Numismata hellenica: a catalogue of Greek coins; with notes, a map ...

22
Metal
JE
JE
/E
JE
M
M
Size
5
5
7i
5
5
6-5
Weight
M 180-4
ASIATIC GREECE.
R. ANTIOCHI. COL. A. Three standards; on the middle one, S. R. ; in ex-
ergue,
S. R.
Volmianus.
IMP, CAERAS. LLOVNAIIIIIB. Radiate bust of Volusianus to r. R. ANTIOCHIO.
C. Same type; in exergue, S. R. From the Pembroke Collection (1133).
Another similar.
Gallienus.
IMP Radiate bust of Gallienus to r. B. ANTIOCH. COLONIA. Wolf
to r., looking to I., suckling the twins under a tree ; in exergue, S. R.
AYT. NGP. TPAI.
npos inn.
Another similar.
ANTIOCHEIA Decapoleos or Ad Hippum.
Trajan.
KAI. Ce. rep. AAK. Head of Trajan to r.
Roma Nicephora seated on armour to I. countermark, tree ?
Commodus.
B. ANTIOXeON
AY. AN Head of Commodus to r. R. ANTIOX. HP. [in. leP.] ACYA.
In exergue, HMO. (year 24.5.) Turreted female, adv., standing before a horse ;
in left hand, cornucopise, the right hand holding the horse by a bridle.
Note.— Tlie benefits conferred upon Syria by Pompeius, after his victory over Tigranes, in b.c.
C4, caused several of the Syrian cities, particularly in the Decapolis, to assume that year as the
commencement of an sera ; 248 therefore corresponds to a.d. 184, the fifth year of the reign of Commodus,
APAMEIA (Cibotus) Phrygise.
Note.— Celsense was the ancient capital of monarchical Phrygia (ai KcXatvai, jrarpif, ap\a\a
iroKtg, Midov yipovToc, Sosib. ap. Sell. Theocr. Id. 10, v. 41), and it was the residence of the Satraps
of Phrygia under the Persians. When Antiochus restored, or repaired, and repeopled this place,
to which, in honour of his mother Apama, the Persian wife of Seleucus I., he gave the name of
Apameia, he made, in conformity with religious prejudice, some slight change in the position of the
town. Anciently, the sources of the Marsyas were in the agora of Celtenee. Apameia stood im-
mediately below the ancient site. For the topography, ancient and modem, of Apameia Cibotus,
see my Asia Minor, p. 158 ; Arundel, i. p. 183 ; Hamilton, i. p. 498.
Serpent escaping from cistus, half open to I. ; the whole within a wreath formed of
leaves and berries of ivy, R. AHA, MANTI, AlOAO. Two serpents, one on
either side of a decorated quiver, their heads raised and opposed, their other
extremities coiled together below the quiver.
Note.—This is one of the class of coins called Cistophori, from the figure of a cylindrical box or
basket impressed upon them. Though not very common now, they were so numerous in the second
century before the Christian sera, that more than 939 thousands of them were exhibited at Rome, in
the course of three years, in the triumphs of four of the Roman generals employed against Antiochus
III. They were struck in at least seven cities of the Pergamenian kingdom — Apameia, Atama,
Ephesus, Pergamus, Sardes, Tralles, and Laodiceia. After Asia had become a Roman province,
they continued to be inscribed with mixed Greek and Roman legends, as late as the time of
Augustus. The Cistophori originated in a worship of Bacchus, which was common to the cities in
which they were struck ; all their types relate to this worship, its ceremonies, or mysteries. The
symbols and legends refer to the city in which the particular Cistophorus was struck ; those of a
later period were mixed with Roman types. Like the tetradrachma of Athens and Alexander the
Great, the didrachma of Corinth, and other ancient monies extant in great numbers, the Cistophori
owed their multiplication to their purity of silver, uniformity of weight, and the great credit attached
to them in the commerce of Asia Minor and of Greece in general.