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Severus Alexander, 13 March 222 - March 235 A.D., Elaiussa-Sebaste, Islands Off Cilicia
| Elaiussa, meaning olive, was founded in the 2nd century B.C. on a tiny island attached to the southern coast of Turkey by a narrow isthmus in Mediterranean Sea. During the reign of Augustus, the Cappadocian king Archelaus founded a new city on the isthmus. Archelaus called it Sebaste, which is the Greek equivalent word of the Latin "Augusta." The city entered its golden age when Vespasian purged Cilicia of pirates in 74 A.D. Towards the end of the 3rd century A.D. its importance began to wane, due in large part to incursions by the Sassanian King Shapur I in 260 and later by the Isaurians. When its neighbor Corycus began to flourish in the 6th century A.D., Elaiussa Sebaste slowly disappeared from history. The theater, dating to the 2nd century A.D., is small with only 23 rows of seats, whose steps and decorations unfortunately succumbed to centuries of plunder. |  |
RP92382. Bronze AE 35, SNG Levante Suppl. 231 (same dies), RPC Online VI T7053 (1 spec = SNG Levante S231), SNG Cop -, SNGvA -, BMC Lycaonia -, aF, well centered, scratches, holed, Elaiussa-Sebaste (Ayash, Turkey) mint, weight 17.658g, maximum diameter 35.3mm, die axis 0o, 222 - 235 A.D.; obverse AY K M AY CEYHP AΛEΞANΔPOC, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind; reverse CEBACTH IEPAC AYT NAY,APX (the last three letters upward in the left field), Asklepios standing facing, leaning on serpent-entwined staff in right hand, Telesphorus at feet on left; only one sale of this large 35mm bronze type in the last two decades recorded on Coin Archives (and it is the same specimen listed in SNG Levante and RPC VI); extremely rare; SOLD
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