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A billon coin of the emperor Maximinus I from Deultum showing the so-called beehive Coin Type: Billon AE18 of Maximinus I, 235-238 CE.
Mint and Date: Deultum in Thrace, 235-238 CE.
Size and Weight: 17mm x 18mm, 3.58g
Obverse: IMP MAXIMINVS AVG
Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Reverse: C F P D
Baetyl or civic fountain.
Provenance: numismatiklanz (eBay), April 2010.
Ref: Varbanov II (English) 2424.
BW Ref: 004 049 158
Click on the picture for a larger scale view of the coin

Note: The reverse type on this coin was described as a beehive by Jurukova, based on a superficial similarity in form, and that description has been followed in reference works since (including Varbanov).

Dragonov, following Michel Amandry, says that the object is a civic fountain like the Meta Sudans in Rome, a type in which water flows from outlets at the top and over the shaped stone, to be collected below. This is an interesting, but unproven, idea, which is at least more likely than the beehive conjecture.

The object also bears a resemblance to the baetyl of the Pergaian Artemis. This interpretation, that the stone is a baetyl, requires the object sometimes visible at the base to be a temple, which presumably would contain the object of worship shown in large scale above it.

See also this coin of Philip I from Deultum, which shows the same object with a structure visible below it.


The content of this page was last updated on 4 May 2010