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Author Topic: Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia  (Read 146967 times)

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Offline bpmurphy

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #75 on: October 18, 2008, 10:39:05 pm »
Thought I'd add this interesting coin, currently for sale on VAuctions, to this discussion.

Barry Murphy

BITHYNIA. Nicaea. Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus. Augusta, 193-217 AD. Æ 32mm (23.36 g). Struck 208/209 AD. IVLIA CEBACTH, draped bust right; c/m: Nike standing right holding wreath / A[GO]NOQECIA, NIKAIEWN in exergue, athlete seated left, holding prize crown in right hand, long palm in left; agonistic urn on ground before. RG - (same obverse die as pl. lxxvii, 13); SNG Copenhagen -; SNG von Aulock -; BMC -; Howgego 254 (for countermark).

In 208/209 AD, the city of Nicaea celebrated the Philadelphian games to honor the fraternity of Caracalla and Geta. Numerous agonistic types are known, usually with the legend CEOVHPEIA FILADELFEIA. This coin shares it's obverse die with a games coin which features on the reverse the busts of both Caracalla and Geta (RG 397). According to Head (Historia Numorum), the title Agonothesia refers to "The office of an Agonothetes" and is known on coins from Thessalonica and Gordus Julia. Jones (A Dictionary of Ancient Greek Coins) defines Agonothesia as "The holding of a contest, the chief organizer being known as the agonothetes. The reverse type is similar to the coin of Septimius in RG, pl. lxxvi 15 except that coin has the normal games legend for Nicaea at this time, CEOVHPEIA FILADELFEIA and the athlete doesn't appear to be holding the palm branch.

Offline archivum

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #76 on: October 19, 2008, 09:26:09 am »
Thank you, Barry; a great complement to an earlier posting on two other Severeian Games bronzes with obverse die-matches:

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=36795.msg266702#msg266702
Temper thy haste with sloth -- Taverner / Erasmus.

Offline curtislclay

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #77 on: November 16, 2008, 08:50:52 pm »
Geta Caesar, AE 26, 9.59g, 7h, centration dimples on both sides, recently acquired via eBay:

L.CEPTIM.GETAC.K[AI], bare-headed bust r., clothing uncertain, same obverse die as RG pl. 80.23.

NIK - A - IEWN, Hercules standing r., resting r. hand on club behind him, holding apples of the Hesperides (?) in l. hand before him, lionskin hanging down from l. shoulder; on r., tree in which dead serpent.

Worn and corroded, details of apples in hand and snake in tree uncertain.

According to H. Voegtli, Bilder der Heldenepen, p. 42, this is the commonest coin type showing Hercules' procurement of the apples of the Hesperides, one of his twelve labors, but it was not previously attested at Nicaea.  Voegtli knew the type at Alinda, Amorion, Kotiaeion, Pautalia, Perinthos, Tarsos, Temenothyrai, and Tomis, plus other variants of the type at Alexandria, Pergamon, and Sebastopolis.

RG 512, pl. 80.19, has Hercules slaying the Hydra for Geta at Nicaea with the same early praenomen L.

For Caracalla Augustus at Nicaea, RG pl. 78 shows five labors of Hercules types, namely Stymphalian birds, Anteus, Cerynian hind, Cretan bull, and horses of Diomedes.

Some or all of these probably show a youthful portrait of Caracalla and belong to the same issue as the labors types of Geta, but unfortunately RG illustrates none of the obverses, so obscuring the chronology.

No labors of Hercules types listed for Septimius Severus at Nicaea, but for Julia Domna RG pl. 76 has

1. Hercules slaying the Hydra, facing l. instead of r. as in Geta's type, and

2. Hercules bringing down the Cerynian hind, from the same rev. die as the corresponding coin of Caracalla.
Curtis Clay

Offline archivum

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #78 on: November 16, 2008, 09:18:51 pm »
Thank you, Curtis; an excellent catch; though the rest of the series of Labors is well represented, Herakles with the apples is totally missing from the Isegrim entries for Nicaea.
Temper thy haste with sloth -- Taverner / Erasmus.

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #79 on: November 19, 2008, 05:02:48 pm »
PRO:   BITHYNIA
PO :   NICAEA
PZ :   Between 193 and 217
   Obverse
VSG:   IOYLIA SEBASTH
VT :   PORTRAIT WOMAN R / IULIA DOMNA
VA :   CLOTHES
   Reverse
RSG:   NIKAIEWN
RT :   PRICECROWN(1)
RA :   BRANCH PALM(1)
   Technical details
M  :   AE
GR :   16(1)
   Bibliographical references
ZIT:   WADD RG S448,396(1) / COLL BERLIN(1)
   Additional remarks
FR :   VS: IOYLIA SEBASTH RS: NIKAIEWN

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #80 on: November 19, 2008, 05:05:08 pm »
AE15
OBV: Julia Domna, bust
REV: NIKA - IEΩN, Two-handed (victory) vase containing two palm-branches.

Offline archivum

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #81 on: November 19, 2008, 11:30:24 pm »
Nice coin!  Described as "unediert(?)" or "unpublished," there's a much poorer specimen of this taller urn-type at

http://www.coinarchives.com/a/lotviewer.php?LotID=90020&AucID=96&Lot=335
 
Temper thy haste with sloth -- Taverner / Erasmus.

Offline slokind

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #82 on: November 20, 2008, 01:43:24 am »
In parlous condition but with a lovely obverse die, but I can't find it.  If you expert Nicaea collectors say it's somewhere else, I'll delete this posting, but what can those letters be but [NI]KAI[EÔN]?
• 26 01 06 What can it be but Nicaea?  Æ28  14.64g
With these legends and this diameter, not RG, GIC, Varbanov IV, Lindgren&Kovacs.     
Pat L.
CLICKABLE IMAGE

Offline archivum

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #83 on: November 20, 2008, 07:48:04 am »
Yes, a beautiful portrait; RG has a different legend on one coin of this size (RG 446.379 [not pictured]), and apparently there's one like yours in Cologne (SLG KOELN UNI I 022).  But please don't delete!
Temper thy haste with sloth -- Taverner / Erasmus.

Offline Arminius

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #84 on: November 20, 2008, 12:15:10 pm »
Here is the Colonia-coin (= Weiser, Cologne coll. page 207, no. 22 (plate 2) ) - apparently from different dies:

Diassarion, 193-217 AD., revalued/countermarked 240-250 AD. to 4 Assaria,
11,77 g,
170°,
orichalcum,
Av.: IOYLIA - AYGOYCTA , darped bust of Julia Domna right, circular countermark "delta" on neck,
Rev.: NIK[AI] - EWN , Tyche, with chiton and peplos standing left, wearing kalathos on head, holding rudder with her right hand and cornucopia with left.
unpublished (til 1982),
cf. Waddington 379 ; obverse die match with SNG v.Aulock 586 .

rgds.

Offline archivum

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #85 on: November 20, 2008, 12:47:26 pm »
Yes, the two obverse dies clearly different, and dramatically different in style; yet we have just these two coins to vouch for either one of these mint-runs, or both.  Interesting what persists and what doesn't and how we piece together a past from it sometimes tolerably well, sometimes not; in this case I'm intrigued that the working esthetic could vary this much between two coins that legends and types would suggest are the "same."
 
Temper thy haste with sloth -- Taverner / Erasmus.

Offline curtislclay

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #86 on: November 20, 2008, 01:25:02 pm »
The major difference is in Julia's coiffure: braids running up the whole back of the head on Pat's coin, only a small low nest of braids on the Cologne specimen.
Curtis Clay

Offline slokind

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #87 on: November 20, 2008, 01:34:32 pm »
Also, the one with the earlier-attested hairdo (mine), though it could have lost a fraction of a gram through corrosion, is nearly three grams heavier (11.77 : 14.64).  Pat L.

Offline Jochen

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #88 on: December 19, 2008, 07:12:17 pm »
Today I came across this coin. It is a AE22, 6.87g of Severus Alexander from Nikaia. What me puzzles is the rev. I don't know whether it is a male or a female figure. And then: what is the object behind the figure? Obviously a tree, but is there a snake around the tree? Who could it be?

Is there a reference for this coin?

Thanks for your help!

Best regards

Offline archivum

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #89 on: December 19, 2008, 11:03:51 pm »
Hello Jochen; I should check the von Aulock plate first, but your coin shares a good deal with this one (description from Isegrim; clearly not quite the same obverse legend):

PRO:   BITHYNIA
PO :   NICAEA
PZ :   Between 222 and 235
   Obverse
VSG:   M AYR SEYH ALEXANDROS AYG
VT :   PORTRAIT MAN R / SEV. ALEXANDER
VA :   WREATH LAUREL / CLOTHES
   Reverse
RSG:   NIKAIEWN
RT :   WOMAN STANDING HL(1) / DEMETER(1)
RA :   CORN-EARS(1) / WREATH CORN-EARS <?> / TORCH(1)
   Technical details
M  :   AE
GEW:   7.96(1)
   Bibliographical references
ZIT:   SNG AUL 612(1)
FR :   VS: M AYR SEYH ALEXANDRO<S AYG> RS: NIKAIEWN

There is no mention here of a polos, but it seems that Demeter is wearing a polos on RG 475.602 (also noted in Isegrim; not pictured in RG).  Even if the von Aulock coin lacks it, your coin could well be a new variant.

Temper thy haste with sloth -- Taverner / Erasmus.

Offline Steve Minnoch

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #90 on: December 19, 2008, 11:08:32 pm »
No mention of the tree or the snake in that record though...
Steve

Edit: I won't claim I know, but on what I can see I'd lean towards Hygieia, who can be shown holding a branch.

Offline curtislclay

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #91 on: December 19, 2008, 11:24:12 pm »
Note that the coin is of Sev. Alex. as Caesar, not Aug., rather rare at Nicaea.

The same rev. type occurs for M. Aurelius as Aug. at Nicaea on an AE 29 in Vienna, RG 178, pl. 71.10, rev. described at the nymph Nicaea wearing crown of towers, standing l. emptying kantharos with r. hand, behind her snake entwined in tree.
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Offline moonmoth

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #92 on: December 20, 2008, 05:38:40 am »
Here's a similar reverse on a coin of Gallienus from Iconia, 23mm, 5.34g, showing Athena holding a staff or spear with a serpent twined round it.  The serpent has the same angularities.  She has an eagle in her right hand and a shield at her feet.

"... A form of twisted symbolical bedsock ... the true purpose of which, as they realised at first glance, would never (alas) be revealed to mankind."

Offline Jochen

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #93 on: December 20, 2008, 08:42:37 am »
Thanks all for your help. So I think it is the nymph Nikaia. For Athena her characteristic helmet and the shield is missing. Hygieia with mural crown I have never seen. And for Demeter it would be an unusual garment.

BTW Shouldn't be it an owl in Athena's hand?

Best regards

Offline archivum

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #94 on: December 20, 2008, 09:28:19 am »
An additional twist: one Sev Alex reverse in RG sounds a lot like your coin, though the picture supplied in RG isn't like it at all: RG 475.600 (PL. LXXXII.27) * -- "Femme tutulee [[prob. a misprint for tourelee, "towered," as in 475.599, seated version]] (Nicaea) standing left, clothed, holding a patera in her left hand and leaning on a thyrsos with a gnarled staff (hampe noueuse)."  The coin pictured looks much like a typical Tyche, and that's how it's treated in Isegrim; what became of the gnarls on the staff, which are what on your coin we'd describe as a snake?  RG's picture may show the wrong coin, and your coin-type would then be the right one.  The snake would go tolerably well with a thyrsos, a tree, or a torch (snakes appear on the torch of Demeter on various types Forum's discussed), and on your coin where some see a tree others might see a torch or a thyrsos; the figure herself seems a bit syncretistic, to the point that the same type with minor die-variants may prompt more descriptions than one.  But to call her Nikaia works tolerably well, even if we can't say what she's doing with that snake on a stick.

   * http://people.virginia.edu/~jdk3t/RG/RG1-3082.html // http://people.virginia.edu/~jdk3t/RG/RG1-3197.html; insignificant notches appear at the base of the staff, hardly what I'd call gnarls.
Temper thy haste with sloth -- Taverner / Erasmus.

Offline moonmoth

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #95 on: December 20, 2008, 12:44:20 pm »
BTW Shouldn't be it an owl in Athena's hand?

That does sound more likely than an eagle, but perhaps she is shown as the goddess of war, on the side of Rome.  I have no specific knowledge of this type; I was copying the seller's description.

Bill
"... A form of twisted symbolical bedsock ... the true purpose of which, as they realised at first glance, would never (alas) be revealed to mankind."

Offline Jochen

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #96 on: December 21, 2008, 11:52:29 am »
Hi archivum!

According the French tutulee I have found this word in several most older works too, f.e. Mionnet. Could it be an older unusual term connected with the Latin tutela (= shelter)?

Best regards

Offline archivum

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #97 on: December 21, 2008, 12:52:20 pm »
Thanks Jochen; indeed tutulée must be a word (pretty much = tourelée), since a word-search of RG fasc. 1 turns up four different instances (on pp. 111, 114,166,and 203); it's not in my French dictionary, and I baulked at the merest suggestion that Tyche or even Nikaia could ever be shown wearing some sort of tutu, but your Latin note here makes the notion a lot less preposterous.

RG fasc. 1: http://books.google.com/books?id=ipOQsjW8aNkC
Temper thy haste with sloth -- Taverner / Erasmus.

Offline Arminius

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #98 on: January 07, 2009, 01:58:02 pm »
Hello,

another candidate for the unlisted category:



Elagabalus, 218-222 AD.,
Æ Diassarion (22-23 mm / 5,23 g),
Obv.: M AVP ANTΩNINOC AVГ , laureate head of Elagabalus right.
Rev.: NIKA - IEΩN , Herakles ("Farnese" type) standing right, leaning on club with his right hand and holding lion skin with left.
Weiser - ; Rec. Gen - ; coinarchieves - ; wildwinds - .

similar portrait (maybe same obv.-die) as http://www.coinarchives.com/a/lotviewer.php?LotID=137738&AucID=163&Lot=238

rgds.

Offline areich

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Nicaean Addenda: Scarcer Finds from Nikaia, Bithynia
« Reply #99 on: January 07, 2009, 02:03:24 pm »
Not the same die, look at the W of ANTWNINOC.

Andreas
Andreas Reich

 

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