Gordian III River Gods at Nicopolis Moesia Inferior

[gordian_guy]

For all of us who have been following Dr. Lawrence's progress on the dies of Nicopolis during the reign of Macrinus will understand the challenges that she is facing, and it was a short reign - 18 months or so. I have been collecting Gordian III provincials for a decade or so and have nearly every coin listed by Pick for Gordian III at Nicopolis plus numerous other unpublished coins and die pairings. Pick lists directly 69 coins and many other die varieties that I have not completely counted. My challenge is much less than Dr. Lawrence's for a number of reasons, one of which is that I have only one Magistrate to deal with Modestos. Yet I am no where near completing my dies study.

I find the coinage at Nicopolis during Gordian's reign to be quite interesting. For one, despite a nearly 6 year reign the number of obverse dies is not as many as I might expect for such a long reign (not Sept Sev long). The mint did shut down under Gordian and did not reopen under later emperors - it could have shut down early in Gordian's reign but I have no proof of this. Also, there are no Apollo types for Gordian at Nicopolis - despite there being a wide variety of types under the other emperors. The types to be found, other than Apollo, mirror previous types for other emperors, the Zeus, Demeters, Nemesis, Tyches, etc. There are a couple of interesting types - a Standing Athena, with tree and serpent and a resting Hermes.

For this thread I want to present the River God types for Gordian at Nicopolis. Pick knew of three of the reverse dies but was unaware that the first die was shared with the obverse of coin 4. The third coin was unknown to him. It seems to suffer from a couple of spelling errors - PRC for PROC (unless out of economy they are sharing the O at the end of the main inscription??) and in ISTRON an E for a C(S). Another interesting thing to note is that of the 4 types I have found (5 coins including a die pairing) 3 reverses are paired with the "Baby Face" Gordian portrait. 

Coin 1: AE 28; 15.93 g.
Obverse: AVT . K . M . ANTW – GORDIANUS
Reverse: VP CAB MODESTOV NIKOPOLEI
                in left field: TWN
                in exergue: PROC ICT/RON
River god, nude to waist, reclining left; reed in right hand, left elbow resting on overturned urn from which water flows. Pick 2068.

Coin 2: AE 26; 10.03 g.
Obverse: AVT . K . M . ANTW – GORDIANUS
Reverse: VP CAB MODESTOV NIKOP
                in left field: OLEI/TWN
                in exergue: PROC ICTR/ON
River god nude to waist reclining left, right arm resting on ship’s prow; left elbow resting on overturn urn from which water flows. Pick 2067.

Coin 3: AE 28; 11.25 g.
Obverse: AVT . K . M . ANTW – GORDIANUS
Reverse: VP CAB MODESTOV NIKOPO
               in exergue: LEITWN PR/C(sic) IC(E)TRON
River god, nude to waist, reclining left; reed in right hand, left elbow resting on overturned urn from which water flows. Not in Pick.

Coin 4: AE 26; 12.52 g.
Obverse: AVT  K  M  ANTW – GORDIANUS
Reverse: VP CAB MODESTOV NIKOPOLEI
                in left field: TWN
                in exergue: PROC ICT/RON
River god, nude to waist, reclining left; reed in right hand, left elbow resting on overturned urn from which water flows. Same die as Coin 1. Pick 2068/reverse.

Coin 5: AE 27; 12.19 g.
Obverse: AVT K M ANT G—ORDIANUS AVG
Reverse: VP CAB MODESTOV NIKOPOLEITWN
                in exergue: PROC ICTRO/N
River god, nude to waist, reclining left; reed in right hand, left elbow resting on overturned urn from which water flows. Pick 2069.


If others reading this list have examples different from mine I would be interesting in hearing about them - different die pairings count as being different not just die varieties.


c.rhodes

[whitetd49]

I thought it might be a nice heuristic exercise to compare your coins with those listed in Varbanov (Eng) but it is hopeless.

Coin #1 is Varb 4126 (illustrated), same dies, citing only wildwinds.
Coin #5 is Varb 4162 (illustrated), same dies, but described as radiate, not laureate, and incorrectly omits N from ICTRON.
but Varb 4221 (illustrated) is the same as Varb 4162 with the correct description.

Varb 4264 (not illustrated) cites a coin with the ethnic spelled NIKOPOLITWN
Varb 4219 and 4223 (neither illustrated) are described exactly the same and could be your #1,#2, or #4.

Varb 4220 (not illustrated) cites a specimen with AVG (ligate) in the obverse legend.
Varb 4222 (not illustrated) cites a specimen with AVG without ligatures in the obverse legend.
Your #5 is supposed to have AVG.

If this exercise was, indeed, heuristic, then one might conclude there could be another die or two that could be relevent here.  On the other hand, it would seem equally likely that none exist.

[gordian_guy]

Whitetd49

If Varbanov had illustrated all of his coins then I might find his reference much more useful as it is I find it at this time not worth the money ($125 the last time I checked - arg and for such a poor quality reference, I already have the Bulgarian set). That being said your lists is interesting. I find it odd that he would cite wildwinds for #1 which is listed in Pick and would be the proper reference. Maybe he cites wildwinds because he borrowed the image from there. For coin #5 it points out his poor review. You are correct about my #5 I pasted out of Word and forgot to insert the underline - Word formats do not paste here. Thank you. Varbanov 4220 might well exist as there are some three letter ligate inscriptions for GIII at Nicopolis but since he does not give an accurate description or an illustration I would only have to guess what it looks like. Varbanov 4264 might be taken from Pick, where (I do not have Pick handy) he cites a coin with misspelled city name but did not have definitive proof.

I would say from you analysis that maybe two coins 4220 and 4222 might exist, obverse guessable but reverse - we can only speculate. Does he give references for these two coins???

Thanks

c.rhodes

[curtislclay]

Varb. 4220 cites AMNG 2069.

Varb. 4222 cites Auction 102 of an unnamed German firm, Antike Münzen, 28 May 2001, lot 855. And that auction number may be wrong, since it's A102 in his list of sale catalogues, so he may have repeated his own code number by mistake.

Varbanov is a useful compendium, but you can't believe anything without checking the source!

I found Varb. 4222 in CoinArchives: Lanz 102 (the sale number is correct in Varbanov), lot 855. Looks like your no. 5 above.

[slokind]

I agree with Curtis' post.  Varbanov's books do have all the difficulties cited, but when one really needs them, as for Philippopolis (where I was wholly at sea until at least the Bulgarian edition arrived and now I can look forward to a few more images and much easier use in the English version), I am most grateful.  In particular, I am grateful for the spirit in which, as I perceive, he undertook them.  Only works like AMNG and its direct successors and SNG, RPC record the legends with the accuracy and especially the particularity that we need.  I doubt whether, initially, Varbanov himself had access to AMNG.  Since then, I think some scanning has been done (just as we have scanned Jurukova).  If I do not always cite Varbanov, it is because I have not been able to check when the coin is not well illustrated.  I should like to think that he (and Mushmov were he alive) would be grateful not to have uncertainties perpetuated in print.  Let him who has never done "Copy and Paste" throw the first stone.  (Gordian Guy and Whitetd do not copy and paste, so they are OK).  Pat L.
P.S. It occurred to me, considering how things are done, that Varbanov may have young daughters who help him!  That error on the numeral 102 for the Lanz coin does suggest...   Daughters seem to be a great help to their fathers in the Balkans, much more willing than their brothers, and the youngest of them...  I must say that every daughter I know of (and every wife, too) is a wonderful right hand and very conscientious.  I don't want to identify any, but they know who they are.

[gordian_guy]

Yes indeed, I am the Rush Limbaugh of cut and paste - 100% error free and perfectly excuted!!  I concede the enthusiasm with which Varbanov has put together his catalog and do not discourage anyone from buying it - my opinion (obviously) only. I have been spoiled by Pick, which regardless of references to original sources, allows me to determine more precisely if my coin is the one being listed - less guessing. I don't used Varbanov Bulgarian so much because of the language - which I have managed to get around sufficiently for my needs - Heck I use Jarakova Hadrianopolis - I don't use it because without a picture of the coin or having the original reference Varbanov 7 Hermes is no different from Varbanov 8 Hermes, I just cannot tell without seeing the coin or having the inscriptions accurately described. Regarding Philippopolis how often has Varbanov been used to tell what the reverse is? I will concede that the Bulgarians don't have the tools we have - okay!

Anyway, so maybe at this time I have all of the Gordian River Gods. Thanks to everyone for checking other sources - even Varbanov.

c.rhodes