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Coin Type: Bronze tetrassarion of Diadumenian from Nikopolis ad Istrum in Lower Moesia. Mint and Date: Nikopolis ad Istrum, 217-218 CE Size and Weight: 26mm x 27mm, 11.67g Obverse: K M OΠΠEΛ ANTΩNI ΔIAΔOVMENIANoc Bare head right, seen from behind. Reverse: VΠ AΓPIΠΠA NIKO-Π-OΛITΩ(N ΠPO and in exergue C ICTPΩ) Apollo Sauroktonos, nude, standing leaning against a treetrunk to the right with his left hand high, right hand low behind holding a leafy laurel switch. There is a lizard half-way up the tree. Ref: Varbanov I (English) —; Megaw NIC 4.7 (the reverse legend incorrectly described and wrongly attributed to the governor Statius Longinus); AMNG I —; Hristova/Jekov (2011) 8.25.7.1; Pat Lawrence's Sauroktonos type 21. Provenance: philip914 (eBay), February 2010 BW Ref: 006 047 154 |
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Note 1: The reverse legend shown here was completed from Hristova & Jekov's "Nikopolis". Note 2: A scarce coin, with three known specimens at the time of writing, of which this is the best. One is owned by Pat Lawrence, who has the following notes on her page on Pontianus and Agrippa dies: "the 'Laurel-Switch Variant', which first appears on the unsigned coin for Septimius, http://www.forumancientcoins.com/ayiyoryitika/Auspex_Dies.html, no. 6b, then twice for Caracalla (once on a reverse signed by Ulpianus, within a decade of AD 218). When I realized that the boy slaying the lizard (or switching it!) was associated with heirs to the throne, I expected a Diadumenian to appear, and thanks to my friend C. Rhodes, who saw it when I didn't, here it is. Now I know of another that will appear in Hristova & Jekov's Nikopolis." And indeed, that third specimen is illustrated there. That specimen is also shown in Megaw's "Diadumenian", noted "Courtesy of Hristova/Jekov". It can be identified by the pitting on the reverse, which looks like the result of bronze disease after treatment. Note 3: This coin (and this photo of it) is shown in Hristova/Jekov second edition. | |
| The content of this page was last updated on 16 February 2010 |