Nero Ostia

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dupondius:
Hello together,

Here is my latest addition. It is the Nero harbour sestertius from the Arthur Bally-Herzog collection, which was recently on sale.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-72977

Perhaps one comment towards the location of the harbour. An archaeologist told me that the location of the harbour shown on the reverse of the coin is not at the Tiber river mouth but a bit north from Ostia close to the "Lago di Traiano" and the "Leonardo da Vinci" airport. Therefore, maybe the figure at the bottom is not the river god Tiber but most probably Neptune.

Greetings,

Dupondius

Roma_Orbis:

--- Quote from: dupondius on October 30, 2011, 06:39:25 am ---Perhaps one comment towards the location of the harbour. An archaeologist told me that the location of the harbour shown on the reverse of the coin is not at the Tiber river mouth but a bit north from Ostia close to the "Lago di Traiano" and the "Leonardo da Vinci" airport. Therefore, may be, the figure at the bottom is not the river god Tiber but most probably Neptune.

--- End quote ---

The deity at the bottom bears all attributes of Neptune indeed; it cannot be the Tiber river-god; river-gods are usually represented reclining on rocks, holding a reed (see http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=38521)

As to the upper statue, it is hardly recognizable, but it is not Neptune, which would hold a trident, not a scepter. Maybe the deity is radiated, as seen on http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=14779 below.

By the way, some auction descriptions describe correctly this reverse, like in the coin above.

Nice coin BTW, very natural surfaces.

Jérôme

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