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Author Topic: A rare Apollo type from Hadrianopolis  (Read 1156 times)

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Offline Jochen

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A rare Apollo type from Hadrianopolis
« on: September 13, 2009, 03:11:37 pm »
Hi!

I have a weakness for Apollo and Apollo types. But this one I have never seen before. At first glance I thought it was Artemis on the rev. But because the figure is nude it can't be the goddess but must be her twin brother Apollo.

Thrace, Hadrianopolis, Marcus Aurelius, Augustus AD 161-180
struck during his time as Caesar AD 139-161
AE 20, 4.95g
obv. OVHROC - KAICAR
        Bust, slightly bearded, draped and cuirassed(?), bare-headed, r.
rev. ADRIANO - POLEIT
       Apollo, nude, stg. r. in lunge r., holding bow in extended l. hand and drawing with r. hand arrow from quiver over r.
       shoulder.
ref. Varbanov (engl.) 3182 (draped only); Jurukova 54
rare, about VF, black-green patina

Anyone who does know this Artemis-like Apollo type from another city? I'm curious to see a second example.

Best regards

Offline slokind

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Re: A rare Apollo type from Hadrianopolis
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2009, 04:37:54 pm »
That coin, besides being a real prize, surely is important to the iconography of Apollo in ThracePat 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, HadrianopolisCaracalla, 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 (ThraceGordian 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.

Offline Jochen

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Re: A rare Apollo type from Hadrianopolis
« Reply #2 on: September 13, 2009, 05:31:08 pm »
Thanks for your comment, especially about the compound bow, which was new for me. The last type I think is iconographically related to the Apollo Propylaeus type we know from Cremna. According to Weinreich Apollo Propylaeus was the guardian god against plague and other deseases propagated by mice.

Best regards

Offline archivum

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Re: A rare Apollo type from Hadrianopolis
« Reply #3 on: September 14, 2009, 10:12:14 am »

This is a baneful and threatening aspect of Apollo that you'd want to make sure aimed away from your friends; well-discussed in C. Faraone, Talismans and Trojan Horses (Oxford, 1992), pp. 7 and 60.
Temper thy haste with sloth -- Taverner / Erasmus.

Offline Jochen

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Re: A rare Apollo type from Hadrianopolis
« Reply #4 on: September 14, 2009, 10:24:16 am »
Hi archivum!

Thanks for the hint. I have ordered a used ex. via Amazon.

Best regards

Offline archivum

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Re: A rare Apollo type from Hadrianopolis
« Reply #5 on: September 14, 2009, 10:35:29 am »

-- I think it's a very rich book!
Temper thy haste with sloth -- Taverner / Erasmus.

 

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