined for a bright future via his father's connection to the Constantinian house. After many years of tense relations with his three half-brothers, Constantine seemed to have welcomed them into the fold of the imperial family. From 333 to 335, Constantine conferred a series of honors upon his three half-siblings, including appointing Julius Constantius as one of the consuls for 335. Julian's mother was equally distinguished. Ammianus related that she was from a noble family. This is supported by Libanius, who claimed that she was the daughter of Julius Julianus, a Praetorian Prefect under Licinius, who was such a model of administrative virtue that he was pardoned and honored by Constantine.
Despite the fact that his mother died shortly after giving birth to him, Julian experienced an idyllic early childhood. This ended when Constantius II conducted a purge of many of his relatives shortly after Constantine's death in 337, particularly targeting the families of Constantine's half-brothers. ulian and Gallus were spared, probably due to their young age. Julian was put under the care of Mardonius, a Scythian eunuch who had tutored his mother, in 339, and was raised in the Greek philosophical tradition, and probably lived in Nicomedia. Ammianus also supplied the fact that while in Nicomedia, Julian was cared for by the local bishop Eusebius, of whom the future emperor was a distant relation. Julian was educated by some of the most famous names in grammar and rhetoric in the Greek world at that time, including Nicocles and Hecebolius. In 344 Constantius II sent Julian and Gallus to Macellum in Cappadocia, where they remained for six years. In 351, Gallus was made Caesar by Constantius II and Julian was allowed to return to Nicomedia, where he studied under Aedesius, Eusebius, and Chrysanthius, all famed philosophers, and was exposed to the Neo-Platonism that would become such a prominent part of his life. But Julian was most proud of the time he spent studying under Maximus of Ephesus, a noted Neo-Platonic philospher and theurgist. It was Maximus who completed Julian's full-scale conversion to Neo-Platonism. Later, when he was Caesar, Julian told of how he put letters from this philosopher under his pillows so that he would continue to absorb wisdom while he slept, and while campaigning on the Rhine, he sent his speeches to Maximus for approval before letting others hear them. When Gallus was executed in 354 for treason by Constantius II, Julian was summoned to Italy and essentially kept under house arrest at Comum, near Milan, for seven months before Constantius' wife Eusebia convinced the emperor that Julian posed no threat. This allowed Julian to return to Greece and continue his life as a scholar where he studied under the Neo-Platonist Priscus. Julian's life of scholarly pursuit, however, ended abruptly when he was summoned to the imperial court and made Caesar by Constantius II on 6 November 355.
Julian as Caesar
Constantius II realized an essential truth of the empire that had been evident since the time of the Tetrarchy--the empire was too big to be ruled effectively by one man. Julian was pressed into service as Caesar, or subordinate emperor, because an imperial presence was needed in the west, in particular in the Gallic provinces. Julian, due to the emperor's earlier purges, was the only viable candidate of the imperial family left who could act as Caesar. Constantius enjoined Julian with the task of restoring order along the Rhine frontier. A few days after he was made Caesar, Julian was married to Constantius' sister Helena in order to cement the alliance between the two men. On 1 December 355, Julian journeyed north, and in Augusta Taurinorum he learned that Alamannic raiders had destroyed Colonia Agrippina. He then proceeded to Vienne where he spent the winter. At Vienne, he learned that Augustudunum was also under siege, but was being held by a veteran garrison. He made this his first priority, and arrived there on 24 June 356. When he had assured himself that the city was in no immediate danger, he journeyed to Augusta Treverorum via Autessioduram, and from there to Durocortorum where he rendezvoused with his army. Julian had the army stage a series of punitive strikes around the Dieuse region, and then he moved them towards the Argentoratum/Mongontiacum region when word of barbarian incursions reached him.
From there, Julian moved on to Colonia Agrippina, and negotiated a peace with the local barbarian leaders who had assaulted the city. He then wintered at Senonae. He spent the early part of the campaigning season of 357 fighting off besiegers at Senonae, and then conducting operations around Lugdunum and Tres Tabernae. Later that summer, he encountered his watershed moment as a military general. Ammianus went into great detail about Julian's victory over seven rogue Alamannic chieftains near Argentoratum, and Julian himself bragged about it in his later writing. After this battle, the soldiers acclaimed Julian Augustus, but he rejected this title. After mounting a series of follow-up raids into Alamannic territory, he retired to winter quarters at Lutetia, and on the way defeated some Frankish raiders in the Mosa region. Julian considered this campaign one of the major events of his time as Caesar.
Julian began his 358 military campaigns early, hoping to catch the barbarians by surprise. His first target was the Franks in the northern Rhine region. He then proceeded to restore some forts in the Mosa region, but his soldiers threatened to mutiny because they were on short rations and had not been paid their donative since Julian had become Caesar. After he soothed his soldiers, Julian spent the rest of the summer negotiating a peace with various Alamannic leaders in the mid and lower Rhine areas, and retired to winter quarters at Lutetia. In 359, he prepared once again to carry out a series of punitive expeditions against the Alamanni in the Rhine region who were still hostile to the Roman presence. In preparation, the Caesar repopulated seven previously destroyed cities and set them up as supply bases and staging areas. This was done with the help of the people with whom Julian had negotiated a peace the year before. Julian then had a detachment of lightly armed soldiers cross the Rhine near Mogontiacum and conduct a guerilla strike against several chieftains. As a result of these campaigns, Julian was able to negotiate a peace with all but a handful of the Alamannic leaders, and he retired to winter quarters at Lutetia.
Of course, Julian did more than act as a general during his time as Caesar. According to Ammianus, Julian was an able administrator who took steps to correct the injustices of Constantius' appointees. Ammianus related the story of how Julian prevented Florentius, the Praetorian Prefect of Gaul, from raising taxes, and also how Julian actually took over as governor for the province of Belgica Secunda. Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, supported Ammianus' basic assessment of Julian in this regard when he reported that Julian was an able representative of the emperor to the Gallic provincials. There is also epigraphic evidence to support Julian's popularity amongst the provincial elites. An inscription found near Beneventum in Apulia reads:
"To Flavius Claudius Julianus, most noble and sanctified Caesar, from the caring Tocius Maximus, vir clarissimus, for the care of the res publica from Beneventum".
Tocius Maximus, as a vir clarissimus, was at the highest point in the social spectrum and was a leader in his local community. This inscription shows that Julian was successful in establishing a positive image amongst provincial elites while he was Caesar.
Julian Augustus
In early 360, Constantius, driven by jealousy of Julian's success, stripped Julian of many troops and officers, ostensibly because the emperor needed them for his upcoming campaign against the Persians. One of the legions ordered east, the Petulantes, did not want to leave Gaul because the majority of the soldiers in the unit were from this region. As a result they mutinied and hailed Julian as Augustus at Lutetia. Julian refused this acclamation as he had done at Argentoratum earlier, but the soldiers would have none of his denial. They raised him on a shield and adorned him with a neck chain, which had formerly been the possession of the standard-bearer of the Petulantes and symbolized a royal diadem. Julian appeared reluctantly to acquiesce to their wishes, and promised a generous donative. The exact date of his acclamation is unknown, but most scholars put it in February or March. Julian himself supported Ammianus' picture of a jealous Constantius. In his Letter to the Athenians, a document constructed to answer charges that he was a usurper, Julian stated that from the start he, as Caesar, had been meant as a figurehead to the soldiers and provincials. The real power he claimed lay with the generals and officials already present in Gaul. In fact, according to Julian, the generals were charged with watching him as much as the enemy. His account of the actual acclamation closely followed what Ammianus told us, but he stressed even more his reluctance to take power. Julian claimed that he did so only after praying to Zeus for guidance.
Fearing the reaction of Constantius, Julian sent a letter to his fellow emperor justifying the events at Lutetia and trying to arrange a peaceful solution. This letter berated Constantius for forcing the troops in Gaul into an untenable situation. Ammianus stated that Julian's letter blamed Constantius' decision to transfer Gallic legions east as the reason for the soldiers' rebellion. Julian once again asserted that he was an unwilling participant who was only following the desire of the soldiers. In both of these basic accounts Ammianus and Julian are playing upon the theme of restoration. Implicit in their version of Julian's acclamation is the argument that Constantius was unfit to rule. The soldiers were the vehicle of the gods' will. The Letter to the Athenians is full of references to the fact that Julian was assuming the mantle of Augustus at the instigation of the gods. Ammianus summed up this position nicely when he related the story of how, when Julian was agonizing over whether to accept the soldiers' acclamation, he had a dream in which he was visited by the Genius (guardian spirit) of the Roman state. The Genius told Julian that it had often tried to bestow high honors upon Julian but had been rebuffed. Now, the Genius went on to say, was Julian's final chance to take the power that was rightfully his. If the Caesar refused this chance, the Genius would depart forever, and both Julian and the state would rue Julian's rejection. Julian himself wrote a letter to his friend Maximus of Ephesus in November of 361 detailing his thoughts on his proclamation. In this letter, Julian stated that the soldiers proclaimed him Augustus against his will. Julian, however, defended his accession, saying that the gods willed it and that he had treated his enemies with clemency and justice. He went on to say that he led the troops in propitiating the traditional deities, because the gods commanded him to return to the traditional rites, and would reward him if he fulfilled this duty.
During 360 an uneasy peace simmered between the two emperors. Julian spent the 360 campaigning season continuing his efforts to restore order along the Rhine, while Constantius continued operations against the Persians. Julian wintered in Vienne, and celebrated his Quinquennalia. It was at this time that his wife Helena died, and he sent her remains to Rome for a proper burial at his family villa on the Via Nomentana where the body of her sister was entombed. The uneasy peace held through the summer of 361, but Julian concentrated his military operations around harassing the Alamannic chieftain Vadomarius and his allies, who had concluded a peace treaty with Constantius some years earlier. By the end of the summer, Julian decided to put an end to the waiting and gathered his army to march east against Constantius. The empire teetered on the brink of another civil war. Constantius had spent the summer negotiating with the Persians and making preparations for possible military action against his cousin. When he was assured that the Persians would not attack, he summoned his army and sallied forth to meet Julian. As the armies drew inexorably closer to one another, the empire was saved from another bloody civil war when Constantius died unexpectedly of natural causes on 3 November near the town of Mopsucrenae in Cilicia, naming Julian -- the sources say-- as his legitimate successor.
Julian was in Dacia when he learned of his cousin's death. He made his way through Thrace and came to Constantinople on 11 December 361 where Julian honored the emperor with the funeral rites appropriate for a man of his station. Julian immediately set about putting his supporters in positions of power and trimming the imperial bureaucracy, which had become extremely overstaffed during Constantius' reign. Cooks and barbers had increased during the late emperor's reign and Julian expelled them from his court. Ammianus gave a mixed assessment of how the new emperor handled the followers of Constantius. Traditionally, emperors were supposed to show clemency to the supporters of a defeated enemy. Julian, however, gave some men over to death to appease the army. Ammianus used the case of Ursulus, Constantius' comes sacrum largitionum, to illustrate his point. Ursulus had actually tried to acquire money for the Gallic troops when Julian had first been appointed Caesar, but he had also made a disparaging remark about the ineffectiveness of the army after the battle of Amida. The soldiers remembered this, and when Julian became sole Augustus, they demanded Ursulus' head. Julian obliged, much to the disapproval of Ammianus. This seems to be a case of Julian courting the favor of the military leadership, and is indicative of a pattern in which Julian courted the goodwill of various societal elites to legitimize his position as emperor.
Another case in point is the officials who made up the imperial bureaucracy. Many of them were subjected to trial and punishment. To achieve this goal, during the last weeks of December 361 Julian assembled a military tribunal at Chalcedon, empanelling six judges to try the cases. The president of the tribunal was Salutius, just promoted to the rank of Praetorian Prefect; the five other members were Mamertinus, the orator, and four general officers: Jovinus, Agilo, Nevitta, and Arbetio. Relative to the proceedings of the tribunal, Ammianus noted that the judges, " . . . oversaw the cases more vehemently than was right or fair, with the exception of a few . . .." Ammianus' account of Julian's attempt at reform of the imperial bureaucracy is supported by legal evidence from the Theodosian Code. A series of laws sent to Mamertinus, Julian's appointee as Praetorian Prefect in Italy, Illyricum, and Africa, illustrate this point nicely. On 6 June 362, Mamertinus received a law that prohibited provincial governors from bypassing the Vicars when giving their reports to the Prefect. Traditionally, Vicars were given civil authority over a group of provinces, and were in theory meant to serve as a middle step between governors and Prefects. This law suggests that the Vicars were being left out, at least in Illyricum. Julian issued another edict to Mamertinus on 22 February 362 to stop abuse of the public post by governors. According to this law, only Mamertinus could issue post warrants, but the Vicars were given twelve blank warrants to be used as they saw fit, and each governor was given two. Continuing the trend of bureaucratic reform, Julian also imposed penalties on governors who purposefully delayed appeals in court cases they had heard. The emperor also established a new official to weigh solidi used in official government transactions to combat coin clipping.
For Julian, reigning in the abuses of imperial bureaucrats was one step in restoring the prestige of the office of emperor. Because he could not affect all elements of society personally, Julian, like other Neo-Flavian emperors, decided to concentrate on select groups of societal elites as intercessors between himself and the general populace. One of these groups was the imperial bureaucracy. Julian made it very clear that imperial officials were intercessors in a very real sense in a letter to Alypius, Vicar of Britain. In this letter, sent from Gaul sometime before 361, the emperor praises Alypius for his use of "mildness and moderation with courage and force" in his rule of the provincials. Such virtues were characteristic of the emperors, and it was good that Alypius is representing Julian in this way. Julian courted the army because it put him in power. Another group he sought to include in his rule was the traditional Senatorial aristocracy. One of his first appointments as consul was Claudius Mamertinus, a Gallic Senator and rhetorician. Mamertinus' speech in praise of Julian delivered at Constantinople in January of 362 is preserved. In this speech, Claudius presented his consular selection as inaugurating a new golden age and Julian as the restorer of the empire founded by Augustus. The image Mamertinus gave of his own consulate inaugurating a new golden age is not merely formulaic. The comparison of Julian to Augustus has very real, if implicit, relevance to Claudius' situation. Claudius emphasized the imperial period as the true age of renewal. Augustus ushered in a new era with his formation of a partnership between the emperor and the Senate based upon a series of honors and offices bestowed upon the Senate in return for their role as intercessor between emperor and populace. It was this system that Julian was restoring, and the consulate was one concrete example of this bond. To be chosen as a consul by the emperor, who himself had been divinely mandated, was a divine honor. In addition to being named consul, Mamertinus went on to hold several offices under Julian, including the Prefecture of Italy, Illyricum, and Africa. Similarly, inscriptional evidence illustrates a link between municipal elites and Julian during his time as Caesar, something which continued after he became emperor. One concrete example comes from the municipal senate of Aceruntia in Apulia, which established a monument on which Julian is styled as "Repairer of the World."
Julian seems to have given up actual Christian belief before his acclamation as emperor and was a practitioner of more traditional Greco-Roman religious beliefs, in particular, a follower of certain late antique Platonist philosophers who were especially adept at theurgy as was noted earlier. In fact Julian himself spoke of his conversion to Neo-Platonism in a letter to the Alexandrians written in 363. He stated that he had abandoned Christianity when he was twenty years old and been an adherent of the traditional Greco-Roman deities for the twelve years prior to writing this letter.
(For the complete text of this article see: http://www.roman-emperors.org/julian.htm)
Julian’s Persian Campaign
The exact goals Julian had for his ill-fated Persian campaign were never clear. The Sassanid Persians, and before them the Parthians, had been a traditional enemy from the time of the Late Republic, and indeed Constantius had been conducting a war against them before Julian's accession forced the former to forge an uneasy peace. Julian, however, had no concrete reason to reopen hostilities in the east. Socrates Scholasticus attributed Julian's motives to imitation of Alexander the Great, but perhaps the real reason lay in his need to gather the support of the army. Despite his acclamation by the Gallic legions, relations between Julian and the top military officers was uneasy at best. A war against the Persians would have brought prestige and power both to Julian and the army.
Julian set out on his fateful campaign on 5 March 363. Using his trademark strategy of striking quickly and where least expected, he moved his army through Heirapolis and from there speedily across the Euphrates and into the province of Mesopotamia, where he stopped at the town of Batnae. His plan was to eventually return through Armenia and winter in Tarsus. Once in Mesopotamia, Julian was faced with the decision of whether to travel south through the province of Babylonia or cross the Tigris into Assyria, and he eventually decided to move south through Babylonia and turn west into Assyria at a later date. By 27 March, he had the bulk of his army across the Euphrates, and had also arranged a flotilla to guard his supply line along the mighty river. He then left his generals Procopius and Sebastianus to help Arsacius, the king of Armenia and a Roman client, to guard the northern Tigris line. It was also during this time that he received the surrender of many prominent local leaders who had nominally supported the Persians. These men supplied Julian with money and troops for further military action against their former masters. Julian decided to turn south into Babylonia and proceeded along the Euphrates, coming to the fortress of Cercusium at the junction of the Abora and Euphrates Rivers around the first of April, and from there he took his army west to a region called Zaitha near the abandoned town of Dura where they visited the tomb of the emperor Gordian which was in the area. On April 7 he set out from there into the heart of Babylonia and towards Assyria.
Ammianus then stated that Julian and his army crossed into Assyria, which on the face of things appears very confusing. Julian still seems to be operating within the province of Babylonia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The confusion is alleviated when one realizes that,for Ammianus, the region of Assyria encompassed the provinces of Babylonia and Assyria. On their march, Julian's forces took the fortress of Anatha, received the surrender and support of several more local princes, and ravaged the countryside of Assyria between the rivers. As the army continued south, they came across the fortresses Thilutha and Achaiachala, but these places were too well defended and Julian decided to leave them alone. Further south were the cities Diacira and Ozogardana, which the Roman forces sacked and burned. Soon, Julian came to Pirisabora and a brief siege ensued, but the city fell and was also looted and destroyed. It was also at this time that the Roman army met its first systematic resistance from the Persians. As the Romans penetrated further south and west, the local inhabitants began to flood their route. Nevertheless, the Roman forces pressed on and came to Maiozamalcha, a sizable city not far from Ctesiphon. After a short siege, this city too fell to Julian. Inexorably, Julian's forces zeroed in on Ctesiphon, but as they drew closer, the Persian resistance grew fiercer, with guerilla raids whittling at Julian's men and supplies. A sizable force of the army was lost and the emperor himself was almost killed taking a fort a few miles from the target city.
Finally, the army approached Ctesiphon following a canal that linked the Tigris and Euphrates. It soon became apparent after a few preliminary skirmishes that a protracted siege would be necessary to take this important city. Many of his generals, however, thought that pursuing this course of action would be foolish. Julian reluctantly agreed, but became enraged by this failure and ordered his fleet to be burned as he decided to march through the province of Assyria. Julian had planned for his army to live off the land, but the Persians employed a scorched-earth policy. When it became apparent that his army would perish (because his supplies were beginning to dwindle) from starvation and the heat if he continued his campaign, and also in the face of superior numbers of the enemy, Julian ordered a retreat on 16 June. As the Roman army retreated, they were constantly harassed by guerilla strikes. It was during one of these raids that Julian got caught up in the fighting and took a spear to his abdomen. Mortally wounded he was carried to his tent, where, after conferring with some of his officers, he died. The date was 26 June 363.
Conclusion
Thus an ignominious end for a man came about who had hoped to restore the glory of the Roman empire during his reign as emperor. Due to his intense hatred of Christianity, the opinion of posterity has not been kind to Julian. The contemporary opinion, however, was overall positive. The evidence shows that Julian was a complex ruler with a definite agenda to use traditional social institutions in order to revive what he saw as a collapsing empire. In the final assessment, he was not so different from any of the other emperors of the fourth century. He was a man grasping desperately to hang on to a Greco-Roman conception of leadership that was undergoing a subtle yet profound change.
Copyright (C) 2002, Walter E. Roberts and Michael DiMaio, Jr. Used by permission.
In reality, Julian worked to promote culture and philosophy in any manifestation. He tried to reduce taxes and the public debts of municipalities; he augmented administrative decentralisation; he promoted a campaign of austerity to reduce public expenditure (setting himself as the example). He reformed the postal service and eliminated the powerful secret police.
by Federico Morando; JULIAN II, The Apostate, See the Julian II Page on NumisWiki
Flavius Claudius Iulianus was born in 331 or maybe 332 A.D. in Constantinople. He ruled the Western Empire as Caesar from 355 to 360 and was hailed Augustus by his legions in Lutetia (Paris) in 360. Julian was a gifted administrator and military strategist. Famed as the last pagan emperor, his reinstatement of the pagan religion earned him the moniker "the Apostate." As evidenced by his brilliant writing, some of which has survived to the present day, the title "the Philosopher" may have been more appropriate. He died from wounds suffered during the Persian campaign of 363 A.D. Joseph Sermarini, FORVM.
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.
Cleisthenes
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1701a, Saladin, 1169-1193AYYUBID: Saladin, 1169-1193, AR dirham (2.92g), Halab, AH580, A-788, lovely struck, well-centered & bold, Extremely Fine, Scarce.
His name in Arabic, in full, is SALAH AD-DIN YUSUF IBN AYYUB ("Righteousness of the Faith, Joseph, Son of Job"), also called AL-MALIK AN-NASIR SALAH AD-DIN YUSUF I (b. 1137/38, Tikrit, Mesopotamia--d. March 4, 1193, Damascus), Muslim sultan of Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and Palestine, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, and the most famous of Muslim heroes.
In wars against the Christian crusaders, he achieved final success with the disciplined capture of Jerusalem (Oct. 2, 1187), ending its 88-year occupation by the Franks. The great Christian counterattack of the Third Crusade was then stalemated by Saladin's military genius.
Saladin was born into a prominent Kurdish family. On the night of his birth, his father, Najm ad-Din Ayyub, gathered his family and moved to Aleppo, there entering the service of 'Imad ad-Din Zangi ibn Aq Sonqur, the powerful Turkish governor in northern Syria. Growing up in Ba'lbek and Damascus, Saladin was apparently an undistinguished youth, with a greater taste for religious studies than military training.
His formal career began when he joined the staff of his uncle Asad ad-Din Shirkuh, an important military commander under the amir Nureddin, son and successor of Zangi. During three military expeditions led by Shirkuh into Egypt to prevent its falling to the Latin-Christian (Frankish) rulers of the states established by the First Crusade, a complex, three-way struggle developed between Amalric I, the Latin king of Jerusalem, Shawar, the powerful vizier of the Egyptian Fatimid caliph, and Shirkuh. After Shirkuh's death and after ordering Shawar's assassination, Saladin, in 1169 at the age of 31, was appointed both commander of the Syrian troops and vizier of Egypt.
His relatively quick rise to power must be attributed not only to the clannish nepotism of his Kurdish family but also to his own emerging talents. As vizier of Egypt, he received the title king (malik), although he was generally known as the sultan. Saladin's position was further enhanced when, in 1171, he abolished the Shi'i Fatimid caliphate, proclaimed a return to Sunnah in Egypt, and consequently became its sole ruler.
Although he remained for a time theoretically a vassal of Nureddin, that relationship ended with the Syrian emir's death in 1174. Using his rich agricultural possessions in Egypt as a financial base, Saladin soon moved into Syria with a small but strictly disciplined army to claim the regency on behalf of the young son of his former suzerain.
Soon, however, he abandoned this claim, and from 1174 until 1186 he zealously pursued a goal of uniting, under his own standard, all the Muslim territories of Syria, northern Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Egypt.
This he accomplished by skillful diplomacy backed when necessary by the swift and resolute use of military force. Gradually, his reputation grew as a generous and virtuous but firm ruler, devoid of pretense, licentiousness, and cruelty. In contrast to the bitter dissension and intense rivalry that had up to then hampered the Muslims in their resistance to the crusaders, Saladin's singleness of purpose induced them to rearm both physically and spiritually.
Saladin's every act was inspired by an intense and unwavering devotion to the idea of jihad ("holy war")-the Muslim equivalent of the Christian crusade. It was an essential part of his policy to encourage the growth and spread of Muslim religious institutions.
He courted its scholars and preachers, founded colleges and mosques for their use, and commissioned them to write edifying works especially on the jihad itself. Through moral regeneration, which was a genuine part of his own way of life, he tried to re-create in his own realm some of the same zeal and enthusiasm that had proved so valuable to the first generations of Muslims when, five centuries before, they had conquered half the known world.
Saladin also succeeded in turning the military balance of power in his favour-more by uniting and disciplining a great number of unruly forces than by employing new or improved military techniques. When at last, in 1187, he was able to throw his full strength into the struggle with the Latin crusader kingdoms, his armies were their equals. On July 4, 1187, aided by his own military good sense and by a phenomenal lack of it on the part of his enemy, Saladin trapped and destroyed in one blow an exhausted and thirst-crazed army of crusaders at Hattin, near Tiberias in northern Palestine.
So great were the losses in the ranks of the crusaders in this one battle that the Muslims were quickly able to overrun nearly the entire Kingdom of Jerusalem. Acre, Toron, Beirut, Sidon, Nazareth, Caesarea, Nabulus, Jaffa (Yafo), and Ascalon (Ashqelon) fell within three months.
But Saladin's crowning achievement and the most disastrous blow to the whole crusading movement came on Oct. 2, 1187, when Jerusalem, holy to both Muslim and Christian alike, surrendered to the Sultan's army after 88 years in the hands of the Franks. In stark contrast to the city's conquest by the Christians, when blood flowed freely during the barbaric slaughter of its inhabitants, the Muslim reconquest was marked by the civilized and courteous behaviour of Saladin and his troops. His sudden success, which in 1189 saw the crusaders reduced to the occupation of only three cities, was, however, marred by his failure to capture Tyre, an almost impregnable coastal fortress to which the scattered Christian survivors of the recent battles flocked. It was to be the rallying point of the Latin counterattack.
Most probably, Saladin did not anticipate the European reaction to his capture of Jerusalem, an event that deeply shocked the West and to which it responded with a new call for a crusade. In addition to many great nobles and famous knights, this crusade, the third, brought the kings of three countries into the struggle.
The magnitude of the Christian effort and the lasting impression it made on contemporaries gave the name of Saladin, as their gallant and chivalrous enemy, an added lustre that his military victories alone could never confer on him.
The Crusade itself was long and exhausting, and, despite the obvious, though at times impulsive, military genius of Richard I the Lion-Heart, it achieved almost nothing. Therein lies the greatest-but often unrecognized--achievement of Saladin. With tired and unwilling feudal levies, committed to fight only a limited season each year, his indomitable will enabled him to fight the greatest champions of Christendom to a draw. The crusaders retained little more than a precarious foothold on the Levantine coast, and when King Richard set sail from the Orient in October 1192, the battle was over.
Saladin withdrew to his capital at Damascus. Soon, the long campaigning seasons and the endless hours in the saddle caught up with him, and he died. While his relatives were already scrambling for pieces of the empire, his friends found that the most powerful and most generous ruler in the Muslim world had not left enough money to pay for his own grave.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
H.A.R. Gibb, "The Arabic Sources for the Life of Saladin," Speculum, 25:58-72 (1950). C.W. Wilson's English translation of one of the most important Arabic works, The Life of Saladin (1897), was reprinted in 1971. The best biography to date is Stanley Lane-Poole, Saladin and the Fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, new ed. (1926, reprinted 1964), although it does not take account of all the sources.Cleisthenes
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1bc Trajan98-117
Sestertius
Laureate head, right, IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V PP
Roma and kneeling Dacian, SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI SC
RIC 485
Eutropius enthused: To [Nerva] succeeded ULPIUS CRINITUS TRAJANUS, born at Italica in Spain, of a family rather ancient than eminent for his father was the first consul in it. He was chosen emperor at Agrippina, a city of Gaul. He exercised the government in such a manner, that he is deservedly preferred to all the other emperors. He was a man of extraordinary skill in managing affairs of state, and of remarkable courage. The limits of the Roman empire, which, since the reign of Augustus, had been rather defended than honourably enlarged, he extended far and wide. He rebuilt some cities in Germany; he subdued Dacia by the overthrow of Decebalus, and formed a province beyond the Danube, in that territory which the Thaiphali, Victoali, and Theruingi now occupy. This province was a thousand miles in circumference.
He recovered Armenia, which the Parthians had seized, putting to death Parthamasires who held the government of it. He gave a king to the Albani. He received into alliance the king of the Iberians, Sarmatians, Bosporani, Arabians, Osdroeni, and Colchians. He obtained the mastery over the Cordueni and Marcomedi, as well as over Anthemusia, an extensive region of Persia. He conquered and kept possession of Seleucia, Ctesiphon, Babylon, and the country of the Messenii. He advanced as far as the boundaries of India, and the Red Sea, where he formed three provinces, Armenia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia, including the tribes which border on Madena. He afterwards, too, reduced Arabia into the form of a province. He also fitted out a fleet for the Red Sea, that he might use it to lay waste the coasts of India.
Yet he went beyond his glory in war, in ability and judgment as a ruler, conducting himself as an equal towards all, going often to his friends as a visitor, either when they were ill, or when they were celebrating feast days, and entertaining them in his turn at banquets where there was no distinction of rank, and sitting frequently with them in their chariots; doing nothing unjust towards any of the senators, nor being guilty of any dishonesty to fill his treasury; exercising liberality to all, enriching with offices of trust, publicly and privately, every body whom he had known even with the least familiarity; building towns throughout the world, granting many immunities to states, and doing every thing with gentleness and kindness; so that during his whole reign, there was but one senator condemned, and he was sentenced by the senate without Trajan's knowledge. Hence, being regarded throughout the world as next to a god, he deservedly obtained the highest veneration both living and dead. . . .
After having gained the greatest glory both in the field and at home, he was cut off, as he was returning from Persia, by a diarrhoea, at Seleucia in Isauria. He died in the sixty-third year, ninth month, and fourth day of his age, and in the nineteenth year, sixth month, and fifteenth day of his reign. He was enrolled among the gods, and was the only one of all the emperors that was buried within the city. His bones, contained in a golden urn, lie in the forum which he himself built, under a pillar whose height is a hundred and forty-four feet. So much respect has been paid to his memory, that, even to our own times, they shout in acclamations to the emperors, "More fortunate than Augustus, better than Trajan!" Blindado
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1be Hadrian117-138
Sestertius
Laureate head, right, HADRIANVUS AVG COS III PP
Fortuna standing left with rudder on globe and cornucopia, FORTVNA AVG
RIC 759
According to the Historia Augusta, "Bereft of his father at the age of ten, he became the ward of Ulpius Trajanus, his cousin, then of praetorian rank, but afterwards emperor, and of Caelius Attianus, a knight. He then grew rather deeply devoted to Greek studies, to which his natural tastes inclined so much that some called him 'Greekling. . . .' In the 105-106 second Dacian war, Trajan appointed him to the command of the First Legion, the Minervia, and took him with him to the war; and in this campaign his many remarkable deeds won great renown. . . . On taking possession of the imperial power
Hadrian at once resumed the policy of the early emperors and devoted his attention to maintaining peace throughout the world. . . . [I]n this letter to the Senate he apologized because he had not left it the right to decide regarding his accession, explaining that the unseemly haste of the troops in acclaiming him emperor was due to the belief that the state could not be without an emperor. . . . He was, in the same person, austere and genial, dignified and playful, dilatory and quick to act, niggardly and generous, deceitful and straightforward, cruel and merciful, and always in all things changeable. . . . Hadrian's memory was vast and his ability was unlimited ; for instance, he personally dictated his speeches and gave opinions on all questions. He was also very witty. . . ."
After this Hadrian departed for Baiae, leaving Antoninus at Rome to carry on the government. But he received no benefit there, and he thereupon
sent for Antoninus, and in his presence he died there at Baiae on the sixth day before the Ides of July.
According to Eutropius: After the death of Trajan, AELIUS HADRIAN was made emperor, not from any wish to that effect having been expressed by Trajan himself, but through the influence of Plotina, Trajan's wife; for Trajan in his life-time had refused to adopt him, though he was the son of his cousin. He also was born at Italica in Spain. Envying Trajan's glory, he immediately gave up three of the provinces which Trajan had added to the empire, withdrawing the armies from Assyria, Mesopotamia, and Armenia, and deciding that the Euphrates should be the boundary of the empire. When he was proceeding, to act similarly with regard to Dacia, his friends dissuaded him, lest many Roman citizens should be left in the hands of the barbarians, because Trajan, after he had subdued Dacia, had transplanted thither an infinite number of men from the whole Roman world, to people the country and the cities; as the land had been exhausted of inhabitants in the long war maintained by Decebalus.
He enjoyed peace, however, through the whole course of his reign; the only war that he had, he committed to the conduct of a governor of a province. He went about through the Roman empire, and founded many edifices. He spoke with great eloquence in the Latin language, and was very learned in the Greek. He had no great reputation for clemency, but was very attentive to the state of the treasury and the discipline of the soldiers. He died in Campania, more than sixty years old, in the twenty-first year, tenth month, and twenty-ninth day of his reign. The senate was unwilling to allow him divine honours; but his successor Titus Aurelius Fulvius Antonius, earnestly insisting on it, carried his point, though all the senators were openly opposed to him. Blindado
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1cu Trebonianus Gallus251-253
AE Viminacium
Laureate, draped bust, right, IMP C GALLVS P FELIX AVG
Moesia standing facing, head left, hands outstretched over a bull and a lion at her sides, PMS COL VIM
Moushmov 56
For Gallus' perfidy against Decius, see the Decius entry. Zosimus reports regarding Gallus' reign: Gallus, who declared his son Volusianus his associate in the empire, published an open declaration, that Decius and his army had perished by his contrivance. The Barbarians now became more prosperous than before. For Callus not only permitted them to return home with the plunder, but promised to pay them annually a sum of money, and allowed them to carry off all the noblest captives; most of whom had been taken at Philippopolis in Thrace.
Gallus, having made these regulations, came to Rome, priding himself on the peace he had made with the Barbarians. And though he at first spoke with approbation of Decius's mode of government, and adopted one of his sons, yet, after some time was elapsed, fearing that some of them who were fond of new projects might recur to a recapitulation of the princely virtues of Decius, and therefore might at some opportunity give the empire to his son, he concerted the young man's destruction, without regard either to his own adoption of him, or to common honour and justice.
Gallus was so supine in the administration of the empire, that the Scythians in the first place terrified all the neighbouring nations, and then laid waste all the countries as far by degrees as the sea coast; not leaving one nation subject to the Romans unpillaged, and taking almost all the unfortified towns, and many that were fortified. Besides the war on every side, which was insupportably burdensome to them, the cities and villages were infested with a pestilence, which swept away the remainder of mankind in those regions; nor was so great a mortality ever known in any former period.
At this crisis, observing that the emperors were unable to defend the state, but neglected all without the walls of Rome, the Goths, the Borani, the Urugundi, and the Carpi once more plundered the cities of Europe of all that had been left in them; while in another quarter, the Persians invaded Asia, in which they acquired possession of Mesopotamia, and proceeded even as far as Antioch in Syria, took that city, which is the metropolis of all the east, destroyed many of the inhabitants, and carried the remainder into captivity, returning home with immense plunder, after they had destroyed all the buildings in the city, both public and private, without meeting with the least resistance. And indeed the Persians had a fair opportunity to have made themselves masters of all Asia, had they not been so overjoyed at their excessive spoils, as to be contented with keeping and carrying home what they had acquired.
Meantime the Scythians of Europe were in perfect security and went over into Asia, spoiling all the country as far as Cappodocia, Pesinus, and Ephesus, until Aemilianus, commander of the Pannonian legions, endeavouring as much as possible to encourage his troops, whom the prosperity of the Barbarians had so disheartened that they durst not face them, and reminding them of the renown of Roman courage, surprised the Barbarians that were in that neighbourhood. Having destroyed great numbers of them, and led his forces into their country, removing every obstruction to his progress, and at length freeing the subjects of the Roman empire from their ferocity, he was appointed emperor by his army. On this he collected all the forces of that country, who were become more bold since his successes against the Barbarians, and directed his march towards Italy, with the design of fighting Gallus, who was as yet. unprepared to contend with him. For Gallus had never heard of what had occurred in the east, and therefore made only what accidental preparations were in his reach, while Valerianus went to bring the Celtic and German legions. But Aemilianus advanced with great speed into Italy, and the armies were very near to each other, when the soldiers of Gallus, reflecting that his force was much inferior to the enemy both in number and strength, and likewise that he was a negligent indolent man, put him and his son to death, and going over to the party of Aemilianus, appeared to establish his authority.Blindado
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1cy Gallienus253-268
Bronze antoninianus
Radiate, draped bust, right, GALLINVS AVG
Mars standing left, holding globe in right hand and spear in left hand, P in right field, VIRTVS AVG
RIC 317
Gallienus oversaw a period of disintegration of the empire and lost control over the East, Gaul, Spain, and Britain.
Zosimus observed: [When Valerian left for the East] As the Germans were the most troublesome enemies, and harrassed the Gauls in the vicinity of the Rhine, Gallienus marched against them in person, leaving his officers to repel with the forces under their command any others that should enter Italy, Illyricum, and Greece. With these designs, he possessed himself of and defended the passages of the Rhine, at one time preventing their crossing, and at another engaging them as soon as they had crossed it. But having only a small force to resist an immense number, he was at a loss how to act, and thought to secure himself by a league with one of the German princes. He thus not only prevented the other Barbarians from so frequently passing the Rhine, but obstructed the access of auxiliaries.
Eutropius recorded: Gallienus, who was made emperor when quite a young man, exercised his power at first happily, afterwards fairly, and at last mischievously. In his youth he performed many gallant acts in Gaul and Illyricum, killing Ingenuus, who had assumed the purple, at Mursa, and Regalianus. He was then for a long time quiet and gentle; afterwards, abandoning himself to all manner of licentiousness, he relaxed the reins of government with disgraceful inactivity and carelesness. The Alemanni, having laid waste Gaul, penetrated into Italy. Dacia, which had been added to the empire beyond the Danube, was lost. Greece, Macedonia, Pontus, Asia, were devastated by the Goths. Pannonia was depopulated by the Sarmatians and Quadi. The Germans made their way as far as Spain, and took the noble city of Tarraco. The Parthians, after taking possession of Mesopotamia, began to bring Syria under their power.
Zosimus resumes: Gallienus in the mean time still continued beyond the Alps, intent on the German war, while the Senate, seeing Rome in such imminent danger, armed all the soldiers that were in the city, and the strongest of the common people, and formed an army, which exceeded the Barbarians in number. This so alarmed the Barbarians, that they left Rome, but ravaged all the rest of Italy. At this period, when Illyricum groaned under the oppression of the Barbarians, and the whole Roman empire was in such a helpless state as to be on the very verge of ruin, a plague happened to break out in several of the towns, more dreadful than any that had preceded it. The miseries inflicted on them by the Barbarians were thus alleviated, even the sick esteeming themselves fortunate. The cities that had been taken by the Scythians were thus deserted.
Gallienus, being disturbed by these occurrences, was returning to Rome to relieve Italy from the war which the Scythians were thus carrying on. It was at this time, that Cecrops, a Moor, Aureolus and Antoninus, with many others, conspired against him, of whom the greater part were punished and submitted. Aureolus alone retained his animosity against the emperor.
The Scythians, who had dreadfully afflicted the whole of Greece, had now taken Athens, when Gallienus advanced against those who were already in possession of Thrace, and ordered Odonathus of Palmyra, a person whose ancestors had always been highly respected by the emperors, to assist the eastern nations which were then in a very distressed condition. . . .
While affairs were thus situated in the east, intelligence was brought to Gallienus, who was then occupied in the Scythian war, that Aurelianus, or Aureolus, who was commander of the cavalry posted in the neighbourhood of Milan to watch the motions of Posthumus, had formed some new design, and was ambitious to be emperor. Being alarmed at this he went immediately to Italy, leaving the command against the Scythians with Marcianus, a person of great experience in military affairs. . . . Gallienus, in his journey towards Italy, had a plot formed against him by Heraclianus, prefect of the court, who communicated his design to Claudius, in whom the chief management of affairs was vested. The design was to murder Gallienus. Having found a man very ready for such an undertaking, who commanded a troop of Dalmatians, he entrusted the action to him. To effect it, the party stood by Gallienus at supper and informed him that some of the spies had brought intelligence, that Aureolus and his army were close at hand. By this they considerably alarmed him. Calling immediately for his horse and arms, he mounted, ordering his men to follow him in their armour, and rode away without any attendance. Thus the captain finding him alone killed him.Blindado
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1dv Galerius305-311
Quarter Follis
Laureate head, right, MAXIMIANVS AVG
Genius standing left, modius on head, holding cornucopia & patera, SIS in ex., GENIO POPVLI ROMANI
RIC 169b
Eutropius tells us: Diocletian promoted MAXIMIAN HERCULIUS from the dignity of Caesar to that of emperor, and created Constantius and Maximian Galerius Caesars, of whom Constantius is said to have been the grand-nephew of Claudius by a daughter, and Maximian Galerius to have been born in Dacia not far from Sardica. . . . Galerius married Valeria, the daughter of Diocletian. . . .
Galerius Maximian, in acting against Narseus, fought, on the first occasion, a battle far from successful, meeting him between Callinicus and Carrae, and engaging in the combat rather with rashness than want of courage; for he contended with a small army against a very numerous enemy. Being in consequence defeated, and going to join Diocletian, he was received by him, when he met him on the road, with such extreme haughtiness, that he is said to have run by his chariot for several miles in his scarlet robes.
But having soon after collected forces in Illyricum and Moesia, he fought a second time with Narseus (the grandfather of Hormisdas and Sapor), in Greater Armenia, with extraordinary success, and with no less caution and spirit, for he undertook, with one or two of the cavalry, the office of a speculator. After putting Narseus to flight, he captured his wives, sisters, and children, with a vast number of the Persian nobility besides, and a great quantity of treasure; the king himself he forced to take refuge in the remotest deserts in his dominions. Returning therefore in triumph to Diocletian, who was then encamped with some troops in Mesopotamia, he was welcomed by him with great honour. Subsequently, they conducted several wars both in conjunction and separately, subduing the Carpi and Bastarnae, and defeating the Sarmatians, from which nations he settled a great number of captives in the Roman territories. . . .
Galerius, a man of excellent moral character, and skilful in military affairs, finding that Italy, by Constantius's permission, was put under his government, created two Caesars, MAXIMIN, whom he appointed over the east, and SEVERUS, to whom he committed Italy. He himself resided in Illyricum. Blindado
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1ec_2 Constantine the Great307-337
Follis
Laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right, IMP CONSTANTINVS PF AVG
Sol standing left, chlamys across left shoulder, raising right hand and holding globe in left hand, captive to left. Mintmark RQ.
RIC VII 52
According to Zonaras: Constans, in the eleventh year of his reign since he had been proclaimed Caesar, having ruled gently and mildly, came to the end of his life while residing in Britain, having, because of his goodness, bequeathed grief for himself among those he ruled, first having appointed successor the elder of his own sons, namely Constantine the Great, whom he begat by his first wife. He also had by his second wife, Herculius’ daughter Theodora, other sons, Constantinus, Hannibalianus, and Constantius. Constantine the Great was preferred over them, since they were judged by their father to be unsuited for sovereignty. . . . Constantine, when he was still a lad, was actually given by his father as a hostage to Gallerius, in order that, serving as a hostage, at the same time he be trained in the exercise of the soldierly art.
Eutropius summarizes: CONSTANTINE, being a man of great energy, bent upon effecting whatever he had settled in his mind, and aspiring to the sovereignty of the whole world, proceeded to make war on Licinius, although he had formed a connexion with him by marriage,5 for his sister Constantia was married to Licinius. And first of all be overthrew him, by a sudden attack, at Cibalae in Pannonia, where he was making vast preparations for war; and after becoming master of Dardania, Maesia, and Macedonia, took possession also of several other provinces.
There were then various contests between them, and peace made and broken. At last Licinius, defeated in a battle at Nicomedia by sea and land, surrendered himself, and, in violation of an oath taken by Constantine, was put to death, after being divested of the purple, at Thessalonica.
At this time the Roman empire fell under the sway of one emperor and three Caesars, a state of things which had never existed before; the sons of Constantine ruling over Gaul, the east, and Italy. But the pride of prosperity caused Constantine greatly to depart from his former agreeable mildness of temper. Falling first upon his own relatives, he put to death his son, an excellent man; his sister's son, a youth of amiable disposition; soon afterwards his wife, and subsequently many of his friends.
He was a man, who, in the beginning of his reign, might have been compared to the best princes; in the latter part of it, only to those of a middling character. Innumerable good qualities of mind and body were apparent in him; he was exceedingly ambitious of military glory, and had great success in his wars; a success, however, not more than proportioned to his exertions. After he had terminated the Civil war, he also overthrew the Goths on various occasions, granting them at last peace, and leaving on the minds of the barbarians a strong remembrance of his kindness. He was attached to the arts of peace and to liberal studies, and was ambitious of honourable popularity, which he, indeed, sought by every kind of liberality and obligingness. Though he was slow, from suspicion, to serve some of his friends,6 yet he was exceedingly generous towards others, neglecting no opportunity to add to their riches and honours.
He enacted many laws, some good and equitable, but most of them superfluous, and some severe. He was the first that endeavoured to raise the city named after him to such a height as to make it a rival to Rome. As he was preparing for war against the Parthians, who were then disturbing Mesopotamia, he died in the Villa Publica, at Nicomedia, in the thirty-first year of his reign, and the sixty-sixth of his age.
Zosimus described Constantine's conversion to Christianity: For he put to death his son Crispus, stiled (as I mentioned) Caesar, on suspicion of debauching his mother-in-law Fausta, without any regard to the ties of nature. And when his own mother Helena expressed much sorrow for this atrocity, lamenting the young man's death with great bitterness, Constantine under pretence of comforting her, applied a remedy worse than the disease. For causing a bath to be heated to an extraordinary degree, he shut up Fausta in it, and a short time after took her out dead. Of which his conscience accusing him, as also of violating his oath, he went to the priests to be purified from his crimes. But they told him, that there was no kind of lustration that was sufficient to clear him of such enormities. A Spaniard, named Aegyptius, very familiar with the court-ladies, being at Rome, happened to fall into converse with Constantine, and assured him, that the Christian doctrine would teach him how to cleanse himself from all his offences, and that they who received it were immediately absolved from all their sins. Constantine had no sooner heard this than he easily believed what was told him, and forsaking the rites of his country, received those which Aegyptius offered him ; and for the first instance of his impiety, suspected the truth of divination.Blindado
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2/5 Shekel Hematite weight
Sphendonoid Hematite weight
12mm tall by 9mm base
3.4g
Hendin; 38, 39
Sphendonoid weights have been found in Mesopotamia, Cyprus, Egypt, Syria, and Phoenicia as well as ship wrecks from the 14th/13th centuries BC.wileyc
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202. Caracalla; Carrhae, MesopotamiaCaracalla AE18 of Carrhae, Mesopotamia, M AVR ANTONINVS P F AVG, laureate head right / COL MET ANTO NINIANA AVR ALEX, veiled and turretted bust of city goddess right. BMC16.
ecoli
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283-285 AD - CARUS AE antoninianusobv: DIVO CARO (radiate head right)
rev: CONSECRATIO (eagle standing facing, head left), KAA in ex.
ref: RIC Vii 47, C 15 (1fr)
mint: Rome, struck under Numerian and Carinus
3.23gms, 22mm
Having defeated the Quadi and Sarmatians on the Danube, Carus proceeded through Thrace and Asia Minor, annexed Mesopotamia, pressed on to Seleucia and Ctesiphon, and carried his arms beyond the Tigris. His death was variously attributed to disease, the effects of lightning, or a wound received in a campaign against the Persians. The facts that he was leading a victorious campaign, and that his son Numerian succeeded him without opposition, suggest that his death may have been due to natural causes.berserker
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3/4 Shekel Hematite weightSphendonoid Hematite weight
20mm by 10mm by 6mm at end
5.88g
Hendin; 29.
Sphendonoid weights have been found in Mesopotamia, Cyprus, Egypt, Syria, and Phoenicia as well as ship wrecks from the 14th/13th centuries BC.wileyc
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320. CarusMarcus Aurelius Carus (c. 230 - late July/early August, 283), Roman emperor (282-283), was born probably at Narbona (more correctly, Narona -- now the ruins at Vid, Croatia) in Illyria, but was educated at Rome. He was a senator, and had filled various civil and military posts before he was appointed prefect of the Praetorian Guard by the emperor Probus. After the murder of Probus at Sirmium, Carus was proclaimed emperor by the soldiers.
Although Carus severely avenged the death of Probus, he was himself suspected of having been an accessory to the deed. He does not seem to have returned to Rome after his accession, but contented himself with an announcement of the fact to the Senate.
Bestowing the title of Caesar upon his sons Carinus and Numerian, he left Carinus in charge of the western portion of the empire, and took Numerian with him on the expedition against the Persians which had been contemplated by Probus. Having defeated the Quadi and Sarmatians on the Danube, Carus proceeded through Thrace and Asia Minor, conquered Mesopotamia, pressed on to Seleucia and Ctesiphon, and carried his arms beyond the Tigris.
His hopes of further conquest were cut short by his death. One day, after a violent storm, it was announced that he was dead. His death was variously attributed to disease, the effects of lightning, or a wound received in a campaign against the Huns. However it seems more probable that he was murdered by the soldiers, who were averse to further campaigns against Persia, at the instigation of Arrius Aper, prefect of the Praetorian Guard.
VF/VF Carus AE Antoninianus / Virtus
Attribution: VM 16
Date: 282-283 AD
Obverse: IMP C M AVR CARVS P F AVG, radiate bust r.
Reverse: VIRTVS AVGGG, Carus receiving globe from Jupiter
Size: 20.32 mm
Weight: 2.7 grams
Description: An attractive Carus ant
ecoli
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A Parliament of Athens OwlsOld-style; Old-style with numerous bankers marks;
Pi-style, folded flan; Mesopotamia, Levant, Arabia, or Egypt Imitative;
Contemporary forgery with bankers mark and copper core showing.Nemonater
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Antiochos I, Macedonian shield/ Elephant; AE 18Seleukid Kingdom, Antiochos I, 280 - 261 B.C. Mesopotamia, Carrhae mint, 18mm, 4.08g. Obverse: Macedonian shield decorated with gorgon's head. Reverse: BAΣIΛEΩΣ ANTIOXOΥ in ex, elephant walking right. Attribution: cf. SNG Spaer 257. Ex areich; photo credit areich
Podiceps
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Caracalla (198 - 217 A.D.)AR Tetradrachm
Mesopotamia, Carrhae
O: AVT·K·M·A ANTONЄINOC ·C-EB · ·, laureate head of Caracalla right; two pellets beneath rear truncation.
R: ΔΗΜΑΡΧ ΕΞ ΥΠΑΤΟ Δ, eagle standing facing on bucranium, dot to each side, wings spread, head right, wreath in beak.
28mm
17.10g
Prieur 820, Bellinger 160, SGI 2701
Ex. Agora Auctions, lot 184, Sale 81Mat
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Caracalla (198 - 217 A.D.)AR Tetradrachm
MESOPOTAMIA, Rhesaena
O: AVT KAI ANTΩNЄINOC CЄB, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right.
R: ΔHMAPX ЄΞ VΠATOC TO Δ, eagle standing facing, head right, with wings spread, holding wreath in beak; rectangle between legs. Struck 215/17AD
13.93g
27mm
Prieur 876 Bellinger 172
Pending Wildwinds PublishingMat
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CARACALLA Augustus billon TÉTRADRACHME SYRO-PHÉNICIEN (215 - 217).CARACALLA Augustus Augustus. Prieur820\\\\(41 ex.) - billon TÉTRADRACHME SYRO-PHÉNICIEN (215 - 217). AEF . Carrhæ. (11.53g. 26.5mm.)
ROMAN PROVINCIAL COINAGE, MESOPOTAMIA, CARRHAE MINT, AR - TETRADRACHM, CARACALLA 198-217 (13,2g - 7h)
Caracalla AR Tetradrachm of Carrhae, Mesopotamia. AD 215-217. AVT K M A ANTΩNEINOC CEB, laureate head right / ΔΗΜΑΡΧ ΕΞΥΠΑΤΟ Δ, eagle standing to right with wings spread on bucranium, holding wreath in beak. Prieur 820.
Antonivs Protti
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Carrhae in Mesopotamia, Septimius Severus, AE 24, Lindgren 2557Carrhae in Mesopotamia, Septimius Severus, AE 24, 193-211 AD
Av.: CEΠTIMIOC [CE]OY.... , naked (laureate?) bust of Septimius Severus right
Rv.: ..Λ]OY KAPPH ΛKA... , front view of a tetrastyle temple, the temple of the moon god Sin, in the middle a sacred stone on tripod, on top of stone: crescent, standards (with crescents on top) on both sides inside the building; another crescent in the pediment.
Lindgren 2557 ; BMC p. 82, #4
The city and the region played an important role in roman history.
Carrhae / Harran, (Akkadian Harrânu, "intersecting roads"; Latin Carrhae), an ancient city of strategic importance, an important town in northern Mesopotamia, famous for its temple of the moon god Sin, is now nothing more than a village in southeastern Turkey with an archeological site.
In the Bible it is mentioned as one of the towns where Abraham stayed on his voyage from Ur to the promised land. Abraham's family settled there when they left Ur of the Chaldeans (Genesis 11:31-32).
Inscriptions indicate that Harran existed as early as 2000 B.C. In its prime, it controlled the point where the road from Damascus joins the highway between Nineveh and Carchemish. This location gave Harran strategic value from an early date. It is frequently mentioned in Assyrian inscriptions about 1100 BC, under the name Harranu, or "Road" (Akkadian harrānu, 'road, path, journey' ).
During the fall of the Assyrian Empire, Harran became the stronghold of its lasts king, Ashur-uballit II, being besiged and conquered by Nabopolassar of Babylon at 609 BC. Harran became part of Median Empire after the fall of Assyria, and subsequently passed to the Persian Achaemenid dynasty.
The city remained Persian untill in 331 BC when the soldiers of the Macedonian king Alexander the Great entered the city.
After the death of Alexander on 11 June 323 BC, the city was claimed by his successors: Perdiccas, Antigonus Monophthalmus and Eumenes. These visited the city, but eventually, it became part of the Asian kingdom of Seleucos I (Nicator), the Seleucid empire, and capital of a province called Osrhoene (the Greek term for the old name Urhai).
The Seleucids settled Macedonian veterans at Harran. For a century-and-a-half, the town flourished, and it became independent when the Parthian dynasty of Persia occupied Babylonia. The Parthian and Seleucid kings both needed the buffer state of Osrhoene which was part of the larger Parthian empire and had nearby Edessa as its capital. The dynasty of the Arabian Abgarides, technically a vassal of the Parthian "king of kings" ruled Osrhoene for centuries.
Carrhae was the scene of a disastrous defeat of the Roman general Crassus by the Parthians. In 53 BC. Crassus, leading an army of 50.000, conducted a campaign against Parthia. After he captured a few cities on the way, he hurried to cross the Euphrates River with hopes of receiving laurels and the title of “Emperor”. But as he drove his forces over Rakkan towards Harran, Parthian cavalry besieged his forces in a pincers movement. In the ensuing battle, the Roman army was defeated and decimated. The battle of Carrhae was the beginning of a series of border wars with Parthia for many centuries. Numismatic evidence for these wars or the corresponding peace are for instance the "Signis Receptis" issues of Augustus and the “Janum Clusit” issues of Nero.
Later Lucius Verus tried to conquer Osrhoene and initially was successful. But an epidemic made an annexation impossible. However, a victory monument was erected in Ephesus, and Carrhae/Harran is shown as one of the subject towns.
Septimius Severus finally added Osrhoene to his realms in 195. The typical conic domed houses of ancient Harran can be seen on the Arch of Septimius Severus on the Forum Romanum.
Harran was the chief home of the moon-god Sin, whose temple was rebuilt by several kings. Sin was one of the great gods of the Assurian-Babylonian pantheon.
Caracalla gave Harran the status of a colonia (214 AD) and visited the city and the temple of the moon god in April 217. Meanwhile the moon god (and sacred stones) had become a part of the Roman pantheon and the temple a place to deify the roman emperors (as the standards on both sides of the temple indicate).
Caracalla was murdered while he was on his way from Temple to the palace. If this had been arranged by Macrinus - the prefect of the Praetorian guard who was to be the new emperor – is not quite clear. On the eighth of April, the emperor and his courtiers made a brief trip to the world famous temple of the moon god. When Caracalla halted to perform natural functions, he was assassinated by one of his bodyguards, Julius Martialis, who had a private grudge against the ruler, because he had not been given the post of centurion.
In 296 AD Roman control was again interrupted when nearby Carrhae the emperor Galerius was defeated by the king Narses / the Sasanid dynasty of Persia. The Roman emperor Julianus Apostata sacrificed to the moon god in 363 AD, at the beginning of his ill-fated campaign against the Sassanid Persians. The region continued to be a battle zone between the Romans and Sassanids. It remained Roman (or Byzantine) until 639, when the city finally was captured by the Muslim armies.
At that time, the cult of Sin still existed. After the arrival of the Islam, the adherents of other religions probably went to live in the marshes of the lower Tigris and Euphrates, and are still known as Mandaeans.
The ancient city walls surrounding Harran, 4 kilometer long and 3 kilometer wide, have been repaired throughout the ages (a.o. by the Byzantine emperor Justinian in the sixth century), and large parts are still standing. The position of no less than 187 towers has been identified. Of the six gates (Aleppo gate, Anatolian, Arslanli, Mosul, Baghdad, and Rakka gate), only the first one has remained.
A citadel was built in the 14th century in place of the Temple of Sin. This lies in the south-west quarter of the ancient town. Its ruin can still be visited.
my ancient coin database
Arminius
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DIADUMENIANDIADUMENIAN (Caesar, 217-218). Denarius. 2.53 g. 20mm, Rome mint.
O: M OPEL DIADVMENIAN CAES, Bareheaded, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: PRINC IVVENTVTIS, Diadumenian standing left, holding baton; two signa to right.
-RIC 107.
1st emission of Macrinus, AD 217, only three examples in the Reka Devnia hoard.
Diadumenian's three main types as Caesar exactly correspond to Macrinus' three issues, which for their part can be approximately dated on the basis of the titles they bear and their volumes of issue as revealed by the Reka Devnia hoard. So Diadumenian's dates derive from those estimated for Macrinus.
Marcus Opellius Diadumenianus was born in 208. According to Aelius Lampridius, quoted below, the boy was so named because he was born with a diadem formed by a rolled caul.
“Now let us proceed to the omens predicting his imperial power — which are marvellous enough in the case of others, but in his case beyond the usual wont. 4 On the day of his birth, his father, who then chanced to be steward of the greater treasury, was inspecting the purple robes, and those which he approved as being brighter in hue he ordered to be carried into a certain chamber, in which two hours later Diadumenianus was born. 2 Furthermore, whereas it usually happens that children at birth are provided by nature with a caul, which the midwives seize and sell to credulous lawyers (for it is said that this bring luck to those who plead), 3 this child, instead of a caul, had a narrow band like a diadem, so strong that it could not be broken, for the fibres were entwined in the manner of a bow-string. 4 The child, they say, was accordingly called Diadematus, but when he grew older, he was called Diadumenianus from the name of his mother's father, though the name differed little from his former appellation Diadematus.”
His father Macrinus was hailed as Augustus on April 8, 217. Dio Cassius tells us that Diadumenian was named Caesar and Prince of the Youth by the Senate in May 217 as soon as news of Macrinus' accession reached Rome. A little later, Dio continues, news arrived that Diadumenian had independently been proclaimed Caesar by the soldiers at Zeugma, as he was on his way from Antioch to join Macrinus in Mesopotamia, and that he had also assumed Caracalla's name Antoninus. Hence this first short issue of coins in Rome is with the titles Caesar and Prince of the Youth, but still without Antoninus.
When the armies of Elagabalus revolted at Emesa on May 16, 218, Macrinus traveled to the praetorian fortress at Apamaea to shore up (buy) support and to raise Diadumenian to the rank of Augustus. Still, Macrinus’ armies were defeated outside Antioch in less than a month.
10 year old Diadumenian was captured while fleeing to Zeugma and executed shortly thereafter. He reigned as Caesar for 13 months and as Augustus for less than one.
Although the Senate never confirmed Diadumenian’s title as Augustus, there is extremely rare silver (one or two pieces?) with Diadumenian as emperor. It is believed that a large issue was struck, only to be immediately recalled and melted down when the news of Macrinus’ defeat reached Rome.
Nemonater
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EB0581 Gordian III and Abgar XGordian III and Abgar X Phraates, AE 25 of Edessa, Mesopotamia, 242-244 AD.
Obverse: AVTOK M M ANT ΓOΡΔIANOC CEB, Laureate bust right; star before.
Reverse: ABΓAΡOC BACIΛEYC, Crowned and draped bust of Abgar; star behind.
References: BMC 158.
Diameter: 25mm, Weight: 8.128 grams.EB
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EB0582 Gordian III / Abgar XGordian III and Abgar X Phraates, AE 20 of Edessa, Mesopotamia, 242-244 AD.
Obv: Laureate bust right.
Rev: Bust of Abgar right, wearing tiara.
References: SNG Cop 227; BMC Arabia pg.116, 159.
Diameter: 20mm, Weight: 6.336 grams.EB
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EB0583 Severus Alexander / TycheSeverus Alexander, AE 24 of Edessa, Mesopotamia, 222-235 AD.
Obv: M A AΛXANΔEΡ CEBA (sic), laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from the back.
Rev: MA K AVΡ EΔECC, Tyche draped and turreted, seated left on a pile of rocks, holding branch in right hand, over an altar in the left field; the river-god swimming left below.
References: SNG Cop 215 var (obv. legend); Babelon 64 var (ditto).
Diameter: 25mm, Weight: 9.755 grams.EB
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EB0720 Caracalla / CrescentCaracalla, CARRHAE, Mesopotamia, barbaric style AE 13.
Obverse: [AVT K M ANTWNEINOC or similar], laureate head right .
Reverse: [KOL MH..], Crescent with star within.
References: Cf. BMC 15.
Diameter: 13mm, Weight: 2.173g.
EB
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EB0721 Philip I / TemplePhilip I, NESIBI, Mesopotamia, AE 26.
Obverse: AUTOK K M IOULI FILIPPOC CEB, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right.
Reverse: IOY CEΠ KOΛΩ NECIBI MHT, tetrastyle temple with twisted columns; within arched central bay statue of Tyche seated facing, ram leaping right above, river-god swimming right below.
References: BMC Arabia p. 122, 17 var.
Diameter: 25.5mm, Weight: 8.36g.
EB
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EB0722 Gordianus Pius III / TycheGordianus Pius 238-244, Singara, Mesopotamia, AE 25.
Obverse: [AVTOK K M] ANT ΓOPΔIANOC CЄB, radiate head right, with slight drapery.
Reverse: AVP CЄΠ KOΛ CINΓAPA, turreted, veiled and draped bust of Tyche right, above her the centaur Sagittarius leaping right shooting bow.
reference: BMC 1; SNG Cop 255.
Diameter: 25.5mm, Weight: 11.921g.EB
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EB0723 Gordianus and Tranquillina / TycheGordianus Pius III 238-244, Singara, Mesopotamia, AE 33.
Obverse: AVTOK K M ANT ΓOΡΔIANON CAB TPANKVΛΛINA CEB, confronted busts of Gordian on left, laureate, draped and cuirassed, and Tranquillina on right, draped and wearing stephane.
Reverse: AVP CEΠ KOΛ CINΓAPA, Tyche seated left on rock, holding branch; the centaur Sagittarius above to left, discharging arrow, river god swimming left below.
References: BMC Mesopotamia pg. 135, 13; SNG Copenhagen 257; Lindgren & Kovacs 2627.
Diameter: 33.5mm, Weight: 24.34g.
EB
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Edessa, MESOPOTAMIA; ElagabalusMESOPOTAMIA, Edessa. Elagabalus. AD 218-222.
Radiate head right / Tyche seated left on rocks, holding branch, altar before; Orontes swimming right below. BMC Arabia pg 101, 67 var.; SNG Copenhagen 209 varecoli
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Elagabalus EdessaElagabalus - AE21. Mesopotamia, Edessa.The turreted and draped busts of two tyches, vis à vis. BMC Mesopotamia p. 101, 69 featherz
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Elagabalus, AD 218-222.Æ18, 3.4g, 12h; MESOPOTAMIA, Edessa
Obv.: AVTO KAIC MAΡ AVΡ ANT; Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust left.
Rev.: KOΛΩ MAΡ EΔECCA; Turreted, veiled, and draped bust of Tyche left.
Reference: Cf. BMC 72; cf. SNG Copenhagen 213 / 17-288-35John Anthony
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Gordian III (238-244 AD) with Abgar X Phraates, Edessa, MesopotamiaRoman Provincial Edessa, Mesopotamia, Gordian III (238-244 AD) with Abgar X Phraates, AE24 apx
Obverse: AVTOK K M ANT ΓOPΔIANOC CЄ, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right; star to right.
Reverse: Rev: ABΓAPOC BACIΛЄVC, Draped bust of Abgar right, wearing tiara; star to left.
Reference: BMC Arabia 144, SNG Copenhagen 225
Ex: pending - dealer photo
Gil-galad
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Gordian III (238-244 AD) with Abgar X Phraates, Edessa, Mesopotamia, AE24Roman Provincial, Edessa, Mesopotamia, Gordian III (238-244 AD) with Abgar X Phraates, AE24
Obverse: AΥTOK K M ANT ΓOPΔIANOC CƐ, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right; star to right.
Reverse: Rev: ABΓAPOC BACIΛƐΥC, Draped bust of Abgar right, wearing tiara; star to left.
Reference: BMC Arabia 144, SNG Copenhagen 225
Gil-galad
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Gordian III AE25 of Mesopotamia, Singara. AYTOK K M ANT ΓOΡΔAINOC CEB, radiate, draped bust right / AVΡ CEΠ KOΛ CINΓAΡA, turreted head of Tyche right, centaur Sagittarius leaping right, wielding bow.
SNGCop 255., BMC 1Antonivs Protti
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Gordian III, Edessa, Mesopotamia, AE23Ae-23mm of Gordianus III. from Mesopotamia, Edessa mint
11.35g
Obv.: draped and laureate bust right
Rev.: bust of Abgar right, bearded, wearing diademed tiara
BMC 144.areich
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Heraclius, Follis, Ravenna mint, 630-631 AD (year 21), Sear 914Heraclius (610-641 AD)
630-631 AD (year 21)
Follis
Obverse: DD NN HЄRACLIVS ЄT HЄRA CONST PP AVCC (or similar), Heraclius, crowned, in military attire and holding long cross, standing facing, foot on prostrate figure (a Persian?) below; to right, Heraclius Constantine, wearing crown and chlamys, holding globus cruciger, standing facing
Reverse: Large M; Above, cross; To left, ANNO; To right, XXI ; Exergus, RAV
Ravenna mint
This issue commemorates the victory of Heraclius over the Sasanid kingdom in 629 AD.
After years of war between Romans and Sasanids, in 612, Heraclius launched a major counter-offensive in Syria in 613. He was decisively defeated outside Antioch by Shahrbaraz and Shahin, and the Roman position collapsed. Over the following decade the Persians were able to conquer Palestine and Egypt and to devastate Anatolia. Meanwhile, the Avars and Slavs took advantage of the situation to overrun the Balkans, bringing the Roman Empire to the brink of destruction.
During these years, Heraclius strove to rebuild his army, slashing non-military expenditures, devaluing the currency and melting down Church plate, with the backing of Patriarch Sergius, to raise the necessary funds to continue the war. In 622, Heraclius left Constantinople, entrusting the city to Sergius and general Bonus as regents of his son. He assembled his forces in Asia Minor and, after conducting exercises to revive their morale, he launched a new counter-offensive, which took on the character of a holy war. In the Caucasus he inflicted a defeat on an army led by a Persian-allied Arab chief and then won a victory over the Persians under Shahrbaraz. Following a lull in 623, while he negotiated a truce with the Avars, Heraclius resumed his campaigns in the East in 624 and routed an army led by Khosrau at Ganzak in Atropatene. In 625 he defeated the generals Shahrbaraz, Shahin and Shahraplakan in Armenia, and in a surprise attack that winter he stormed Shahrbaraz's headquarters and attacked his troops in their winter billets. Supported by a Persian army commanded by Shahrbaraz, the Avars and Slavs unsuccessfully besieged Constantinople in 626, while a second Persian army under Shahin suffered another crushing defeat at the hands of Heraclius' brother Theodore. Meanwhile, Heraclius formed an alliance with the Turks, who took advantage of the dwindling strength of the Persians to ravage their territories in the Caucasus. Late in 627, Heraclius launched a winter offensive into Mesopotamia, where, despite the desertion of the Turkish contingent that had accompanied him, he defeated the Persians at the Battle of Nineveh. Continuing south along the Tigris, he sacked Khosrau's great palace at Dastagird and was only prevented from attacking Ctesiphon by the destruction of the bridges on the Nahrawan Canal. Discredited by this series of disasters, Khosrau was overthrown and killed in a coup led by his son Kavadh II, who at once sued for peace, agreeing to withdraw from all occupied territories. Heraclius restored the True Cross to Jerusalem with a majestic ceremony in 629.
Sear 914, D.O. 297, B.M.C. 452, T. 282, B.N. 5, M.I.B. 253a.
RRR
VF
6,98 g. L.e.
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Heraclius, Follis, Ravenna mint, 630-631 AD (year 21), Sear 914, celebrating the defeat of the Sasanid kingdom and the restoration of the True Cross to Jerusalem. Heraclius (610-641 AD)
630-631 AD (year 21)
Follis
Obverse: DD NN HЄRACLIVS ЄT HЄRA CONST PP AVCC (or similar), Heraclius, crowned, in military attire and holding long cross, standing facing, foot on prostrate figure (a Persian?) below; to right, Heraclius Constantine, wearing crown and chlamys, holding globus cruciger, standing facing
Reverse: Large M; Above, cross; To left, ANNO; To right, XXI ; Exergus, RAV
Ravenna mint
This issue commemorates the victory of Heraclius over the Sasanid kingdom in 629 AD.
After years of war between Romans and Sasanids, in 612, Heraclius launched a major counter-offensive in Syria in 613. He was decisively defeated outside Antioch by Shahrbaraz and Shahin, and the Roman position collapsed. Over the following decade the Persians were able to conquer Palestine and Egypt and to devastate Anatolia. Meanwhile, the Avars and Slavs took advantage of the situation to overrun the Balkans, bringing the Roman Empire to the brink of destruction.
During these years, Heraclius strove to rebuild his army, slashing non-military expenditures, devaluing the currency and melting down Church plate, with the backing of Patriarch Sergius, to raise the necessary funds to continue the war. In 622, Heraclius left Constantinople, entrusting the city to Sergius and general Bonus as regents of his son. He assembled his forces in Asia Minor and, after conducting exercises to revive their morale, he launched a new counter-offensive, which took on the character of a holy war. In the Caucasus he inflicted a defeat on an army led by a Persian-allied Arab chief and then won a victory over the Persians under Shahrbaraz. Following a lull in 623, while he negotiated a truce with the Avars, Heraclius resumed his campaigns in the East in 624 and routed an army led by Khosrau at Ganzak in Atropatene. In 625 he defeated the generals Shahrbaraz, Shahin and Shahraplakan in Armenia, and in a surprise attack that winter he stormed Shahrbaraz's headquarters and attacked his troops in their winter billets. Supported by a Persian army commanded by Shahrbaraz, the Avars and Slavs unsuccessfully besieged Constantinople in 626, while a second Persian army under Shahin suffered another crushing defeat at the hands of Heraclius' brother Theodore. Meanwhile, Heraclius formed an alliance with the Turks, who took advantage of the dwindling strength of the Persians to ravage their territories in the Caucasus. Late in 627, Heraclius launched a winter offensive into Mesopotamia, where, despite the desertion of the Turkish contingent that had accompanied him, he defeated the Persians at the Battle of Nineveh. Continuing south along the Tigris, he sacked Khosrau's great palace at Dastagird and was only prevented from attacking Ctesiphon by the destruction of the bridges on the Nahrawan Canal. Discredited by this series of disasters, Khosrau was overthrown and killed in a coup led by his son Kavadh II, who at once sued for peace, agreeing to withdraw from all occupied territories. Heraclius restored the True Cross to Jerusalem with a majestic ceremony in 629.
Sear 914, D.O. 297, B.M.C. 452, T. 282, B.N. 5, M.I.B. 253a.
RRR
VF
6,98 g. L.e.
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IMP CAES M ANT GORDIANVS AVG / P M S COL VIM / Ӕ30 (239-240 AD)IMP CAES M ANT GORDIANVS AVG, laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right / P M S CO - L VIM, personification of Moesia standing facing, head left, arms outstretched over a lion (right) and a bull (left). AN • I • in exergue.
Ó”, 29-30+mm, 16.75g, die axis 1h (slightly turned medal alignment), material: looks like red copper.
IMP CAES M ANT GORDIANVS AVG = Imperator Caesar Marcus Antonius Gordianus Augustus, P M S COL VIM = Provinciae Moesiae Superioris Colonia Viminacium = Colony of Viminacium, in the province of Upper Moesia, AN•I• = the first year. 238 AD was the infamous "year of the 6 emperors", so 239-240 was the first sole ruling year of Gordian III. The bull is the symbol of Legio VII Claudia, based in the capital of Moesia Superior, Viminacium itself, and the lion is the symbol of Legio IV Flavia Felix based in another city of Moesia Superior, Singidunum (modern Belgrade). Due to size this is most probably a sestertius, but large dupondius is another possibility, since it is clearly made of red copper and sestertii were typically made of expensive "gold-like" orichalcum, a kind of brass (but in this time of civil strife they could have used a cheaper replacement). Literature fails to clearly identify the denomination of this type.
A straightforward ID due to size and clear legends, this is AMNG 71; Martin 1.01.1 minted in Viminacium, Moesia Superior (Kostolac, Serbia).
Gordian III was Roman Emperor from 238 AD to 244 AD. At the age of 13, he became the youngest sole legal Roman emperor throughout the existence of the united Roman Empire. Gordian was the son of Antonia Gordiana and an unnamed Roman Senator who died before 238. Antonia Gordiana was the daughter of Emperor Gordian I and younger sister of Emperor Gordian II. Very little is known of his early life before his acclamation. Gordian had assumed the name of his maternal grandfather in 238 AD.
In 235, following the murder of Emperor Alexander Severus, Maximinus Thrax was acclaimed Emperor. In the following years, there was a growing opposition against Maximinus in the Roman senate and amongst the majority of the population of Rome. In 238 (to become infamous as "the year of six emperors") a rebellion broke out in the Africa Province, where Gordian's grandfather and uncle, Gordian I and II, were proclaimed joint emperors. This revolt was suppressed within a month by Cappellianus, governor of Numidia and a loyal supporter of Maximinus Thrax. The elder Gordians died, but public opinion cherished their memory as peace-loving and literate men, victims of Maximinus' oppression.
Meanwhile, Maximinus was on the verge of marching on Rome and the Senate elected Pupienus and Balbinus as joint emperors. These senators were not popular and the population of Rome was still shocked by the elder Gordians' fate, so the Senate decided to take the teenage Gordian, rename him Marcus Antonius Gordianus like his grandfather, and raise him to the rank of Caesar and imperial heir. Pupienus and Balbinus defeated Maximinus, mainly due to the defection of several legions, particularly the II Parthica, who assassinated Maximinus. However, their joint reign was doomed from the start with popular riots, military discontent and an enormous fire that consumed Rome in June 238. On July 29, Pupienus and Balbinus were killed by the Praetorian Guard and Gordian proclaimed sole emperor.
Due to Gordian's age, the imperial government was surrendered to the aristocratic families, who controlled the affairs of Rome through the Senate. In 240, Sabinianus revolted in the African province, but the situation was quickly brought under control. In 241, Gordian was married to Furia Sabinia Tranquillina, daughter of the newly appointed praetorian prefect, Timesitheus. As chief of the Praetorian Guard and father in law of the Emperor, Timesitheus quickly became the de facto ruler of the Roman Empire.
In the 3rd century, the Roman frontiers weakened against the Germanic tribes across the Rhine and Danube, and the Sassanid Empire across the Euphrates increased its own attacks. When the Persians under Shapur I invaded Mesopotamia, the young emperor opened the doors of the Temple of Janus for the last time in Roman history, and sent a large army to the East. The Sassanids were driven back over the Euphrates and defeated in the Battle of Resaena (243). The campaign was a success and Gordian, who had joined the army, was planning an invasion of the enemy's territory, when his father-in-law died in unclear circumstances. Without Timesitheus, the campaign, and the Emperor's security, were at risk.
Gaius Julius Priscus and, later on, his own brother Marcus Julius Philippus, also known as Philip the Arab, stepped in at this moment as the new Praetorian Prefects and the campaign proceeded. Around February 244, the Persians fought back fiercely to halt the Roman advance to Ctesiphon. Persian sources claim that a battle occurred (Battle of Misiche) near modern Fallujah (Iraq) and resulted in a major Roman defeat and the death of Gordian III. Roman sources do not mention this battle and suggest that Gordian died far away from Misiche, at Zaitha (Qalat es Salihiyah) in northern Mesopotamia. Modern scholarship does not unanimously accept this course of the events. One view holds that Gordian died at Zaitha, murdered by his frustrated army, while the role of Philip is unknown. Other scholars have concluded that Gordian died in battle against the Sassanids.
Philip transferred the body of the deceased emperor to Rome and arranged for his deification. Gordian's youth and good nature, along with the deaths of his grandfather and uncle and his own tragic fate at the hands of the enemy, earned him the lasting esteem of the Romans.Yurii P
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Julia Mamaea, AD 222-235.Æ27, 10.5g, 6h; MESOPOTAMIA, Nisibis.
Obv.: IOV MAMЄA CEBACTH; Diademed and draped bust right, on large crescent.
Rev.: CЄΠKO[ΛO NISI]BI MHT; Veiled and turreted bust of Tyche right; star to right; ram leaping right above, head reverted.
Reference: Lindgren & Kovacs 2601 / 17-303-105John Anthony
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Lucius VerusLucius Verus. AD 161-169. AR Denarius. Rome mint. Struck AD 166.
O: L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX, Laureate head right.
R: TR P VI IMP IIII COS II, PAX in ex. Pax standing left, holding branch and cornucopia.
- RIC III 561; RSC 126.
In 166 the war with Parthia ended in victory. The Parthians left Armenia and eastern Mesopotamia, which both became Roman protectorates. The resulting triumph was accompanied by a donativum and fourth Imperial acclaim for Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius.
Unfortunately the Antonine plague (perhaps smallpox) came from the East with the returning soldiers. It spread throughout the Empire, lasted for roughly twenty years, and killed about 5 million people, probably including Lucius Verus. Nemonater
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Macrinus (217 -218 A.D.)AR Tetradrachm
MESOPOTAMIA, Carrhae
O: AVT K M ΟΠ CЄ MAKPINOC CЄ, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right.
R: ΔHMAPX ЄΞ VΠATOC, eagle standing facing on bull's head flanked by pellets, head right, with wings spread, holding wreath in beak.
12.71g
27mm
Prieur 827; Bellinger 165Mat
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Marcus Aurelius Drachm RPC 9288Marcus Aurelius, silver drachm, Carrhae Mesopotamia, 164 - 169 ad, 16.58mm, 2.7g, RPC 9288
OBV: AVT K M AV RHLIOC ANTWNINOC CE, laureate head right.
REV: YPER NIKHC TWN KURIWN CE, clasped hands, caduceus and two corn-ears behind
(this reverse legend convincingly attributed to Carrhae by Babelon)
SRukke
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MazakesMazakes
Persia/Alexandrine Empire. Satrap of Mesopotamia, circa 331-323/2 BC.
AR Tetradrachm, 17.08g
Imitating Athens. Helmeted head of Athena right / Owl standing right, head facing; olive spray and crescent to left, "Mazakes symbol" and Aramaic MZ[DK] to right in retrograde.JayAg47
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MESOPOTAMIA Nisibis Philip IIMESOPOTAMIA, Nisibis. Philip II. AD 247-249. Æ 25mm (11.45 g, 12h). Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust left / IOVC CEP KOLW NECIBI MHT, statue of Tyche seated facing; above, ram leaping right; below, river-god swimming right; all within tetrastyle temple with arched central bay.
BMC 21; SNG Copenhagen 240.
Tanit
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Mesopotamia, Carrhae, Gordian III, BMC 57Gordian III, AD 238-244
AE 28, 13.6g
obv. [AVT] KM ANT GORDIANC CEB
Bust, draped and cuirassed, laureate, r.
rev. [MHTR] KOL KARRHNWN
Bust of city-goddess (Tyche), draped, veiled and wearing mural-crown, l.; l.
before a small burning altar and a small statue of Aquarius, stg. r. on a
pedestal.
BMC 57; SNG Copenhagen 187
rare, F+
It is discussed wether the figur of the pedestalis Marsyas or Aquarius. If it is Aquarius it could be the river-god Karrha. This coin is the counterpart to the coin from Edessa!Jochen
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Mesopotamia, Carrhae, Gordian III, Tyche, AquariusGordian III, (238-244)
Mesopotamia, Carrhae
Obv.: [...] K M ANT ΓOΡΔIANOC CEB, laureate bust right
Rev.: MHTP KOΛ [KAPPHNωN], draped bust of Tyche left, looking at a statue of Aquarius or Marsyas on short pedestal.
[KAPPHNωN from a die match]
AE, 15.09g, 28.1mm
Ref.: BMC 57shanxi
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Mesopotamia, Carrhae. Elagabalus AE17Obv: Radiate bust right.
Rev: KAΡAKOMH, Crescent with star, pendant fillets and pellet below.
17mm and 2.8g.ancientone
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Mesopotamia, Carrhae. Caracalla Ae18Obv: M AVR ANTONINV F VA.
Laureate head right.
Rev: COI MET ANTONINIAN Δ AVG.
Veiled head of Tyche right, wearing mural crown.ancientone
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Mesopotamia, Carrhae. Caracalla Æ18.Obv: M AVR ANTONINVS P F AVG, Laureate head right.
Rev: Veiled and turreted bust of Tyche right. ancientone
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Mesopotamia, Carrhae. Caracalla. AD 198-217.Obv: AV T A..., radiate head right.
Rev: AP KOω Π, crescent with pendant fillets, above, rosette of seven pellets ancientone
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Mesopotamia, Carrhae. Elagabalus Æ16.Obv: ΑΥΤ ΑΝΤⲰΝƐΙ; laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Elagabalus, r., seen from rear.
Rev: ΚΑΡ ΚΟΛΛ Π; star within filleted crescent set on stone on base.
RPC VI, 7866 (temporary)ancientone
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Mesopotamia, Carrhae. Gordian III AE29.Obv: ΑΥΤΟΚ Κ Μ ΑΝΤ ΓΟΡΔΙΑΝΟϹ ϹƐΒ, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian III, r., seen from rear.
Rev: ΜΗΤΡ ΚΟΛ ΚΑΡΡΗΝⲰΝ, crescent and star.ancientone
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Mesopotamia, Carrhae. Septimius Severus AE25Obv: Laureate bust r.
Rev: Dionysos seated on throne l.
25mm, 8.9g.
SGIC 2283 ancientone
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Mesopotamia, Carrhae. Severus Alexander AE24.Obv: Laureate and draped bust of Severus Alexander r.
Rev: MHT KOL KAPPHNW[N] Tyche, wearing turreted crown, seated l. on rock on which her l. hand rests; below her feet, half-figure of river-god swimming l.ancientone
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MESOPOTAMIA, Carrhae; Commodus Obverse design radiate-headed bust of Commodus (youthful) wearing cuirass and paludamentum, r.
Reverse inscription ΚΑΡ ΚΟΛ ΜΗΤΡΟΠ[ΟΛΟ?]
Reverse design crescent on globe surmounted by star; globe resting on base
RPC IV on line, 9576(temp)
ecoli
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Mesopotamia, Edessa, Gordian III, BMC 124Gordian III, AD 238-244
AE 30, 17.41g
obv. AVTOK KM ANT GORDIANOC CEB
Bust, draped and cuirassed, laureate, r.
rev. MHT - KOL EDECCHNWN
Bust of city-goddess (Tyche), draped, veiled and wearing mural-crown, l.; l.
before a small burning altar and a small statue of Aquarius, stg. r. on a
pedestal.
BMC 124; SNG Copenhagen 221; SNG Righetti 2604; Sear 3789
F/about VF
Because Aquarius is standing on a column it is probably a monument. Such is not known for Aquarius but for Marsyas as symbol of a Roman colony. But this is not proved for Edessa (Hill).
The Aquarius could be the river-god Skirtos, today Daysan river.
This rev. is known for Tranquillina and occurs too on coins of Carrhae.
Jochen
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Mesopotamia, Edessa, Gordian III, BMC 159Gordian III, AD 238-244
AE 19, 5.46g, 19.31mm, 330°
struck AD 242-244
obv. AVTOK K M ANT GORDIANOC CEB
Bust, draped and cuirassed, seen from behind, radiate, r.
rev. ABGAROC - BACILEVC
bearded bust of Aelius Septimius Abgar XI. Phraates, draped and wearing Parthian tiara, diademed, r.
ref. BMC 159; SNG Copenhagen 227
about VF, dark green patina with sandy encrustations
Abgar was king of the kingdom of Osrhoene at the Upper Euphrat in Mesopotamia, situated between the Roman and the Parthian empire. The inhabitants, the Orrhoei, were relatives of the Nabataeans. Their capital city was Edessa. This name has been given to the city by Seleukos I Nikator referring to the capital of Makedonia. Jochen
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Mesopotamia, Edessa. Gordian III AE28 Tyche/AquariusGordian III, AE28, (16.59g) Edessa, Mesopotamia, AVTOK M ANT GORDIANOC CEB, Radiate bust right / MHT KOL EDECCHNWN, Bust of Tyche left, small statue of Aquarius on pedestal before.ancientone
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MESOPOTAMIA, Edessa. Abgar VIII,MESOPOTAMIA, Edessa. Abgar VIII, with Ma‘nu. Circa AD 200. Æ (16mm, 2.05 g, 7h). Draped and bearded bust of Abgar right, wearing diademed tiara / Draped bust of Ma‘nu right, wearing tiara. BMC 36-7.cecoli
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Mesopotamia, Edessa. Commodus AE15Obv: ΑV ΚΑΙСΑΡ ΚΟΜΟΔΟС / Laureate head of Commodus, r.
Rev: VΠƐΡ ΝΙΚΗС ΡωΜΑΙωΝ / Turreted, veiled and draped bust of Tyche, r.
BMC 10, Cop 192ancientone
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Mesopotamia, Edessa. Commodus/Abgar VIIObv: ΚΟΜΟΔΟϹ ΚΑΙϹΑΡ, laureate head of Commodus, r.
Rev: ΑΒΓΑΡΟϹ ΒΑϹΙΛƐVϹ, draped bust of Abgar (bearded) wearing diademed tiara, r.ancientone
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Mesopotamia, Edessa. Elagabalus AE16Obv: AVTO KAIC MAΡ AVΡ ANT, radiate head left.
Rev: KOΛΩ MAΡ EΔECCA, veiled and turreted bust of Tyche left.ancientone
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Mesopotamia, Edessa. Elagabalus AE18.Obv: M AYR ANTωΝΕΙΝ. Laureate head right.
Rev: Turreted and veiled bust of Tyche left.ancientone
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MESOPOTAMIA, Edessa. Gordian IIIMESOPOTAMIA, Edessa. Gordian III, with Abgar X Phraates. AD 238-244. Æ Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Gordian right; star before / Crowned and draped bust of Abgar right; star behind. BMC 144.ecoli
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MESOPOTAMIA, Edessa. Gordian IIIMESOPOTAMIA, Edessa. Gordian III, with Abgar X Phraates. AD 238-244. Æ Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Gordian right; star before / Crowned and draped bust of Abgar right; star behind. BMC 144.ecoli
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Mesopotamia, Edessa. Gordian III AE32Obv: AYTOK M ANT ΓOΡΔIANOC CEB, Laureate head right, slight drapery on left shoulde.
Rev: AVTOK ΓOΡΔIANOC ABΓAΡOC BACIΛEVC, Gordian receiving Abgar. Gordian on left, togate, seated right on chair on dais, holding sceptre; Abgar X Phraates standing left, bearded, wearing tiara, kandys and trousers, holding Nike, left hand on hilt of short sword.ancientone
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Mesopotamia, Edessa. Gordian III and Abgar X Æ22Obv: Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian r. seen from behind; star before.
Rev: Mantled bust of Abgar r., bearded, wearing Parthian-style tiara with rosette; star behind. ancientone
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Mesopotamia, Edessa. Macrinus. AD 217-218. Æ16mm. Obv: Laureate head of Macrinus right.
Rev: Turreted, veiled, and draped bust of Tyche right.ancientone
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Mesopotamia, Edessa. Septimius Severus & Abgar VIII Obv: Laureate head of Severus right.
Rev: Draped and diademed bust right of Abgar VIII, holding sceptre.ancientone
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Mesopotamia, Edessa. Septimius Severus & Abgar VIII AE16.Obv: Laureate head of Severus right.
Rev: Draped and diademed bust right of Abgar VIII, wearing tiara.ancientone
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