seth77

Hi @CPK how do you do these very aesthetic backgrounds for your pics?

This theme is very interesting and that coin is on my wishlist too. It shows that these ludic celebrations and religious festivals were often concurring. Your coin shows the Dousaria and Actia. I wonder if I should add a couple of local 'games and celebrations' issues from Phrygia here or start another thread.

Group 2 for Alexander Augustus, 23 specs in RPC.

Thank you for this observation. I have completely missed this calendar and yes, it is very likely that it is exactly what it was used here.

It may be a local calendar, it could also be Pompeian era (some Orthosian coinage under Cleopatra VII uses this calendar apparently), it could also be Actian era (after Cleopatra) or even regnal years of Tiberius. At different times different calendars were used.

I wondered that too but with just one issue and that rather short for a reign of 20+ years I wonder what kind of religious festival would only happen once every 20+ years? Perhaps the coinage marks a building phase in the town?

I have been wanting one of these for some time: ANTONINUS PIUS (138-161) AE23mm 9.34g copper multiple, minted at Orthosia, ca. 150-1 ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙ ΤΙ ΑΙΛ ΑΔΡ ΑΝΤWΝΕΙΝΟϹ ϹΕΒ; laureate bust of Antoninus Pius wearing cuirass and paludamentum, right, seen from back ΒΞΥ - Baal of Orthosia wearing kalathos(?) standing in biga drawn by griffins, right, holding harpa; ΟΡΘWϹΙΕWΝ underneath. RPC IV.3 6211 Scarce type, 5 noted in RPC + 3 in acsearch, possibly all struck with the same pair of dies. Orthosia was not a first rate city during Imperial age, despite being mentioned in Maccabees and by Plinius and Strabo. The finds of coins containing the ethnic (possibly of this type or the sister issue showing Astarte) and the Tabula Peutingeriana helped narrow down the location of the town to the Lebanese coast near the Eleutheros river, but not much remains of it. The 'Baal of Orthosia' is a local god of Phoenician origin. This representation might be based on an actual cult statue dedicated to the Baal, as it appears throughout the history on Orthosian coinage at least since the time of Cleopatra VII. Influenced by both Mesopotamian and Egyptian figurative art, the 'Baal of Orthosia' and his companion Astarte bring a very distinctive idea on the local religion, while the 'Baal' seems to also act like the symbol of the town. As seen here, in the 2nd century the representation also includes a kalathos(?) or another similar head gear that might had been attached under the influence of the cult of Serapis. Unfortunately on this specimen the harpa, used here likely as an attribute of chthonic force, is not very clear. For such a brief and singular emission, the coin design is remarkably complex and standardized, employing even the dating system of the local area as ΒΞΥ (462, hinting to a possible foundation of the town in the Hellenistic period).

Since I am not in the know regarding the tetarteron and its minute particularities I have some questions: 1. is the 'new' argument based solely on the work of J. Baker? I'm sure you know I am a big fan of his work on the denier tournois of the Frankokratia and the previous circulation of the original Frankish blueprint, but we should keep in mind that what he writes in his 'Medieval Greece...' book is extremely conservative, fixing on certainties or near certainties and leaving very few spaces in between for theories dubbed as 'alternatives' -- for instance I can't find much help for my interest in the 'forgeries' or 'local imitations' of the Frankish denier tournois, a field that not only accepts but requires space for theories, arguments and conjectures. In many ways this is also what you need for these tetartera, no? 2. if these are not 'Latin' or 'Bulgarian' then it probably leaves the Empire of Nicaea as possible minting authority. And since they are rare and few specimens are known, then the finding place is is even more relevant to attribute them. 3. the tetartera that are tentatively assigned to Venetian interests such as at Corinth or on the Via Egnatia are copies of known types from the 12th century, not new types with distinct iconography. In fact as in the case of the trachea, the clearly 'Latin' types (A-D) are different from the later types (Asen types?) and certainly different from the 'religious types' (Peter and Paul Hoard); for 'Thessalonica' types the Series III types follow closely the late Komnenodoukas types and the novelties only appear later, possibly into the rule of Michael VIII; finally the 'Nicaea' tetartera of the later Nicaea Empire c. 1250s are often of wild discrepancy quality-wise, possibly implying a central minting (Magnesia) and 'provincial' minting operations not-that-on-par with the center coinage. I know I did not answer any of your questions, but perhaps my thinking aloud helps you towards new conjectures.

I'll PM you later on when I get to my laptop.

This is from the last phase of local minting during the reign of Philip the Arab: AE28mm 11.44g bronze tetrakaihemiassarion(?), c. 245-9. AVT M IOVΛ ΦIΛIΠΠOC AVΓ M WT / A CЄBHPA CЄB; Draped busts of Philip, laureate and cuirassed, and Otacilia Severa, wearing stephane, facing one another. MHTPO - ΠO - NT TOMEΩC; Homonoia in chiton and himation, standing facing, head left with kalathos, holding cornucopia and patera. AMNG 3583, Varbanov 5765; RPC VIII unassigned ID 28170 There are 25 on RPC and some more on acsearch but somehow so they are far from rare, but you dont see that many on trade at the moment.

Another Decian coin, from the earlier period, before the sons were raised to be Caesares in 250, for Herennia Etruscilla:

It's in Robert Kool's work 'Circulation and use of coins in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem' from 2013.

It's probably safe to say some of the coins in that pile are Bohemond IV, some first reign, some second reign and maybe even some Bohemond V. Some Bohemond III have the scarcer knight head right from early in the majority of Bohemond III, some could even be from the minority of the prince while Raynald de Chatillon was prince-regent. A similar situation is with the deniers tournois of the 3 main mints of Frankish Greece, also very accessible and offered in large quantities at any given time. They are not all the same thing and I am certain that some collectors go after them searching for particularities that would indicate known issues of particular interest or new hypotheses regarding chronology and historical connections. Actually the sheer number of available coins begs the research for minute details such as the letter forms or whether the crescents that form the chainmail of the obverse knight are upwards or downwards. In a similar way this is how the Israeli researchers offered a rather solid chronology of the AMALRICVS deniers that starts with 1164/7 and goes up to c. 1220s.

The veiled spec is the epitome of elegant coin design

This veiled Laodike IV portrait: AE15 3.35g c. 175-2BC (Antiochos IV Epiphanes)

Isn't the Smyrna coin supposed to be a lyre/cithara upside down?

It's a denier of Bordeaux for Henry Plantagenet as King of England. Most Aquitanian coinage at this point is usually for Richard, Henry seems to be considerably scarcer.

Oh man I remember that horrible delivery fiasco. And what an interesting coin that was, even worn as it was, it looked great.

The pic was rather blurry but it wasn't cheap. Still a good buy.

It's a beautiful portrait but my favorite is still the veiled portrait.

Really happy with this latest Caesarea Cappadocia with an unlikely and rare military bust type for Elagabal: AE27mm 12.28g c. 219-20

Here is a clear rendition of the obverse legend (although worn) with the title of Autokrator very visible: Α Κ Μ ΑΥΡΗΛΙ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔ -- and the radiate Helios in the countermark very well preserved. This coinage with this legend can only be after early January 222. And two bonuses: 1. another more regular Alexander as Caesar, earlier emission K Μ ΑΥΡΗΛIOC ΑΛƐΞΑΝΔPOC, obverse die-match with my coin #2 above: 2. An Elagabal with an interesting and scarce military bust, struck post the wedding of 219 with Julia Paula All three have the same GIC12i counter mark, radiate head of Helios r. inside circular punch mark, likely applied under Gordian III or later.

Some of those bags look like they could be actually storing a dead body.

Do you have any with cat paws?

I found this picture online recently: It's an "enhanced" image of the base of the Obelisk of Theodosius in Constantinopolis, captured in 1855 by James Robertson, rather well-known engraver, artist and photographer, involved in a lot of the cultural aspects of the Ottoman Empire's "opening up" to Britain around the time of the Crimean War, showing a glimpse of what it looked like being in the Ottoman capital as the Empire itself was breathing its last. The obelisk itself is not really visible, but what actually counts, the monument to the reign of Theodosius I is clear and haunting, almost alien in the context. Mr. Robertson had a definitive flair for the dramatic. Here's the very short timeline of the monument: - the actual obelisk was initially dedicated to Pharaoh Thutmosis III (1479-25BCE) in Karnak - in 356-7AD it is brought to Alexandria for Constantius II - in 390 it's raised on the spina of the Constantinopolitan Hippodrome and dedicated to Theodosius At that time, Theodosius was at the top of his game, master of the whole Empire -- the Hadrianopolis disaster in Thracia had been mitigated, Magnus Maximus in the West had been eliminated and Valentinian II was inconsequential. His own dynasty seemed in place and secure. An early coin from Antioch c. 380 shows him as the quintessential late Roman imperator et dominus, even though at that time he was still in the shadow of Gratian as a junior partner. Now back to the obelisk and its dedication in Constantinopolis. The inscription on the base is still complete in the picture although the last line is underground: DIFFICILIS QVONDAM DOMINIS PARERE SERENIS IVSSVS ET EXTINCTIS PALMAM PORTARE TYRANNIS OMNIA THEODOSIO CEDVNT SVBOLIQVE PERENNI TERDENIS SIC VICTVS EGO DOMITVSQVE DIEBVS IVDICE SVB PROCLO SVPERAS ELATVS AD AVRAS Might as well be: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!