Antioch in Pisidia, large coins

[Valentinian]

I have written a web page on the large-denomination Roman coins (provincial sestertii) from Antioch in Pisidia.

http://augustuscoins.com/ed/AntiochPisidia/AntiochPisidia.html

Here is one of the coins on that page:

Gordian III, 238-244
35-34 mm. 27.24 grams, (Sestertii of Gordian III are typically 31-29 mm and 21 grams or less.)
This coin is larger than imperial sestertii.
Bust right, laureate, cuirassed, and draped. 
IMP CAES M ANT GORDIANVS AVG
CAES ANTIOCH COL  (Caesarea Antioch Colonia)
SR in exergue
Pietas standing left holding out patera over an altar, with incense box in her left hand, three standards on the left with the leftmost one surmounted by Victory.

RPC 2726  (The main reference is Roman Provincial Coinage, abbreviated "RPC", volume 7.1, which is on-line here.)

For more about the city and its coinage, again, see the page:
http://augustuscoins.com/ed/AntiochPisidia/AntiochPisidia.html

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

The page is quite interesting and informative!

Perhaps you could do a large AE page on the famous Antioch (Gordian-Gallienus), too?

[Al Kowsky]

3 hours ago, Valentinian said:

I have written a web page on the large-denomination Roman coins (provincial sestertii) from Antioch in Pisidia.

http://augustuscoins.com/ed/AntiochPisidia/AntiochPisidia.html

Here is one of the coins on that page:

Gordian III, 238-244
35-34 mm. 27.24 grams, (Sestertii of Gordian III are typically 31-29 mm and 21 grams or less.)
This coin is larger than imperial sestertii.
Bust right, laureate, cuirassed, and draped. 
IMP CAES M ANT GORDIANVS AVG
CAES ANTIOCH COL  (Caesarea Antioch Colonia)
SR in exergue
Pietas standing left holding out patera over an altar, with incense box in her left hand, three standards on the left with the leftmost one surmounted by Victory.

RPC 2726  (The main reference is Roman Provincial Coinage, abbreviated "RPC", volume 7.1, which is on-line here.)

For more about the city and its coinage, again, see the page:
http://augustuscoins.com/ed/AntiochPisidia/AntiochPisidia.html

Thanks for sharing your well written & informative webpage ☺️! I've posted my hefty Gordians before but will post again for your thread.

The composition on my other Gordian differs from the coin posted on your website, the engraver didn't add the fig tree 😮. I took the liberty of posting your coin below mine for comparison 😉.

                                                   

 

[Prieure de Sion]

 

Marcus Antonius Gordianus III, Antiochia ad Pisidiam, Galatia, 238-244 AD, AE Bronze, Diameter 35.00mm, Weight 24.50g, RPC VII.2 2742, Krzyżanowska XXII/96, XXIV/98, Obv. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian III, right, seen from rear / IMP CAES M ANT GORDIANVS AVG, Rev. Victory advancing right, holding trophy in both hands / VICTORIA DOMINI ANTI COL[ONI] S R, Ex Pars Coins San Jose, Auction 30, Lot 270

 

I have two others more - but I dont like they so much. This is my best example... 

[Al Kowsky]

I should have posted this comparison with my first entry but didn't think of it at the time 🤔. Roma Numismatics Ltd. sold a Gordian that appears to be a double-die match to my coin at their E-Sale 95, lot 725, it fetched $390.00 including the buyers premium. In their description they say "Extremely Rare; among the very finest of very few to come to auction in the past twenty years." I certainly have to question that 😏. What do Numis Formuns members think 🤨?

https://www.romanumismatics.com/259-lot-725-gordian-iii-a-34mm-of-antioch-pisidia?auction_id=159&view=lot_detail

 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by Al Kowsky

[Severus Alexander]

Gordie seems to get an unfair number of these, with Septimius coming second.  Here's a Sev Alex I recently picked up, and to which I just discovered @dougsmit has an obverse die match. He likes it (well, and so do I now) because of the R completing the legend under the bust, not exactly best practice when it comes to lettering.

The latest example I have from the city (last issue?) is Claudius II:

... but it's a smaller coin like the one of Volusian that @Valentinian illustrates at the bottom of his new page.

[Roman Collector]

Informative web page, @Valentinian! These issues are interesting. Here's a big Gordy with a reverse type that hasn't yet been posted!

Gordian III, AD 238-244.
Roman Provincial Æ 35 mm, 26.72 g, 6 h.
Pisidia, Antioch, AD 238-244.
Obv: IMP CAES M ANT GORDIANVS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian III, r., seen from rear.
Rev: COL CAES ANTIOCH, S-R, Mên standing r., wearing Phrygian cap, foot on bucranium, holding sceptre and Victory (standing r., on globe, holding trophy), resting elbow on column; behind his shoulders, crescent; to l., rooster standing, l.
Refs: RPC VII.2, 2724; Krzyżanowska XXII/94; BMC xix.187, 70.

 

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by Roman Collector

[kapphnwn]

Antioch in Pisidia is probably one of the more prolific mints in the Roman Empire possibly bein Victory flying rightg the fourth after Rome Alexandria and Antioch on the Orontes. The city struck coins in both the  first and second centuries however it is the third where the coinage becomes quite large and extensive. Circa 205 AD Septimius Severus commenced striking a series of large sestertii sized coins one of which is this coin. 

Septimius Severus Ae 30 205-211 AD Obv Head right laureate Rv Victory flying right holding trophy in both hands  Krzyzanovska XXXI/41 22,62 grms 30 mm Photo by W. Hansen

Until the completion of RPC, Krzyzanovska's book Monnaies coloniales d' Antioch de Pisidie remains the principal source. Being that it was published in Warsaw in 1970 it is not the easiest book to find. Also the plates can leave a lot to be desired. The "sestertius" denomination started with Septimius circa 205 AD. and consisted of coins minted for himself Julia Domna Caracalla and Geta. The date of 205 is based on the portraits of Caracalla. He is depicted as a younger clean shaven individual an image which could be seen on contemporary Rome mint coins. The letters S R have caused a lot of speculation over the years with no one appearing to come up with a satisfactory explanation for their presence.  I believe that it may stand for some version of Sestertius Romana but when I presented this idea in a lecture it did not elicit much response. 

  @Severus Alexander noted the disproportionate numbers of Gordian III. This is true. At one time when I was researching this mint, I looked through not only one line sources but the various SNG"s that were available at the time to me. I cannot say that this research was comprehensive but my findings were that over half the coins recorded from this mint were struck during the reign of Gordian III. In fact there is a curious group of coins from this mint that are related to the large sestertii issue of Gordian. There is a series from the mint with the head of Gordian III but with a radiate crown, They are about half the size of the "sestertii" so they are likely to be dupondii. These coins are usually given to Philip II .However it is much more likely that they were struck for Philip I. 

 After the reign of Gordian III, The large 'sestertii' were discontinued until the reign of Gallienus. They make a brief appearance during his reign. Otherwise the 'dupondius' is seen being struck until the reign of Claudius Gothicus 

Edited October 27, 2022 by kapphnwn
additional info Hey I am still on holidays

[dougsmit]

Septimius also used the Men type.

Here Gordian used a sacrifice scene with standards on an AE35.  My example makes the identity of the reverse figure less than obvious but the seller called it 'emperor'.    I prefer the Pietas as listed by Valentinian.

Edited October 27, 2022 by dougsmit

[dougsmit]

Of all Antioch, Pisidia coins, my favorite is the smaller, left facing denomination just for what I consider interesting style. 

I also like the smaller AE26 Domna with Men but consider my Fortuna coin for Domna rather pedestrian in style. 

[akeady]

Here's a Caracalla large coin from Antioch in Pisidia that I got a few years ago:

Ruler:	Caracalla (Augustus)
Region, City:	Pisidia, Antioch
Coin:	Bronze AE33 IMP CAE M AVR ANTONINVS PIVS AVG - Laureate bust right COL CAES ANTIOCH - she-wolf standing right below tree, suckling the twins Romulus and Remus
Exergue:	SR
Mint:	(ca 198-217 AD)
Wt./Size/Axis:	27.19g / 33mm / 7h
References:	Krzyzanowska pl. 39, 70 SNG France 1141-1143 BMC 46
Acquisition:	Roma Numismatics Online Auction E-Sale 21 #522 31-Oct-2015

 

ATB,
Aidan.

[Severus Alexander]

My rarest and historically coolest Pisidian Antioch is this one.  Issued c. 210-211, just before Caracalla murdered Geta, it shows the brothers shaking hands on the reverse, with the legend CONCORD AVGVSTOR COL ANTIOCH S-R.  Not so much Concordia there, actually! 🙃

 

That's a cool idea for the meaning of SR, @kapphnwn, but I don't think it can refer to "sestertius" because "SR" also on the dupondius-sized pieces (see my Claudius II above).  My bet is that it refers to the senate, and is sort of analogous to the meaning of S C on imperial AE.  You're surely right that the two denominations correspond to sestertius and dupondius, respectively, though.  The many examples of Gordian III that survive may be due to the hoarding of AE that took place in the mid-third century.  According to Kenneth Harl, around a fifth of the hoards from the 3rd century are of this type, basically exclusively sestertii.  Due to the extreme debasement of the antoninianus in the 250s and 260s, the AE metal was becoming worth keeping!  (I should check his book to see if provincials were being hoarded too... something rings a bell about that.)

[Severus Alexander]

And here's a pre-Septimius example from the mint, issued under Marcus Aurelius.  I found the bust of Mên intriguing:

Marcus Aurelius, 161-180. 'As' (24mm, 7.10g). Obv: ANTONINVS AVGV; Laureate head of Marcus Aurelius to right. Rev: COLO ANTIOC; Head of Mên, wearing Phrygian cap, set to left on crescent. Krzyżanowska 141. RPC IV.3 online 7356

[maridvnvm]

I have wanted a large module coin from Antioch in Pisidia for a long time. I finally found one that I wanted to pull the trigger on.

Septimius Severus - AE35

holding sceptre and Nike on globe who holds trophy over shoulder, left elbow resting on column, cockerel at his feet to left; S-R across fields
Minted in Antioch, Pisidia
Reference:- SNG Copenhagen VI, Pisidia, Antioch 28; SNG BnF 1100-5; SNG von Aulock 4924

Weight 21.472g. 35.28mm. 180 degrees

[curtislclay]

Two points that Valentinian might want to add to his web page on these large bronze coins from Antioch in Pisidia:

1. Many of the Antioch reverse types were clearly closely copied from Rome mint sestertius rev. types of the Severan period.

For example the woman sacrificing before three standards type with which Valentinian began this thread: clearly copied from Julia Domna's MATRI CASTRORVM sestertius type of 196 AD, for example BMC pl. 47.3. So the lady in that type, when it was created, was undoubtedly not "emperor" or "Pietas", but rather "Julia Domna".

Maybe Antioch was repurposing the type to represent Tranquillina as Mother of the Camps, if indeed she also acquired that title; but I think it more likely that the mint at Antioch was merely copying the Severan type, as decorative and appropriate for a coin reverse, without intending to relate it to the history of Gordian's reign. I'll be interested to see from the introductory text in RPC when it is published whether the authors have recognized the many Severan sestertius rev. types that were copied on these Antioch bronzes; maybe not, since they call the lady with the standards "Pietas" rather than the correct "Julia Domna".

2. I think a German scholar, I can't recall who, solved the mystery of the letters S R on Antioch's coins about twenty-five years ago: the letters stood for Socius Romanus or the grammatical equivalent of those two words, i.e., "Ally of the Romans", a title that Antioch deserved as an important military colony supplying the Roman army with lodging, recruits, and supplies for their many third-century campaigns against the Parthians and the Persians.

[Valentinian]

 

1 hour ago, curtislclay said:

clearly copied from Julia Domna's MATRI CASTRORVM sestertius type of 196 AD, for example BMC pl. 47.3.

Here is a link to an example: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/MATRI/

The resemblance to the first coin in this thread is remarkable. Thank you, @curtislclay, for pointing that out. I added your comments, attributed to you, to my web page:  http://augustuscoins.com/ed/AntiochPisidia/AntiochPisidia.html

Here is another coin from that page:



Septimius Severus, 193-211
33 mm. 26.17 grams.
IMP CAES L SEP SEVERVS PER AVG

Mên standing right, crescent behind shoulders, holding long staff and Victory with trophy on globe and left foot on a tiny prow. A small rooster is on the ground to the left. The left arm resting on a column suggests this is an image of a statue.

SNG Copenhagen VI, Pisidia, Antioch 28.
Von Aulock III 4924

[AETHER]

I just posted about one of these on another thread, so I might as well link it here.  I was wondering about the reference and to my surprise a user was kind enough to link a die match coin as an example. 

 

Caracalla AE33 of Antioch, Pisidia. AD 193-211. 26.9 g.

IMP CAES M AVR ANTONINVS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
COL CAES ANTIOCH, S-R, Men standing front, head right, 
crescent behind shoulders, holding Nike on globe and 
sceptre, left foot on bucranium, rooster at foot left.

BMC 38; SNG France III, 1173-1174; Paris 94; SNG von Aulock 4933; SNG Fitz. 5126; Lockett 2947; SNG Lewis 1682.

Edited December 18, 2022 by AETHER
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