A coin from a lost city (and my first camel)!

[kirispupis]

Recently, I noticed this coin at auction and managed to snag it.

Mesopotamia, Adiabene Natounia
circa 125-75 BCE
Æ 21 mm, 4,08 g
Radiate and diademed male head (Helios-Shamash?) to right.
Rev. Rider on camelback to right, holding a short staff in his right hand; all within wreath border.
CSE II 846. Hoover, Natounia Series 1, 1-7. Seyrig, Trésor 13a

 

Adiabene was an obscure kingdom in now-Kurdistan that rose up as Seleukid influence in the area waned. Before this coin was minted, it was conquered by the Parthians, but seemed to have some nominal independence within their empire. Interestingly, one of their queens - Helena - converted to Judaism in the 1st century CE. In general, the kingdom was multicultural and numerous religions were tolerated.

This coin comes from an earlier time and may have been minted during the time of King Natounnisar, who founded the city of Natounissarokerta, or Natounia for short. The handful of legible coins have the city's full name. That being said, mine is in typical condition for the type. Most of these were overstruck on types of Antiochos VII, though it's hard to tell (for me at least) whether mine also was.

A few years ago, the city made world headlines when archeologists believed they had located it as the Rabana-Merquly fortress. Rock carvings of an elaborate ruler indicated that there was a royal purpose for the city. As lead researcher Michael Brown said:

Quote

Rabana-Merquly is … the largest and most impressive site of the Parthian era in the region, and the only one with royal iconography, so it’s by far the best candidate.

The location is so forbidding, literally on top of a mountain, that initial research was only possible with drones. More recently, archeologists have managed to visit the site itself and document it. The news hit major media markets and even CNN covered it.

Coins of Natounia are very rare. Some of the articles I read mentioned only seven known coins, but ACSearch lists fifteen sales since 2010. 

Rabana-Merquly is located in the Kurdistan province of Iraq. This part is actually far more peaceful than the rest of the country and it is possible to tour. However, I have yet to succeed in convincing my wife that this is the case, so I suspect it will be some time before I'm able to provide my own photos. In the meantime, I have this nice coin.

I also noticed that this is my first ancient coin with a camel. I don't intentionally collect different animals, but it is neat to finally have one.

Feel free to show your own camels or anything related!

[ambr0zie]

Never heard about this - good write-up!

My only camel is, probably, the most popular ancient coin with this animal. A good addition to my zoo. 

18 mm, 2,9 g.
Trajan 98-117. AR denarius. Rome. Circa 110.
IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P, laureate bust of Trajan to right, slight drapery on left shoulder / COS V P P S P Q R OPTIMO PRINC, Arabia standing left, holding branch in right hand and bundle of cinnamon sticks in left; at feet to left, camel standing left.
BMC 297; RSC 89; RIC 142; Woytek 285b.

[John Conduitt]

I like how you cover such obscure cities. How on earth do they attribute them when there are so few? They don't even seem to know where most of these places are.

My only camel is on a common coin, but not a good example. It likely circulated for over 100 years before it was lost.

M Aemilius Scaurus and P Plautius Hypsaeus Denarius, 58BC

Rome. Silver, 3.43g. Aretas of Nabataea kneeling right beside camel presenting olive-branch; M SCAVR / AED CVR above, EX - SC across fields, REX ARETAS in exergue. Jupiter in quadriga left brandishing thunderbolt, scorpion below horses; P HVPSEVS / AED CVR above, CAPTVM to right and C HVPSAE COS / PREIVER in exergue (Craw 422/1). Found in Essex.

[antwerpen2306]

interesting coin, I think it is important to communicate this kind of coins to collectors, because many of them have not identified coins and there are still a lot of  ancient cities not yet located, ever in the south of Italy.

[DonnaML]

Some camels:

Roman Republic, Aulus Plautius, AR Denarius, 55 BCE, Rome mint. Obv. Turreted head of Cybele right, A. PLAVTIVS before, AE[D CVR S C] behind [portion in brackets off flan] / Rev. “Bacchius the Jew” [ = Aristobulus II of Judaea?],* in attitude of supplication, kneeling beside saddled camel (dromedary - one hump) standing right, extending olive-branch with right hand and holding camel’s bridle with left hand, his cape flowing behind him; BACCHIVS in exergue, IVDAEVS on right. RSC I Plautia 13, Crawford 431/1, Sydenham 932, Sear RCV I 395 (ill.), Harlan, RRM II Ch. 18 at pp. 145-149, BMCRR 3916. 18x20 mm., 4.25 g.  (Purchased from Harlan J. Berk, Ltd., 211th Buy or Bid Sale, May 2020, Lot 183.)

* See Sear RCV I at p. 148: “Aulus Plautius strikes as curule aedile. The problematic interpretation of the reverse type appears to have been most successfully resolved by [Michael] Harlan in RRM [see Roman Republican Moneyers and Their Coins 63 BCE-49 BCE (2nd Revised Edition 2015), Ch. 18 at pp. 146-148] . . . who identifies the kneeling figure as Aristobulus [= Judah Aristobulus II of the Hasmonean Dynasty, d. ca. 49 BCE], the Jewish high priest, then held captive by Pompey in Rome.”  

Trajan AR Drachm, 115-Feb. 116 AD [before granting of Parthia title], Arabia Bostra (or Rome*) Mint. Obv. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Trajan right, with paludamentum, seen from rear, AYTOKP KAIC NЄP TPAIANѠ APICTѠ CƐB ΓƐPM ΔAK [equivalent of IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GERM DAC] / Rev. Bactrian (two-humped) camel, walking left, ΔHMAPX ЄΞ YΠATO ς [equivalent of TR P COS VI (sixth consulship)]. RPC [Roman Provincial Coinage] Vol. III 4076 (2015); RPC III Online at https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/4076, SNG ANS VI 1158; Sydenham 205 [E. Sydenham, The Coinage of Caesarea in Cappadocia (1933 & 1978 Supp. by A.G. Malloy)]; BMC 20 Cappadocia 65-66 at p. 54 & Pl. IX No. 16 [Wroth, Warwick, A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Galatia, Cappadocia, and Syria (London, 1899)]. 19 mm., 3.10 g.  Purchased from Kenneth W. Dorney. (Coin is double die match to Roma Numismatics Auction, May 21, 2013, Lot 767 [https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=474&lot=767]; image of that coin is reproduced as Plate 14, No. 7 in Woytek & Butcher article cited in note below.)

* See Bernhard E. Woytek and Kevin Butcher, "The Camel Drachms of Trajan in Context: Old Problems and a New Overstrike," The Numismatic Chronicle Vol. 175 (2015), pp. 117-136 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/43859784) (dies engraved and coins possibly struck in Rome for provincial use).

Trajan AR Denarius, AD 108-110*, Rome mint. Obv. Laureate bust right, drapery over left shoulder, IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P / Rev. Arabia standing left wearing long hooded cloak, holding out branch of myrrh or frankincense with extended right hand and bundle of canes or cinnamon sticks (or calamus odoratus; see fn.) with left hand; at her feet to left, an Arabian (one-humped) camel walking left, all four legs showing, COS V P P S P Q R OPTIMO PRINC. RIC II 142, RSC II 89 (ill p. 86). 19 mm., 3.40 g.

*Trajan’s fifth consulship ran from 103-111 AD, but Arabia was not annexed by Rome until 106 AD after the reign of the Nabataean king Rabel II ended. See Bernhard E. Woytek and Kevin Butcher, "The Camel Drachms of Trajan in Context: Old Problems and a New Overstrike," The Numismatic Chronicle Vol. 175 (2015), pp. 117-136 at p. 117. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/43859784). The article narrows down the date of this type further at p. 118:

“The reverse design of the imperial coins celebrating the annexation of Arabia differs markedly from the iconography of the Dacia capta coinage, in a structural respect. While the latter shows bound captives or the mourning Dacia as well as heaps of arms, the image of Arabia is a peaceful one: she is depicted standing to the left, holding a branch of a local plant, probably of the myrrh- or frankincense-tree, in the right hand and a bundle of calamus odoratus [a/k/a acorus odoratus; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorus_calamus] in her left arm. Her attributes, local products widely known and used in the Roman world, convey a notion of the cultural and economic importance of the newly acquired territory. But the coins also
depict the region’s iconic animal: to the left of the personification, there is a one humped Arabian camel. This depiction of Arabia and a camel not only occurs on imperial coins displaying some abbreviated form of the legend Arabia adquisita in the exergue, but also on Trajanic aureus and denarius types where the personification is unlabelled. The type seems to have been introduced on these unlabelled issues, which may broadly be dated to the years AD 108‒110, while the coins displaying an explanatory legend in the exergue were issued by the mint of Rome from about AD 111 to 112/113. [In the earlier issues] . . .  the entire camel is to be seen to the left of the personification of the new province . . ., while later the animal is always partly hidden behind Arabia, and only its forepart (and the two forelegs) are visible.”

Trajan AR Drachm, AD 112 AD, Arabia Bostra (or Rome) Mint. Obv. Laureate head right, with slight drapery over left shoulder, AYTOKP KAIC NЄP TPAIAN CƐB ΓƐPM ΔAK [equivalent of IMP CAES NER TRAIANO AVG GERM DAC] / Rev. Arabia standing facing, head left, wearing chiton, peplos, and stephane, holding out branch of myrrh or frankincense with extended right hand and bundle of cinnamon sticks or canes with left hand; at her feet to left, an Arabian (one-humped) camel walking left, all four legs showing, ΔΗΜΑΡΧ ΕΞ ΙϚ ΥΠΑΤ Ϛ [equivalent of TR POT XVI Cos VI = AD 112]. RPC [Roman Provincial Coinage] III 4073 (2015); RPC III Online 4073 at https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/4073; Sydenham 184 [E. Sydenham, The Coinage of Caesarea in Cappadocia (1933 & 1978 Supp. by A.G. Malloy)]; BMC 20 Cappadocia 62-64 at p. 54 & Pl. IX No. 15 [Wroth, Warwick, A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Galatia, Cappadocia, and Syria (London, 1899)].  20 mm., 3.65 g. Purchased from Aeternitas Numismatics, Spain, Dec. 2021.

[robinjojo]

On 12/11/2023 at 8:22 AM, kirispupis said:

I also noticed that this is my first ancient coin with a camel. I don't intentionally collect different animals, but it is neat to finally have one.

That's a very interesting coin and historical note! 

As for the camel, all I have to say is this coin put you over the hump!

Here's my dromedary camel, courtesy of Trajan:

Trajan, tetradrachm, Bosra,  112-114 AD.

11.11 grams

Edited December 29, 2023 by robinjojo