<— Last coin | ---------- What I Like About Ancient Coins ---------- | Next coin —> |
Coin Type:Bronze AE26 of Gordian III, Caesar 238 CE, Augustus 238-244 CE. Mint and Date: Hadrianopolis in Thrace, 238-244 CE. Size and Weight: 26mm, 7.94g. Obverse: AVT K M ANT ΓOPΔIANOC AVΓ Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind. Reverse: AΔPI-AN and in ex: OΠOΛEI/TΩN (the ΩN ligate) Cybele seated facing, head left, on a lion leaping to the right. She is robed and wears a kalathos, rests her right hand on a tympanum supported on the lion's rump, and holds a transverse sceptre in her left arm. Partly obscured by the head and forelegs of the lion, a Korybant dances, facing away, head left. He is bare to the waist, wears a crested helmet and holds aloft a shield in his left hand and a curved sword in his right. Provenance: slaveycoins (eBay), March 2010. Ref: Varbanov II (English) 3997 (misnumbered 3797) (double die match); Jurukova 570 (V248/R554). BW Ref: 060 048 155 |
|
Click on the picture for a larger scale view of the coin | |
Note: Varbanov calls the object in the Korybant's right hand a fackel (torch), but it is not very clear on his specimen. On this one, it is completely on the flan and looks more like a curved sword. Although a torch would make sense for a night-time procession, a sword is also fully in keeping both with the tradition and with the shield. But the identification as either is far from certain as yet. |
The content of this page was last updated on 13 March 2010 |