Dear friends of
ancient coins!
For
Septimius Severus we know of small coin from
Nikopolis with
Dionysus, which is out of the ordinary. Instead of a usual
kantharos, from which
Dionysus pours, here he holds an elongated object, which was previously interpreted as a drinking horn with the opening facing downwards.
Coin:Moesia inferior,
Nicopolis ad Istrum,
Septimius Severus, 193-211.
AE 17, 2.24g, 17.38mm, 180°.
obv. AV - C -
CEVHROClaureate
head r.
rev. NIKOP - OLI
PROCDionysos, nude, stg. l., holding drinking horn in r. hand and resting with l. hand on ribboned
thyrsos.
ref. a) not in
AMNG:
b) not in
Varbanovc)
Hristova-Hoeft-Jekov (2021) No. 8.14.8.24 (this coin)
Usually
Dionysus is depicted with a
kantharos with which he offers a libation. The depiction on this coin is very unusual indeed.
When this coin first appeared we were already discussing what it might be.
Pat Lawrence wrote:
The head of Septimius looks like the work of that survivor of the worst dies of Commodus who made the anonymous Septimius in the time of the Auspex (and possibly later- although we have no signed dies as evidence. But a change of governor does not necessarily mean getting rid of a reliable engraver who can make usable stamps). We know from his Apollo Sauroktonos that he sometimes put shapes in his hands that could be ivy or snake or whatever.In other words,
Pat Lawrence is thinking of negligence on the
part of the die cutter who chose a random object.
It can't be a
rhyton because that always has an animal
head on the front.
A drinking horn is very unusual. It does not belong to the typical
Roman drinking vessels and numismatically it is without precedent. I have not found any example of it. Therefore, this description was always a
bit questionable.
Now I have discovered on an Attic vase painting that
Dionysus holds a
cornucopiae. It's a Neck
amphora, Attic black figure:
Dionysus, Satyr, Maenads. Around 500 B.C. Found in Veji (Veio near Isola Farnese/Rome), Archaeological
Collections of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena.
The shape of this
cornucopia is also striking, with curves similar to those of our object. We have now found a historical model for the
cornucopia and it makes particular sense when it is turned upside down, as it is here, and
Dionysus distributes
his gifts with it.
Perhaps we should consider changing the description of the coin.
I
hope to hear your opinions.
Jochen
