head ; on a second brass of Elagabalus and of
Annia Faustina, his third wife, the legend of
this coin is C. A. PI. MET. SID.,
Colonia Aurelia
Pia Metropolis Sidon.
[Vaillant observes that this elegant type, representing the rape of Europa by Jupiter under
the form of a bull, refers to the antiquity of
Sidon. Bimard (
ad Jobert. ii. 261) views it in
the same light, in opposition to the conjecture
of some writers, who contend that the young
woman and the bull simply designate the
united beauty and strength of the Sidonians,
qualities for which they were by no means
remarkable. -- The same learned annotator judiciously adds that "Sidon, at the period when
its Roman authorities caused these medals to be
struck, was inhabited not only by Phoenicians,
but also by Greeks, the latter of whom had
established themselves there from Alexander
the Great's time. And the Greeks, adopting on
their part the worship of Astarte (the most
ancient divinity of the Sidonians), imparted
in their turn to the Sidonians, the worship of
Europa." Thus, the figure of Astarte and of
Europa, with their respective attributes and
indications, were alternately engraved on the
colonial-imperial coins of Sidon, whose inhabitants, like the rest of Phoenicia, had eventually become composed of people, who paid adoration equally to each of these deifications.]
Emperor Sacrificing. -- On a coin of Sidon,
struck under Elagabalus. -- The emperor, in the
garb of a pontiff, stands before an altar with
patera in right hand ; star in field. -- Pl. xix. 10,
p. 203.
Modius. -- On a first brass of Elagabalus,
struck at Sidon, appears the
modius, or bushel
measure, filled with ears of corn, and at the
bottom of the coin is AETERNV. BENEFI.
Aeternum Beneficium.
[Allusive to the donations of corn which,
after the custom of Rome (see
Annona), were
made by Elagabalus to the Sidonians. This
type seems to have been borrowed from a celebrated coin of Nerva, struck by order of the
senate, with the epigraph
Plebei Urbanae Frumento Constituto.]
The epigraph is singular, but still in keeping
with the monstrous exaggerations and fulsome
flattering of a hideous reign.
Signa Militaria. -- There is a first brass of
Sidon, struck under the same Emperor, which
exhibits three military ensigns, whose tops are
surmounted by small eagles. These refer to the
veterans of the
Third Parthian legion sent by
Elagabalus as colonists to Sidon, and on which
remarks have already been made in describing
the type of
Colonus boves agens ; see above.
On small brass, dedicated by this colony
respectively to Julia Soaemias, the mother, and to Julia Maesa, the grandmother of Elagabalus, are three military standards, but without the eagles.
Tables and Urns. -- A coin of Sidon, inscribed
to Elagabalus, has a table with two urns upon
it, each urn having a palm branch. Around is
inscribed COL. METRO. AVR. PIA. SID. ; or COL.
AVR. PIA., etc., as in the example here given.
Below are a vase, apples, and the epigraph CER.
or CERT. PER. ISEL. OECVM. (Periodonica,
Iselastica, OEcumenica). In the coin engraved
above it must read, CE. PE. OEC. IS.
[Vaillant considers CER. or CERT. PER. to
signify Certamina Periodonica. but Bimard,
who rejects Periodonicum as an unknown and
even barbarous word, and who equally rejects
the explanation offered by Hardouin of Certamen
Perpetuum, adopts the opinion of Iselin, that
by CER. PER. is to be understood Certamen
Periodicum, that is to say, public games, in
which all the different kinds of combats and
contests were united, as was the custom at the
four great games of Greece. Compare with
Vaillant "Num. Imp. in Coloniis Percussa,"
vol. ii. p. 90.
On a very rare first brass coin of this colony,
struck under the same emperor, and on a second
brass of Annia Faustina, his wife, appears a
laurel crown, within which is read CERT.
SAC. PER. OECVME. ISELA., the whole surrounded
by COLonia AVRelia PIA. METRopolis
SIDON. -- alluding to the celebration by the
Sidonians of the same certamen periodicum.
Triremis or Galley. -- On a rare second brass
of Elagabalus, bearing the usual legend of this
colony, are two galleys, in the right hand one of
which a male figure stands with hands extended
towards two figures (one of them a female), in
the other galley. At the top of the coin is the
ear of Astarte, and in the lower part is a
dolphin.
[This naval group is supposed to refer to the
story of Dido's flight from Sidon.]
On another Sidonian medal of Elagabalus
a half naked woman is seen standing on the
prow of a galley, with right hand extended, and
left hand holding a wand transversely.
[Some regard this type as alluding to the
flight of Dido ; others as merely representing
Astarte.]
Woman, with turreted head, standing, clothed
in the stola, holds her right hand over an altar,
opposite to which is a legionary eagle placed on
the prow of a ship. -- On a first brass of Elagabalus.
[This figure represents the genius of Sidon.
She wears a crown of towers, as a Metropolis ;
she is dressed in the garb of a Roman matron,
as a colony ; she holds a patera over the altar,
as in the act of sacrificing for the emperor. The
legionary eagle refers to the veterans with which
the colony was peopled ; it is placed on a ship's
prow, either to show the site of the place
(Sidon, till its capture by the Persians, being,
according to Mela, the greatest and most opulent
of maritime cities), or to demonstrate the naval
power of the place.]