Freeman & Sear - Gemini I, Session 2



      ancient classic artifacts coins numismatic roman greek 



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                        Lot: 404

                        (click on image to enlarge)
                        MYSIA, Hadrianothera: Caracalla. AD 198-217. AE 52 mm 
                        medallion (52.86 gm).

                        ROMAN EMPIRE: Caracalla (AD 198-217). Orichalcum 
                        medallion (52 mm, 52.86 gm). Hadrianothera, Mysia. 
                        AVTOKPAT K MAPKOC ANTWNEINOC, laureate, cuirassed bust 
                        right, seen from front, Medusa head on cuirass, fold of 
                        cloak on left shoulder / EPI CTP AVP ATTALOV MOCXIANOV 
                        ADPIANOQHPEITWN TO B E A, Caracalla in military dress 
                        standing left, holding spear in left hand, clasping 
                        right hands with Aesculapius who holds serpent-wreathed 
                        staff, and crowned from behind by Tyche, who has polos 
                        on head and also holds cornucopia. Lanz, Munich 114, 26 
                        May 2003, lot 508 (this coin). Peus 366 (Burstein 
                        Collection), 25 October 2000, lot 584 (same obverse 
                        die). Otherwise unpublished. Second known specimen, and 
                        far better preserved that the other. An immense colonial 
                        medallion. Very fine 

                        This issue at Hadrianothera dates from the sole reign of 
                        Caracalla, to judge from the bearded portrait, and was 
                        previously unknown. The published coinage of the city 
                        had previously jumped from two issues under Septimius 
                        Severus, naming the strategoi Diogenes and Moschianos 
                        respectively, to a final issue under Philip I, naming 
                        the First Archon Aurelios Socrates on some coins. The 
                        Aurelios Attalos Moschianos named on the present coin as 
                        strategos for the second time is presumably the same man 
                        as the strategos Moschianos mentioned on coins of a 
                        youthful Caracalla Augustus ca. AD 200 in one of the 
                        issues under Septimius. Now, in AD 214, Caracalla, on 
                        his way to Syria for a Parthian campaign, stopped at the 
                        famous temple of Aesculapius in Pergamum, another Mysian 
                        city, as we know from the ancient historians and from a 
                        splendid series of Pergamene medallions commemorating 
                        the visit. Our gigantic medallion would seem to attest 
                        Caracalla's visit to a temple of Aesculapius in 
                        Hadrianothera, too, in the course of the same journey. 
                        For the coinage of Hadrianothera, see von Fritze in AMNG 
                        IV/1, pp. 194-208 and SNG von Aulock 1145-1161. 
                        Estimated Value: $ 5,750 




...Lot was unsold.
 

Gemini I Auction Closed Jan 11-12, 2005. 

Re-used by permission of Freeman & Sear (www.freemanandsear.com) 
                      and Harlan J Berk (www.harlanjberk.com).