A chunky Geta provincial

ambr0zie · July 7, 2022

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

Last weekend I was on the train, getting bored (the book I had with me was not the best choice) so what can a man with financial issues and getting ready for a holiday do?

Of course, checking an auction and seeing if anything interesting appears.

This time I was not very successful (but I had a very low budget prepared anyway - 100 EUR including fees and shipping ). Saw some good coins going too high but still managed to steal 3 coins. This was the first one and the most expensive of them (although I am very happy with the other 2 - a puzzling Hadrianopolis or Dionysopolis Geta that confused a few specialists - anyway unpublished; and also a pseudo autonomous from Apameia with Demos and Marsyas playing aulos)

I like Severan coins, imperial and provincial, and if I will ever specialize in a sub area, it will probably be this. Although I don't intend to on the short/medium term. I don't have any Geta imperial coins - I should buy one but I have never seen one that fits my magic recipe - interesting design + good price.

Found this one attractive for several reasons - nice portrait, interesting reverse (although I am not 100% satisfied with the reverse description I found); a new city for me and of course, the size as I like big chunky coins

(Bronze.13.72g 30mm) PONTUS. Amasia. Geta (Caesar, 198-209). Ae. Dated CY 208 (208/9).
Obv: Π CЄΠTI ΓЄTAC KЄCAP. Bareheaded, draped and cuirassed bust right / Rev: AΔP CЄY ANT AMACIAC MH NЄ ΠP ΠO / ЄT CH. Altar of Zeus Strateus, surmounted by eagle standing facing, head left, with wings spread; tree to left.
RG 96.

The city of Amaseia/Amasya is very rich in history.

Location in Asia Minor

According to Strabo the name Ἀμάσεια comes from Amasis, the queen of the Amazons, who were said to have lived here. The name has changed little throughout history: Ἀμάσεια, Amaseia, Amassia and Amasia. It was first settled by the Hittites and subsequently by Phrygians, Cimmerians, Lydians, Greeks, Persians, and Armenians.

An independent Pontic kingdom with its capital at Amaseia was established by the Persian Mithridatic dynasty at the end of the 4th century BC, in the wake of Alexander's conquests. In the 1st century BC, it briefly contested Rome's hegemony in Anatolia. By 183 BC, the city was settled by Greeks, eventually becoming the capital of the kings of Pontus from 333 BC to 26 BC.

Amaseia was captured by a force led by the Roman Lucullus in 70 BC from Armenia and was quickly made a free city and administrative center of his new province of Bithynia and Pontus by Pompey. By this time, Amaseia was a thriving city, the home of thinkers, writers and poets, and one of them, Strabo, left a full description of Amaseia as it was between 60 BC and 19 AD. Around 2 or 3 BC, it was incorporated into the Roman province of Galatia, in the district of Pontus Galaticus. Around the year 112, the emperor Trajan designated it a part of the province of Cappadocia. Later in the 2nd century it gained the titles 'metropolis' and 'first city'. After the division of the Roman Empire by emperor Diocletian the city became part of the East Roman Empire (the Byzantine Empire). At this time it had a predominantly Greek-speaking population.

What I also found interesting was that in the Ottoman rule, this city had some particularities: it was customary for young Ottoman princes to be sent to Amasya to govern and gain experience. Amasya was also the birthplace of the Ottoman sultans Murad I and Selim I.

The population of Amasya at this time was very different from that of most other cities in the Ottoman Empire, as it was part of their training for the future sultans to learn about every nation of the Empire. Every millet of the Empire was represented in Amasya in a particular village—such as a Greek village, an Armenian village, a Bosnian village, a Tatar village, a Turkish village etc.

Please post -

- Severan provincials

- Amasia coins

- big provincials

- antything relevant.

I would also be grateful if somebody can clarify the reverse design - as I think there is something between the altar and the eagle but I cannot determine this.

Edited July 7, 2022 by ambr0zie

shanxi · July 7, 2022

15 minutes ago, ambr0zie said:

as I think there is something between the altar and the eagle

I think it is some kind of sacrificial animal. A hare lying on its back ???

Edited July 7, 2022 by shanxi

shanxi · July 7, 2022

15 minutes ago, ambr0zie said:

Please post -

- Severan provincials

Geta
Pisidia, Polga
Obv.: ΠO CЄ ΓЄTAN KA, bareheaded, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev.: ΠΩΛ-ЄΩN, Artemis standing right, holding bow and drawing arrow from quiver, to right, stag standing right, looking up.
AE, 19mm, 5.96g
Ref.: BMC Lycia, Pamphylia and Pisidia, p.236, 4 var. (stag left)

Lydia, Hierocaesarea
Septimius Severus
Asia Minor, Lydia, Hierocaesaera
Obv: AYTOK KAI Λ CE CΕΟΥΗΡOC, laureate head right
Rev.: ΙΕΡΟΚΑΙCΑ-Ρ-ΕΩΝ, Tyche standing left, holding rudder and cornucopia
AE, 3.95 g, 19 mm
Ref.: -

Julia Domna, 193-217 AD
Pisidia, Antiochia
Obv.: IVLIΛ ΛVGΛSTΛ, draped bust right
Rev.: ANT IOCH C - ENI COL CΛS, Tyche standing facing, head left, wearing kalathos, holding branch and cornucopiae.
AE, 23.9mm, 5.74g
Ref.: SNG France 1126 var.

ambr0zie · July 7, 2022

Or 2 animals - this was my thought as well. It appears the coin is not very common as I couldn't find many similar coins with descriptions. The attribution "RG 96" was found here

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=4337751

Same type of coin from what I see, but still not happy with the attribution as the 3 coins I found attributed as RG96 on acsearch are not the same. I suspect RG is "RecGen"catalogue but I don't have it.

Dwarf · July 7, 2022

1 hour ago, ambr0zie said:

It appears the coin is not very common

That is correct. Isegrim (can be downloaded via wildwinds) just mentions the citation in RG (Waddington, W., E. Babelon, and T. Reinach. Recueil général des monnaies grecques d'Asie Mineure) and a specimen in Vienna, but doesn't describe the sacrificial animal (I believe shanxi is correct), just the eagle.
An owner of RG might check, whether the second animal is mentioned at all. There are types under Geta showing a recumbant bull. We all know that it is easier just to copy than to recheck.

Regards

Klaus

By the way - You can dowload RG here. Unfortunately there seems to be problems with the second volume, containing Amaseia

https://sites.google.com/site/digitallibrarynumis/subjects/greek-coins/09-bosporus-pontus-black-sea-area

Edited July 7, 2022 by Dwarf

ambr0zie · July 7, 2022

Actually, as I mentioned, I didn't have access to the catalogue but after confirmation (my assumption was correct, "RG" comes from Rec gen but this didn't clarify much) - it appears this is available, legally.

https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54946816.texteImage

I downloaded it and it seems the animal is indeed a bull.

@Dwarf - I found volume 1 (already OCR-ized) but thank you for the website. Bookmarked it, it will be surely useful in the future.

Edited July 7, 2022 by ambr0zie

Roman Collector · July 7, 2022

Cool coin, @ambr0zie! Here's a big Severan provincial (not from Amasia, though).

Julia Domna, AD 193-217.
Roman provincial Æ 29.3 mm, 13.67 g, 6 h.
Ionia, Ephesus, AD 193-217.
Obv: CЄBACTH IOY ΔOMNA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: ЄΦЄϹΙΩΝ TPIC NЄΩKOPΩN, carpentum drawn right by two mules.
Refs: SNG Copenhagen 417; BMC 267 var. (obv legend).

Al Kowsky · July 7, 2022

Two Roman provincials of Geta 😊.

AncientOne · July 7, 2022

Here's a Septimius with a similar reverse. I was not sure of the animal until now. Thank you @ambr0zie.

Pontus, Amasia. Septimius Severus AE28

Obv: [...] COYΡHOC [...], laureate, draped bust right.
Rev: CEY ANT AMACIAC [...], Eagle facing with wreath in beak, wings spread, standing on bull atop altar of Zeus Stratios, tree at left.

Al Kowsky · July 7, 2022

I'm posting this whimsy just to get a chuckle from fellow NVMIS FORVM members, it's a good example how a newbie can get hustled 🤪. I bought this Geta denarius from a Rochester, NY dealer over 50 years ago when I knew next to nothing about ancient coins 🙄. I paid $25.00 for it back then. It turned out to be a fake made by the notorious forger Peter Rosa, from NYC. Rosa was selling these fakes in 1955 for $3.00 each 😲. When Wayne Sayles published his book Classical Deception; Counterfeits, Forgeries, and Reproductions of Ancient Coins, in 2001, I found an example from the same dies pictured in his book 😏.

The illustration from Wayne's book. Pictured below is what a genuine example looks like, courtesy of CNG.

Back in the early 1970s the internet didn't exist, sound info about ancient coins was scarce, & very few dealers were selling ancient coins in the U.S.A. Today counterfeits & forgeries still abound but we have excellent sources for pinpointing most of them 😊.