Faustina Friday – Faustina the Younger on a Provincial of Laranda in Lycaonia

[Roman Collector]

Friday felicitations, fellow Faustina fanatics! I recently purchased this unassuming provincial of Faustina the Younger from a Polish auction firm. Researching the city which issued it, Laranda in Lycaonia, has been a difficult endeavor, for there is little information about the city and its coinage.

Faustina II, 147-175 CE.
Roman provincial Æ 22.1 mm, 7.94 g, 6 h.
Lycaonia, Laranda, 163-166 CE.
Obv: ΦΑΥϹΤЄΙΝΑ ϹЄΒΑϹΤΗ, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: ΛΑΡΑΝΔ ΜΗΤ ΚΟΙΝ ΛΥΚΑΟΝΙΑϹ, turreted Tyche standing left, holding rudder and cornucopiae.
Refs: RPC IV.3, 7250 (temporary); SNG France 2313-2314=RG 4784-4785; von Aulock Lykao. 113–15.

There has been little scholarship on the coinage of Lycaonia and even less on the coinage of Laranda. The most recent article I could find, Ann Johnston's review in The Numismatic Chronicle, dates to 1980.[1] She notes that prior to von Aulock's 1976 study of Lycaonia,[2] there had "not been a study of the coinage since an article by Waddington in RN 1883 and the BMC of 1900."[3,4]

Laranda (modern Karaman, Turkey), is a city in southeast Lacaonia, north of the Taurus mountains. In ancient times, the city was known as Lānda in Hittite and later Laranda[5]

From "Asia citerior," Auctore Henrico Kiepert Berolinensi. Geographische Verlagshandlung Dietrich Reimer (Ernst Vohsen) Berlin, Wilhemlstr. 29. (1903). David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.

In the 6th century BCE Laranda came under Achaemenid rule, which lasted until 322 BCE, when it was destroyed by Perdiccas,[6] a former general of Alexander the Great, after he had defeated Ariarathes I, king of Cappadocia.[7] Strabo reports that at some point it was possessed by Antipater of Derbe.[8] It eventually belonged to Archelaus of Cappadocia, after whose death in 17 CE it passed to his son, Archelaus II. It was next included in the "Strategia Antiochiane" and fell under the control of Antiochus IV of Commagene in 38 CE.[9] However, in 72 CE Antiochus was accused by the governor of Syria of conspiring with the Parthians against the Romans. Antiochus was then removed and the city came under Roman control.

In the Roman period, the city was part of a Lycaonian koinon (for a discussion of such koina, see my previous post elsewhere), as is apparent from the inscription ΚΟΙΝ ΛΥΚΑΟΝΙΑϹ (KOIN[on] of LYCAONIA) on the reverse of my coin. The sole purpose of the Lycaonian koinon appears to have been to strike coins.[10] Its member cities appear to have been Dalisandus, Ilistra, Barata and Laranda, and the cities may have shared die engravers, if not entire mints.[11] Laranda struck coins only twice, for Marcus Aurelius and Philip.[12] In the case of the issues for Marcus Aurelius, a secure date of AD 163-166 is derived by elucidating the monograms of the imperial titles, a curiosity on Roman provincials.[13] Coins were issued for Laranda depicting Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus, and Faustina the Younger.

In the Antonine period, coins were struck in three denominations, large bronzes of about 25 mm and 12-13 g for Marcus Aurelius (RPC IV.3, 7249 temporary) and Lucius Verus (RPC IV.3, 7251 temporary), a middle bronze of about 20 mm and 5-6 g for Faustina the Younger (mine is slightly larger), and a small bronze of 17 mm and 2-3 g depicting Hermes with a caduceus over his shoulder on the obverse (RPC IV.3 11877). These coins bear the reverse types of Herakles, Athena, Tyche, and an eagle, respectively.

Do you have any coins of Laranda? Please post coins, comments, or anything you feel is relevant!

~~~

Notes

1. Johnston, Ann. "The Intermittent Imperials: the Coinages of Lycia, Lycaonia, and Pisidia." The Numismatic Chronicle, vol. 20, no. 140, ser. 7, 1980, pp. 205–211. 7.

2. Aulock, Hans von. Münzen Und Städte Lykaoniens. Ernst Wasmuth, 1976.

3. Hill, G.F. A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Greek Coins of Lycaonia, Isauria, and Cilicia. British Museum, London, 1900.

4. Johnston, op. cit., p. 205.

5. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Karaman." Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 676.

6. Chisholm, ibid.

7. Diodorus Siculus 18.22.1-2.

8. Strabo, Geography, §12.6.3.

9. Hill, op. cit., p. xxi.

10. Johnston, op. cit., p. 205.

11. Johnston, op. cit., p. 206.

12. Johnston, op. cit., p. 205, who further notes the entire koinon struck coins only for Aurelius and Philip. Moreover, a search for "Laranda" at RPC online and at Asia Minor Coins yields coins of only these two reigns.

13. Johnston, op. cit., p. 205. RPC, however, is less certain about the dates, assigning to my coin a date of "after 164."

Edited October 29, 2023 by Roman Collector
Spelling.

[ambr0zie]

I have a coin from Laranda. I noticed that this type is getting quite common in the last years - probably due to new hoards?

11 mm, 0,49 g.
Lykaonia, Laranda. AR obol. Circa 324-323 BC. Baaltars seated left, holding grain ear, bunch of grapes, and scepter / Forepart of wolf right; crescent above; all within circle of pellets. Göktürk 82; SNG France 443 (uncertain Cilician mint); SNG Levante 225 (uncertain Cilician mint).

This coin type was previously attributed to an uncertain Cilician mint. Göktürk, in “Small coins from Cilicia and surroundings” reattributes it to the town of Laranda in Lykaonia.

[shanxi]

Nice write up (saves me the time to read up myself)

1 hour ago, Roman Collector said:

Do you have any coins of Laranda?

The same type (die match):

Faustina II
Kilikia, Lycaonia, Laranda
Obv.: ΦΑΥϹΤƐΙΝΑ ϹƐΒΑϹΤΗ, Bust of Faustina II, draped, diademed
Rev.: ΛΑΡΑΝΔ ΜΗΤ ΚΟΙΝ ΛΥΚΑΟΝΙΑϹ, turreted Tyche standing, l., holding rudder and cornucopia
Æ, 20 mm., 6,34 g.
Ref.: RPC IV.3, 7250 (temporary), vA Lykao. 113–15

 

Edited October 27, 2023 by shanxi