Four Notes Regarding Reattribution of some City Coins of Arabia, Galilee and the Decapolis

Note 1: From Cyrene to Bostra

A coin of Faustina Senior, with head of Zeus Ammon on the reverse[1], has been known for over a century since it has been published by Ludvig Müller[2] who attributed it to Cyrene, which produced multiple issues depicting Ammon. The only currently known specimen of this type is from Lindgren collection and is now in the collection of the American Numismatic Society (fig. 1a)[3].  

The style of this coin is very different from other Cyrene issues, and actually very similar to a coin of Antoninus Pius from Bostra (Arabia), presumably struck for the Legio III Cyrenaica[4].

Here we report another example of this type (fig. 1b). Most likely this coin was struck in Bostra in parallel with the issue in the name of Antoninus Pius, which has the same reverse type, probably struck with the same die (fig. 1c)[5]. Moreover, this type shares the obverse die with a published coin of Faustina depicting Tyche and with the legend BOCTPA on the reverse (fig. 1d)[6]. Thus, it is now certain that this is a coin of Bostra and not of Cyrene.

Several posthumous issues of Faustina Senior were struck in Bostra[7], all featuring ΘЄΑ in front of the empress name. In addition, the empress portrait on the posthumous issues is veiled. The obverse legend of the coin in fig. 1d (Kindler type 7) is ΦAVCTЄINA CЄBACT, suggesting that it is most likely a lifetime issue[8]. This new attribution allows to narrow down the timeframe of the production of the Zeus-Ammon type to AD 138-140, effectively brings to conclusion the discussion started by Arie Kindler[9] who was only able to date the Antoninus Pius/Zeus-Ammon issue to the reign of Antoninus Pius. All four obverse/reverse combinations are very scarce, supporting limited emission of these types likely intended to show connection of Legio III Cyrenaica with the city of Bostra. Furthermore, Kindler has suggested that the type of Antoninus Pius/Zeus Ammon, despite having legends in Greek, is actually a part of Legio III emission of three denominations. The two bigger denominations bear Latin inscriptions which allow to date them to the third consulate of Antoninus Pius, relating to the time period AD 140 to 143. If indeed these coins were struck at the same time, the date of the Faustina/Zeus-Ammon issue can be further narrowed down to AD 140.

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Note 2: From Adraa to Petra

The following type is not entirely unknown as well. It has been published by Ya’akov Meshorer et al. as part of the Sofaer Collection and mistakenly attributed to Adraa[10], and described as depicting seated Heracles holding club, with reference to Spijkerman catalogue[11], indeed depicting Heracles. The state of preservation of the two coins in the Sofaer Collection does not allow to read the legends with confidence. Since that publication at least 10 additional coins of this type have surfaced on the numismatic market: CNG auctions[12], Shick VCoins[13] (fig. 2), eBay pharaoh_crypt, and 6 more illustrated below, most struck with the same pair of dies. Combining visible details of available coins allows identifying the image on the reverse as seated Tyche holding a trophy, typical for issues of Petra[14]. She is holding the trophy with her left hand over her shoulder. Her empty right hand is stretched forward. The reverse legend is retrograde and mixed Greek/Latin: PETA CΟΛΝΙΑ. This issue could coincide with the very common founder type of Elagabalus[15] and with significantly scarcer smaller denomination depicting Tyche seated in a distyle temple[16]. The weight of the latter type is usually between 6.5 and 8 grams, suggesting that the coins without temple (with typical weight of just over 4 grams) belong to a different denomination or at least a separate issue, and are not just a variety of the Tyche in temple type.

 

The majority of known coins of the founder type are of degraded style, some to the extreme degree with completely unreadable legend and very crude style. Interestingly, two of the coins of the new type (struck with the same dies, Sofaer collection[17] and fig. 8) are of ›barbaric‹ style as well.

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Note 3: From Tiberias to Epidaurus in Achaea

In the first corpus of coins of Tiberias[18] published in 1961, Kindler included a coin from the collection of Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum, GR 22478 (fig. 9). The coin depicts the laureate head of Antoninus Pius on the obverse and a temple with four columns enclosing a seated statue of a deity, which Kindler attributed as Zeus, on the reverse. While the coin is rather worn and corroded, Kindler suggested reading of the reverse legend as [TIB] CLA. The attribution of Kindler is commonly accepted[19], despite the fact that no additional coins of this type have been identified since Kindler’s original report. Coins of Tiberias struck after the time of Hadrianus are very rare, with most of the types represented by less than five specimens, and therefore the absence of additional examples was not particularly surprising.

However, close examination of the coin published by Kindler allows to suggest an alternative reading of the inscription. On the left of the temple one can read ΙЄΡΑC (fig. 10), which should state for ΙЄΡΑC, ›Holy‹, or ΙЄΡ(ΑC) ΑC(VΛOV), ›Holy with the right of Asylum‹. Both readings make attribution to Tiberias highly unlikely since there is no evidence that this city carried any of these titles at the time of Antoninus Pius[20]. Moreover, this reading allows us to identify the coin published by Kindler as one of Epidaurus in Achaea, RPC IV.1, 4637 (fig. 11)[21]. Comparison of the two coins reveals that they are clearly belonging to the same type. This new attribution widens the period in which coins were not struck in Tiberias to nearly seven decades, from the emission in the name of Hadrian dated to the local era AP [101] (AD 119/120) until that of Commodus dated ΡΞΖ [167] (AD 185/186).

 

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Note 4: From Faustina Junior to Crispina

A coin of Gerasa attributed to Faustina Junior has been published by Spijkerman with reference to the Rosenberger collection[22] (fig. 12). This coin is quite worn and only three last letters of the eminent name are visible, …INA. Multiple additional examples of the type have been reported since, including two in RPC[23] and few more in trade. The type of draped bust of empress/draped bust of Artemis has been struck in Gerasa for Lucilla[24], Crispina[25] and Julia Domna[26] and existence of the same type for Faustina Junior would not be unexpected. However, examination of available images of the coins attributed to this type reveals that in all of the cases the name is either worn and could not be read (such as in case of the coin illustrated by Spijkerman), or it can be clearly recognized as the well-known type of Crispina[27] (an example from one of the recent sales is illustrated in fig. 13)[28]. So far, no specimen that can clearly be attributed to Faustina Junior has been published or appeared on numismatic market, and until such example surfaces the type of Faustina Junior/Bust of Artemis should be either excluded from the corpus of Gerasa coins or at least marked as questionable.