That coin, besides being a real prize, surely is important to the iconography of
Apollo in
Thrace!
Pat L.
The nude
Apollo Archer reverses that I have are later,
Caracalla and
Gordian, where he does wear a cape, though nothing else. Somewhere
Ulrike Peter had something to say about the
Apollo with a double-curved bow, I think. But it may be true that Thracian and more mainstream
Apollo cult merge here.
On the other hand, the oldest dedicatory
inscription to
Apollo that I know is that on the thigh of the bronze statuette from Thebes now in Boston dedicated, it says (in translation) 'to
Apollo of the silver bow'; the
inscription addresses Phoibos himself, and though the line between dedicant and deity is not hard and fast, the figure is designed to hold a bow, most likely, in
his left hand. (
Boardman Gr Sc: Archaic, fig. 10). The date usually given is c. 680 BCE. We forget, with our familiarity with Classical and later Apollos that in
Homer Apollo is the accurate marksman in
his standard epithet. It's just that collectors of Greek Imperials rarely see him thus.
• 09 11 01 AE 26+
Thrace,
Hadrianopolis.
Caracalla, adult, laureate,
head to r.
AVT K
M AVR SE ANTONEINOS.
Rev.,
Apollo (
his headdress) stg. facing,
head to r., wearing cloak hanging down from shoulders, holding compound bow in
his l. and in
his r., quiver (from which three arrows extend) with its lid flipped off. ADRIANO POLEITON.
Herakles may have bow and arrows, but when he has and is beardless he has short hair. This is one of two specimens I have, and Barry Murphy
had another one in
his shop (there's a
thread in
Forum).
My coin with
Apollo in
his sister's pose, as you put it, is one of my first (when I
had no books), so my accesseion squib may be useless:
• 16
XII 99
AE26 (26.68 mm)
Hadrianopolis (
Thrace)
Gordian III (laureate draped
bust r.);
AVT K M ANT GORDIANOS AV.
Rev. Apollo advancing r. with drawn bow; ADRIANOPOLEITON.
BMC 28; Rape (sp.?) 120. 12.3 g.
I know none nearly so early as the boy
Marcus Aurelius.
CLICK—at least these are new DSL photos.