The regime changes in 217 and 218

[seth77]

The assassination of Caracalla and the reign of Macrinus meant that new appointees were assigned to the Eastern and Danubian provinces to replace the local administrations loyal to Caracalla. This was quite unusual for Rome at this point and was likely prompted by the fact that Macrinus as an equestrian felt the need to have his own people in the key provincial elites on the borders of the Empire. So in April 217, Macrinus raised his co-conspirator in the Caracalla assassination, Marcius Claudius Agrippa to the consular rank and put him in charge of the province of Pannonia Inferior. Soon after, by the summer of 217, Agrippa had moved from Pannonia to Dacia as legatus Augusti pro praetore trium Daciarum, and by November or December of 217 he was also governor in Moesia Inferior, so in charge of key limes areas -- in Dacia where the death of Caracalla prompted local unrest and incursions by the free local tribes into the Roman provinces, and in Moesia, where the very brief tenure of Fuscus Pontianus (June to November or December 217) came to an end under a possible local revolt. 

So by 218, Marcius Claudius Agrippa was the main agent responsible with the Dacian and Danubian limes. At this time he also appears as the direct patron of the provincial coinage at Nicopolis ad Istrum:

Diadumenian as Caesar (217-18)
AE26mm 11.27g, tetrassarion(?), ca. early 218.
M OΠЄΛΛI ΔΙ - AΔOYMЄNIANOC K; bare headed, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind
[VΠ AГ]PIППA- NIKOПOΛITΩN ΠPO; mountain god Haimos or river god Lyginus(?) half-naked, reclining half-left, looking right, holding reed(?) leaning on thrown down urn from which water flows
C ICTPO in exe
AMNG 1811 p. 461, Varbanov 3666, Lindgren II 721 (ob. die diff, rev die possibly the same) - citing MSII 610 and BMC 52v 11.92; HHJ Nicopolis 8.25.43.4

Double die-match here. From Hoeft collection here.

The reverse figure is interesting. Its pose is of a river god, but it cannot possibly be Istros/Danubius as it is shown as a young man reclining rather than the regular representation of Istros/Danubius as a bearded old god, with the horns that often appear on the personifications of major river gods. Some catalogs attribute the figure as Haimos, throwing this specific and distinct representation together with the known Haimos representation as on AMNG 1766  under Caracalla's governor Statius Longinus (first half of 217). But with the flowing urn and the possible reed that the figure is holding, a more likely candidate would be the smaller (and younger) Lyginus, the Rositsa river in present-day Bulgaria, on which Nicopolis ad Istrum was actually situated.

By mid 218, Macrinus and Diadumenian had been vanquished and the Severan dynasty reinstated through the new Antoninus Elagabal. This new administration proceeded swiftly to dismiss Agrippa and replace him with Severan loyalist Novius Rufus. The new legate starts a new series of coinage at Nicopolis that summer, possibly before acquiring the official portrait of the new emperor, thus using an effigy similar to Diadumenian:

Elagabal (218-222)
AE27x26mm 12.75g, tetrassarion(?), ca. mid 218.
ΑΥΤ Κ Μ ΑΥΡ ΑΝΤΩΝΕΙΝΟⳞ; radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Elagabalus, r., seen from front
ΥΠ ΝΟΒΙΟΥ ΡΟΥΦΟΥ ΝΙΚΟΠΟΛΙΤΩΝ ΠΡΟⳞ; eagle facing, head l., holding wreath in beak and spreading wings
ΙⳞΤ - ΡΟ - Ν
cf. HHJ Nicopolis 8.26.1.3 and RPC VI 1192 (obverse); cf. RPC VI 1190 (reverse)

Rufus administered only Moesia Inferior throughout the reign of Elagabal and possibly early in the reign of Severus Alexander. This coinage is a scarce appearance early into Elagabal's reign, with a combination of dies unrecorded in RPC.

There is another interesting aspect here -- the coins are possibly tetrassaria, but they have no value mark, unlike the Moesian coinages of the Black Sea shore -- Marcianopolis, Tomis, etc. Possibly meaning that there were two different standards in Moesia, between the coast and the inland. As the main city in continental Moesia Inferior, Nicopolis likely supplied much of the coinage circulating inside the province, while the coastal mints, Marcianopolis mainly, had their own monetary union, possibly including Thracian cities also, like Anchialus(?)

 

Edited August 28 by seth77

[hotwheelsearl]

My avatar coin is this amazing Hermes of Diadumenian. So sad about the face though, a good face with that patina and condition would have been quite the coin.

 

I have a couple E-gabs, but probably the finest in style is this lovely little guy. The delicate rendering of the facial features is something else. Again, too bad about the patina breaks, but it does give it a measure of character.

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

Nice coins and thoroughly enjoyed the interesting write-up about these provincial officials. I would assume most were equestrians as well and therefore a notch below the senatorial class in terms of society, but note that many equestrians through their own abilities had become wealthy and powerful by the 3rd century and in some way, could be considered new men.

[seth77]

1 hour ago, hotwheelsearl said:

My avatar coin is this amazing Hermes of Diadumenian. So sad about the face though, a good face with that patina and condition would have been quite the coin.

 

 

 

That is minted under Statius Longinus, Caracalla's guy, between April and June/August 217. Macrinus and Diadumenian have 3 legates at Nicopolis: Longinus, Pontianus and Agrippa.

 

1 hour ago, Ancient Coin Hunter said:

Nice coins and thoroughly enjoyed the interesting write-up about these provincial officials. I would assume most were equestrians as well and therefore a notch below the senatorial class in terms of society, but note that many equestrians through their own abilities had become wealthy and powerful by the 3rd century and in some way, could be considered new men.

To be governor of Pannonia, one had to be of senatorial rank and ex-consuls, so Macrinus moved to raise his friends and co-conspirators Agrippa and afterwards Aelius Triccianus to the rank of ex-consuls so that their administration would be legal. In the three Daciae and Maoesia, which were imperial provinces, Agrippa ruled as imperial legate and in Nicopolis he was hegemon. Having multiple provinces wasn't unheard of in the imperial provinces, so Agrippa could rule by imperial decree as an equestrian, even though by the summer of 217 he had already been awarded senatorial privileges as an 'ex-consul.'