Boustrophedon: one of my favorite Greek words. I'd be surprised to see it on a coin, though at first I thought that I might have it on the one attached (no, see
Pick, as usual), or, for that matter, on a
Severan stone inscription, unless perhaps in some hinterland, because it is characteristic of early
epigraphy when, the reasonable theory goes, many
had the same problem as many six-year-old children whose
brains and eye muscles
still are immature: difficulty in going back to the beginning of the next line, owing to the break in direct continuity.
But, such as it is (and I didn't buy it for beauty), here is my
Elagabalus with governor Seleucus's whole name written out.
• 12 02 03 AE 27 (irreg.)
Marcianopolis. Issued by Seleukos.
Confronted draped busts of
Elagabalus, laureate, and
Julia Maesa . AV[T K
M AVR] ANTONEINOS
AVG IOVLIA MAISA
AVG.
Rev., .PV. / IOVL,AN / T[Omega]NIOV.SEL / [OVKO]V.MARK / IANOPOLIT / Omega N with very large subscript E (for
pente) between omega and nu and framed by ribbon ends of the
laurel wreath; at top between the ends of the laurel, •. As
Pick notes, the engraver wrote pi upsilon for upsilon pi at the top. Exactly the die pair of the
Berlin example that
Pick describes (Cat. 65, 46), which, he says, is the only coin on which the second name of Seleukos is written out.
Pat L.
