COINS BY CITY: An Alphabetical A to Z of Coinage

I don't come in again until we get to "I"!

 

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Flaviopolis was founded in AD 74 by Vespasian as part of a program to urbanize the Cilician plains. Nice way to get your name on a city... build it!

 

And the ancient city of Eumeneia in Phrygia was re-named Fulvia by Marc Antony in honor of his wife!

 

Well now, that's just taking the easy way out!

 

CILICIA, Uncertain (F? => well, it could be, eh?), AR Obol
4th century BC
Diameter: 10 mm
Weight: 0.60 grams
Obverse: Youthful male head (Triptolemos?) left, wearing grain wreath
Reverse: Eagle left on lion's back, all within dotted square border
Reference: SNG France 474; SNG Levante 230



=> yah, I would like to think that this is an opportunity to post my "uncertain" cities ... sure, I freely admit that I never completed my community college degree in cityology, but I would wager heavily that this is a coin from Frankenville, Cilicia

 

this coin was minted in fartopolis.



not my coin.

 

Wow chrsmat, I used to live in Fartopolis!! (it's a small world)

 

Way to be creative, guys

 

None in my collection.

 

City of Fano, a stretch oh ya!!!
An ancient town of Marche, dates back to 49 BC. when Julius Caesar held. Caesar Augustus established a colonial, built a wall, some parts of which still remains.
In 2 AD. Augustus also built a Arch ( which still stands) at the the entrance to the Town.

So to Augustus coins everywhere, here's to the Arch..

Augustus..27 BC/14 AD..Arch builder
Ae, As..
P lurius Agrippa, moneyer.
Struck 7 BC.
Obv. bare head right.
Rev. legend around large S.C
Emerald green patina.

 

I wonder if "G" will be any better?

 

Gonnos, Gortyna, Gela, Gytheion

Just realized, greek alphabet doesn't have F, Q, W, U!

 

Commodus Flaviopolis, Cilicia, Isis and Serapis
Note that Greek did have an F but we often write it as PH. In this case the town was named for the Flavian dynasty of Rome so we transliterate it as an F. Greek most certainly did have a Q and many of us havee coins with that letter prominently displayed. Wait and see. There is also a U city which I don't know if any of us have but again was a city named for a Roman family name. W is commonly used to transliterate digamma but that will be a hard one. Lets not give up before we lose. We might get the alphabet. Maybe???

Before I apologize for the 3/4 coin look at the Wildwinds example:
http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/cilicia/flaviopolis/t.html

Brittle must have been a common fault there???

 

"F" has certainly brought out the creativity in some of us! But I think I can only count Doug's as the other legit example, with apologies to Frankenville and Fartopolis. I'm eager to see what we'll come up with for "W".

For "U", I know of coins from Uranopolis and Urso/Ursone, so if anyone is thinking ahead to when we get there, there's still time to buy a coin .

I'm drawing a blank on the "Q" city...

 

wasn't digamma also written as "F" at some point?
Pheonician and Mesopotamian used the letter U, but that might had more to do with Y. As for Q, Qohaito comes into mind, somewhere in north africa.

Like doug said, no need to worry ahead

 

I guess no one will object if we stop the parade of coins from the current letter and move on to "G"!

The first one I have is a favorite from my small but growing collection of cheapo Greek bronzes.

GELA

SICILY, Gela
420 - 405 BC
AE Tetras
3.82g, 17.6mm
Gela 527; CNS 47; HGC 2, 380.
O: Head of young river-god Gelas right; ΓEΛAΣ before; grain ear behind.
R: Bull standing right; olive branch above, three pellets (mark of value) in exergue.

 

GRYNION

AEOLIS, Grynion
Circa 3rd century BC
AE12
1.73g, 12.1mm
SNG Cop 205; BMC 1; SNG von Aulock 1619
O: Three-quarter facing head of Apollo, turned slightly left, wearing laurel wreath.
R: ΓΥΡ, mussel shell.
Notes: Grynion was located between the cities of Myrina and Elaia on the Aeolian coast. Little is known about this small town. Their series of rare bronze coins all feature the mussel shell device.

 

Wow, those are a couple of very sweet lookin' coins, Z-bro (yummy)

=> well, I hope that my G-coin hits the "spot"!!

SYRIA, Decapolis. Gadara. Gordian III AE26
238-244 A.D.
Dated CY 303 (AD 239/40)
Diameter: 26 mm
Weight: 13.34 grams
Obverse: Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right
Reverse: Galley left with captain, seven oarsmen, and steersman on deck; ΓT (date) below
Reference: Spijkerman 93; Rosenberger 90; SNG ANS 1332-8

 

Thanks, Steve. You're good with that fantastic Gadara galley .

 

Hello Mr. Zumbly. Like others, I got here late & I take-off from time to time which means that I'll certainly miss some letters. Have you thought about maybe collecting some late information from tardy CT folks via PM & then possibly getting it moved under the correct letter by a moderator (maybe all at once in about 20-days)? For example, I probably should have posted this coin of Characene (modern day Kuwait) way back in the C days.

Kingdom of Characene
(Tigris Valley - Kuwait)
Attambelos I
AR Tetradrachm
44 - 39 B.C.
12.39 gms, 27.1 mm
Obv: Diademed bearded head right
Rev: Naked Hercules seated left on stone (possibly an Omphalos stone) club resting on knee held with right hand. Monogram above right arm. BAΣΙΛ[?] / ATTAMB[?] to right, [Σ]ΩTHP[?] to left.
Grade: gVF with sharp strike on good silver fabric. Coin is nicely centered with attractive toning. Some letters
off the flan as noted with only rough planchet surface in exergue.
Other: BMC 3. Listed in the Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Persia page 291 & plate LV #11. Coin may be dated 269-273 a.s. = 44-39 B.C. The existence of king Attambelos I was unsuspected until 5 silver tetradrachms were acquired by a soldier in Mesopotamia and submitted to the British Museum in 1920. Purportedly purchased from BC Universal, New Britain CT in 2011. From private sale March 2014.