Acquired my 4th drachm from Edessa!

[Michael Stolt]

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to add yet another very rare drachm of Lucilla, minted at Edessa, to the collection. The coin has excellent centering, good surfaces, and is a contender for finest known specimen of this type. I am now at four out of six currently known types of her from Edessa, which is quite difficult to accomplish, considering the overall rarity of the series. Very very happy! 🥳

Ma'nu VIII, Philoromaios, with Lucilla. AR Drachm (18mm, 3.08 g, 7h). Edessa, Mesopotamia ca. AD 167-169. ΛΟΥΚΙΛΛΑ ϹΕΒΑϹΤΗ, Diademed and draped bust of Lucilla right / ΒΑϹΙΛЄΥϹ ΜΑΝΝΟϹ ΦΙΛΟΡωΜΑΙϹ, Demeter, veiled, seated left, holding grain ears in her right hand and scepter in her left. RPC IV.3 6489.

Edessa was the capital of Osrhoene, a small kingdom located in Mesopotamia, on the far eastern edges of the Roman Empire, caressing the borders of the Parthian Empire. It acquired independence around 136 BC from the collapsing Seleucid Empire, through a dynasty of the nomadic Nabataean arab tribe from southern Canaan and north Arabia, known as the Osrhoeni. Osrhoene's name either derives from the name of this tribe, or from Orhay, the original Aramaic name for Edessa.

After a period under the rule of the Parthian Empire, it was absorbed into the Roman Empire in AD 114 as a semiautonomous vassal state. While it aided Rome in their campaigns against the Parthians on several occasions, in AD 116, the Romans, commanded by the general Lucius Quietus, sacked Edessa, and quelled an uprising which temporarily put an end to Osrhoene's independence. However, in AD 123, Hadrian restored the client kingdom under Ma'nu VII.

This did not last for long, as the Parthians again took control of the kingdom, and deposed the current king Ma'nu VIII. Following the Roman–Parthian War of AD 161–166, where the Roman general Avidius Cassius led a successful invasion of Mesopotamia, the client kingdom was once more restored, and Ma'nu VIII got his throne back, and the Parthians, ruled by Vologases III at the time, were forced to recognize the independence of the kingdom. In the following years, Marcus Aurelius expanded Edessa's forts and city walls, and stationed a garrison at the nearby city of Nisibis.

In AD 195, following a civil war in which the kingdom had supported his rival Pescennius Niger, the emperor Septimius Severus mounted an invasion and annexed the territory as a new province, making Nisibis the new capital. However, the emperor did allow the current king, Abgar VIII, to keep the city of Edessa and a small territory surrounding it.

In AD 212, Abgar VIII was succeeded by his son, Abgar IX. The new king, along with his son, were summoned to Rome in AD 213, and subsequently murdered on orders of the emperor Caracalla. About a year later, the Roman emperor ended the independence of the kingdom, and the remaining territory was incorporated into the Roman province of Osrhoene.

Edited September 8, 2024 by Michael Stolt

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

Nice write up and cool coins. Sounds like you are putting together quite a collection of Lucillas. Thanks for the images of the city and the very nice mosaics. I have read that the Osrhoneneian archers were even deployed to Germania as auxiliaries in the time of Severus Alexander and Maximinus Thrax, such was their reputation. Archaeologists say they may have fought in the Battle of the Harzhorn.

Edited September 9, 2024 by Ancient Coin Hunter

[-monolith-]

Spectacular Collection.

I currently don't own any Lucilla coins but I do have a large bronze of Elagabalus from the Edessa mint.