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

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54<br />

Metal<br />

M<br />

^<br />

M<br />

M<br />

M<br />

JE<br />

Size Weigh;<br />

10<br />

ASIA.<br />

Caracalla.<br />

AYT. K. M. ANTSININOC. Head <strong>of</strong> Caracalla to n R. TABAAeON. Fortune to ^.<br />

Macrinus.<br />

AYT. K. M. one A. ceOY. MAKPeiNOC. Bust <strong>of</strong> Macrinus to r. R. I'ABAAeiiN,<br />

Winged female figure in long drapery to I. ; in right hand, statue !<br />

GADARA Decapoleos.<br />

Note.—Gadara was situated about seven miles in direct distance to the south-eastward <strong>of</strong> the exit<br />

<strong>of</strong> the Jordan from the Lalie <strong>of</strong> Tiberias. A village named Om-keis occupies the site. Here the<br />

ruins <strong>of</strong> two theatres, a street bordered by columns and preserving marks <strong>of</strong> chariot-wheels, a<br />

necropolis <strong>of</strong> large excavated sepulchres, and remains <strong>of</strong> town- walls, induced Irby and Mangles to<br />

conclude that these were remains <strong>of</strong> Gadara, the principal city <strong>of</strong> Persea. The numerous extant<br />

<strong>coins</strong> <strong>of</strong> Gadara, reaching from Augustus to Gordian the Third, are in agreement <strong>with</strong> the ancient<br />

importance <strong>of</strong> the place attested by its ruins.<br />

The similarity <strong>of</strong> the names Gadara and Gamala, both known to be situated near the Lake <strong>of</strong><br />

Tiberias, has caused some doubts to be prevalent concerning their respective sites; but the descriptions<br />

<strong>of</strong> Burckhardt, who visited both places in 1812, and that <strong>of</strong> Lord Lindsay, who visited them<br />

in 1837, put an end to all uncertainty as to Gadara, or that El Husa on the eastern side <strong>of</strong> the lake<br />

opposite to Tiberias, was the fortress Gamala, described by Josephus (Bell. Jud. 4, 1). If any<br />

doubt could remain as to Gadara, it would be removed by the description which Burckhardt has<br />

left us <strong>of</strong> the hot sources in the valley <strong>of</strong> the Hieromax below Om-keis, and where he describes,<br />

<strong>with</strong> their several Arabic names, ten <strong>of</strong> these remarkable fountains, which are much more copious<br />

than those <strong>of</strong> Tiberias, and answer to the Thermae Gadarensc, where anciently an annual festival was<br />

held, and which were considered second only to the Thermse <strong>of</strong> Baio?.— Burckhardt, Tr. in Syria,<br />

p. 272, seq. ; Irby and Mangles, p. 297 ; Lindsay, Tr. in the Holy Land, p. 92, seq. ; and for the<br />

ancient authorities, Reland, Palaistiua, voc. Gadara, Gamala.<br />

Nero.<br />

NEPiiN KAICAP. Head <strong>of</strong> Nero to r. R. TAAAPA. Turreted female in long<br />

[TITOC]<br />

drapery to I. ; in right hand, crown ; in left hand, cornucopise (Gadara) ; in<br />

field to /., star; L . AAP (year 131), below sprig <strong>of</strong> palm? The date is <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Pompeian sera, beginning b.c. 64, and corresponds to the thirteenth year <strong>of</strong> the<br />

reign <strong>of</strong> Nero, a.d. 67.<br />

Titus.<br />

KAICAP. Head <strong>of</strong> Titus to r. R. TAAAPA. Veiled turreted female head<br />

to r. (Gadara) ; in field to r., EAP (135), the first year <strong>of</strong> the reign<br />

<strong>of</strong> Titus.<br />

Antoninus Pius.<br />

AYT. KAIC. ANTUJNeiNOC Head <strong>of</strong> Antoninus Pius to r. R. TAAA-<br />

PesiN. Head <strong>of</strong> Hercules to r.<br />

L. Verm. %<br />

AYT, KAICAP A. AYR. OYHP[OC]. Head <strong>of</strong> L. Verus to r. R. nOM. TAAAP.<br />

GKC (2:i5). Head <strong>of</strong> Hercules to r., lion's skin tied over his neck. s<br />

I<br />

NoU.—JlOU. is explained by a coin <strong>of</strong> Caracalla in the Vienna collection inscribed nOMIIHITGQN<br />

TAAAPeQN. The epithet alludes to the benefits received from Pompey when in SyTia in B.C. 63.<br />

According to Josephus he restored Gadara, which liad been recently destroyed by the Jews, at the<br />

entreaty <strong>of</strong> his freedman Demetrius <strong>of</strong> Gadara.— Joseph. B. J. 1, 7; Ant. 14, 4.<br />

s<br />

t-

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