Not your friendly neighbourhood Pan...

"Muse, tell me about Pan, the dear son of Hermes, with his goat's feet and two horns - a lover of merry noise. Through wooded glades he wanders with dancing nymphs, who foot it on some sheer cliff's edge, calling upon Pan, the shepherd god, long-haired, unkempt."
- Homeric Hymn (19) to Pan, c. 7th-6th century BC

Avert your eyes, animal lovers, the reverse here shows not your usual pipe-playing goat-boy gamboling with nymphs, but one looking more the part of a cruel rabbit-beating, fawn-skinning sociopath, just one step removed from the wild beasts that he was the lord of. I had to do a double take when I first saw this coin, with Pan standing unbowed, looking almost triumphant, sticking a sharp cloven hoof into the chest of a hapless, supine panther. Whaaaat??... I thought he and Dionysos' favored pet were pals!

I've found nothing in ancient depictions of Pan that show him in quite this manner, but it's very possible that this scene was modeled on a sculpture or painting that was well-known at the time. While rare, this reverse type was also used on a Caracalla bronze of Hadrianopolis, Thrace. If the origin of this unfamiliar treatment of the sylvan god was indeed a piece of art, it's now lost to us except for these coins.

In the last couple of years, I've really come to love these interesting, oftimes enigmatic provincial types. When I saw this one, I simply had to have it.

As "pan" used as a prefix means "all-inclusive", please feel free to pile on with pics of whatever you like... Pan coins, pans, pens, underpants...


ELAGABALUS
Rare. AE27. 12.24g, 26.9mm. MOESIA INFERIOR, Nicopolis ad Istrum, circa 218-222. Novius Rufus, legate. Varbanov 3949 (same dies); AMNG 1933 corr. (2 specimens). O: AVT M AVP ANTΩ[NINOC, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. R: VΠ NOBIOV POVΦOV NIKOΠOΛITΩN ΠPO around, C ICTPΩ in exergue, Pan, with goats horns and legs, standing left, draped in nebris (fawn-skin), fawn hooves hanging from left arm, holding lagobolon (rabbit-bashing stick) in right hand, placing left hoof on the chest of submissive panther which is lying on its back on the ground and raising its head.
Ex Dr. Rainer Pudill Collection, purchased from Majestic, Großostheim, on 24 Sep 1997

 

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What a fantastic coin with a most unusual reverse! Enigmatic indeed.

 

Fantastic coin, Z - not a type I've seen before. It's really impossible to keep track of the different manifestations of all the various Greek gods, particularly the local ones. I have a new bust of Pan that just came in, on a tetradrachm of Antigonas Gonatas. These aren't anywhere as rare as your coin, but neither are they a dime-a-dozen...

 

Me too! That's a very interesting coin.

For my selection are two coins that I think could possibly illustrate a local cultic site of Ares.


Septimius Severus, AD 193-211
AE28, 13.4g, 6h; Rabbath-Moba mint, CY 105 = AD 210/11.
Obv.: AVT K L CEOVHΡOC; Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Septimius Severus right, seen from behind.
Rev.: ΡABBAΘMΩBΩN ΘEOC AΡHC; Ares standing facing on high base with pilasters, between two flaming altars, holding dagger and shield with spear.Date P-E across fields.


Caracalla, AD 198-217
AE30, 15.2g, 6h; Rabbathmoba, Palestine, dated CY 105 = AD 210-211.
Obv.: AVT K M AV ANTUNINOC, laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right.
Rev.: PABBAΘ-MUBUN, Ares standing facing on square base decorated with pilasters, and holding sword, spear and round shield. Lighted torch to left and right. Date P-E across fields.

 

Ooh, that looks like a nice one!

 

I like those! The Ares reverse looks quite similar to the provincials of Ascalon with their war god Phanebal.

 

Whoa, cool! Well...both cities would were "close" so perhaps it was a local depiction of Phanebal, just reinterpreted in Greco-Roman style?

 

An interesting reverse I had not seen! Very nice @zumbly!

 

super kool coin z!

 

what a cool reverse! it's a very pretty coin anyway, the color is fantastic!

here a little elagabalus provincial from the same spot on the map...





Elagabalus, 218 - 222 AD, Nikopolis ad Istrum, Moesia Inferior, AE assarion

O: AVT K M ANTΩNINOC, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right R: ΝΙΚΟΠΟΛΙΤΩΝ ΠΡΟC ΙCΤΡΟΝ, Nike standing left, and Elagabalus standing right holding spear, they erect a trophy of captured arms with two bound captives at the base Varbanov 3859 17.5 mm 3.7 g

 

Just... WOW Mr Z!!! You have some of the more coolest coins! Love your Pan! What a cool story. Those are the historical coins I just love. Well done.

I have a couple Pan-like coins...


Thrace Pantikapaion 4th C BC, AE 20 Pan head - Griffin forepart BMC 869


RR C Vibius CF CN Pansa 48 BCE AR Denarius Pan Jupiter Anxurus Sear 420 Craw 449/1

LOL, how about a Pan Liang:
(Yeah, the @TypeCoin971793 coin-Dude will give me crap about P vs B, but it depends WHERE you are in China as to how things are pronounced! )


China AE Pan-Liang 2nd C BC

 

Naming puns on ancient coins became popular early with the Greeks (i.e. celery plant on coins of Selinos), and continued with the Romans. C. Vibius Pansa, the Roman, liked to joke about his name by depicting Pan on his coins. His Pan/Silenus denarius (posted once or twice in the past) below:

 

Really like this coin of yours, Chris. I think then portrait is particularly nice for a smaller provincial bronze and that slick black patina is wicked!

 

Thanks for the comments and coinshares, everyone... yeah, even that Pan Liang, Imperator Al .

 

It's Pan-demonium in this thread!

Very very cool, coin, Z

I have a few Pans to toss in the pot...


THRACE, Hadrianopolis. Gordian III
AE 22 mm, 5.18 gm
Obv: AVT K M ANT ΓOPΔIANOC; radiate head right
Rev: AΔPIANOΠOΛЄITΩN; Pan advancing left, holding syrinx and lagobolon
Ref: Varbanov 3945 corr. (cantharus in place of syrinx)


ARKADIA, Arkadian League
340-330 BC, Megalopolis mint
AR Obol, 11 mm, 0.77 g
Obv: head of Pan left
Rev: large Arkadian League monogram; syrinx below
Ref: BCD Peloponnesos (Megalopolis) 1517-8; HGC 5, 930
ex BCD Collection. Ex Vinchon (11-13 April 1988), lot 463


KINGS OF MACEDON, Antigonos II Gonatas
277/6-239 BCE, struck after 270 BCE, Amphipolis mint
AR tetradrachm, 31mm, 17.06 g
Obv: head of Pan in center of Macedonian shield, lagobolon over shoulder; shield decorated with stars within crescents
Rev: BASILEWS ANTIGONOU, Athena Alkidemos walking left, brandishing thunderbolt and shield; helmet left, EMP monogram right
Ref: SNGCop 1200v, EMP (maybe); R. Martin, "A Third-Century B.C. Hoard from Thessaly at the ANS," ANSMN 26, 536 (same obv. die).
ex Demetrios Armounta Collection


Not a Pan, but Pan's bunny basher:


ILLYRIA, Apollonia
c. 1st century BCE
AR 15 mm, 1.25 gm
Obv: AI-NEA; fires of the Nymphaeum of Apollonia; dotted border
Rev: AΠOΛΛΩ-NIATAN, lagobolon; dotted border
Ref: BMC 44; Maier 121

 

I'm very jealous of that first Pan of yours... it's terrific!

 

LOL!!!

 

Total winner, Z-Bro ... congrats (I'm jealous of that baby)

 

Great coin!

 

ah yeah...PUN TIME!