I daresay that museums less sensitive to the other copies of the statue might have mounted the
head without the tilt, and I know that many tourists would instinctively (instincts are not always true) hold their cameras to minimize the tilt. The engraver of the die, too, may have been working from a
cameo or
intaglio gem, or he may, quite rightly, have considered how the famous
head would look best on a small coin. The proof (probare, test) is simply to know all the prevalent
Herakles types and also to look at other coins of the place and period. This
Herakles type is represented on other
Severan coins of
Thrace (
Philippopolis) and Nicopolis ad I. full length, and the
head (reversed) is used for the ktistes
head at
Hadrianopolis.
Pat L. P.S. It is different from the
Herakles of the
dii auspices
sestertius of Septimius; that
type of
Herakles also occurs in the Danubian coins, besides all the Labors poses at
Hadrianopolis and elsewhere.
But I don't want to force anyone to study anything they are not drawn to. I could never be a theoretical physicist because I can't
handle the math (my arithmetic is OK). These things take many years of attention. That is why, starting late, I do not try to master all of
numismatics, despite the temptations of
Republican silver and Archaic fractions, just to name two.
Pat L.
Here's a couple:
01 11 02 AE 19 3.9g
Hadrianopolis. Autonomous.
Head of Lysippic Weary
Herakles to l.
Rev., Quite recognizable, the Weary
Herakles, with
his club and
lion skin, to r. ADRIANO[POLEI]
TON.
Cf. the simpler
Sear GIC 4832 and
SNG Cop 2, 556, where the time of
Commodus is (inevitably) suggested, but as B. V.
Head, HN, says, p. 287, "
Types often referring to the labours of
Herakles".
11 04 03 AE 27+
Nicopolis ad Istrum. Issued by Longinus.
Macrinus, laureate,
head to r. [AV] K M
OPEL SEV MAKRIENOS (same as nos. 1723, 1737, 1741, also with heads).
Rev., nude, bearded
Herakles stg. r.,
his right hand on
his hip,
his left, with the lion-skin-draped club in
his armpit and thus resting on a
stone (the pose of the
Hercules Farnese). VP STA LONGINOV NIKOPOLITON PROS IS. Trait for trait and letter for letter,
Pick AMNG I, 1, no. 1759 and
Varbanov I, no. 2699; judging from
Pick, only the
Sofia ex. has equal detail and
complete legend, and Varbanov's is similarly struck to this one but more worn.
19 03 03 AE~18
Nicopolis ad Istrum.
Septimius Severus, laureate,
head to r. AV KAI S[E] SEVEROS.
Rev., Farnese
type Herakles, stg. r., remarkably true to the
type.
NIKOPOLI PROS ISTR. Not
Pick AMNG I, 1 (= Cop
SNG 2, no. 267), not one of the three following, but
Lanz Auktion 97, May 2000, no. 707 (=
Varbanov I, no. 1836). Both dies seem to match, but the
Lanz coin is VF on both sides.
21 03 03 AE 27
Marcianopolis. Issued by Pontianus.
Macrinus, laureate, and
Diadumenian,
confronted busts.
AVT K OPELLI
SEV MAKREINOS K M OPELLI ANTONEINOS, fuzzy but there.
Rev.,
Herakles Resting, the Farnese
type, to r., with
his hand behind
his back, the Nemean lion's skin as padding for
his armpit over the stump of
his club, which rests on a pile of
rocks, verifying Pick's description. VP PONTIANOV (o-u
ligate)
MAR[KIA]NOPOLEITON, all round (
exergue empty); E mark in left
field.
Pick,
AMNG I, 1, p. 243, no. 753, exactly.
** On the little
Hadrianopolis, the full-length
Herakles is a different prototype; it is the
head that is the "Farnese"
type.
