Moesia inferior, Nikopolis ad Istrum, Elagabal AMNG 1953
Elagabal AD 218-222
AE 27, 15.94g
struck under legate Novius Rufus
obv. AVT KM AVR - ANTWNEINOC
Bust, draped and cuirassed, radiate, r.
rev. VP NOBIOV ROVFOV NIKOPOLITWN / PROC ISTR / ON
The youthfull locale mountain god Haimos sitting on rock l., reclining on tree, hands above head; stag behind him jumping r., bear, coming out of cave below, r.
AMNG 1953 (pl. III, 23, same rev. die); Varbanov 3084
Very rare, EF, the nicest specimen ever seen 

Haimos, a Thracian king, was married with Rhodope. Their love was so great that they called each another Zeus and Hera. For that blasphemia the real Zeus turned them into homonymous mountains. (Ovid, Met. VI, 87)
A similar myth is known from Keyx and Alcyone where they are turned into birds, Keyx into a diver and Alcyone into a kingfisher. (Ovid, Met. XI, 410)

Contributed by Hans-Joachim, 2006.