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Author Topic: Tacitus and Arles  (Read 386 times)

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Offline vrtsprb

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Tacitus and Arles
« on: September 01, 2021, 12:05:45 pm »
I've recently seen some coins of Tacitus attributed as "Lugdunum, or Arles" e.g.

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=arles+tacitus

Where is this possibility of Arles coming from? I thought that Arles as a mint wasn't active until 313 CE, under Constantine?

As far as I can see, the revision of RIC has no hint of Arles as a Tacitus mint… And I've not encountered such uncertainty about the mint before.


G/<

maximinvs

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Re: Tacitus and Arles
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2021, 09:40:37 pm »
It comes from RIC V part 1, page 19.
Webb suggests the 'A' that appears in the reverse field or in exergue on some Gallic coins of Tacitus was a city mark, and that the Gallic mint was temporarily moved from Lugdunum to Arelate.

Offline vrtsprb

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Re: Tacitus and Arles
« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2021, 11:16:27 pm »
Ah, OK. Thanks. I don't have RIC V.1, and by the time I became interested in Tacitus, revised online RIC V from Claudius II to Florian became available, and since that doesn't mention Arles, Webb must have been mistaken.

'
G/<
'

Offline AMICTUS

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Re: Tacitus and Arles
« Reply #3 on: September 10, 2021, 08:56:13 am »
This hypothesis is mentionned in the presentation  HISTORY, under the year 275,  ‘The campaign in Raetia…’ end of § 1, of the revised online RIC V. Amongst other facts the invasion of 275-6 in Gaul could have explained a move of the mint from Lyons to Arles for security reasons. But P. Bastien mentionned that  Lyons could have been at least as safe as Arles because of its city walls and that various numismatic elements (continuity in style and legends, die links) make such a move very improbable. The meaning of the A mint mark remains however uncertain.

 

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