DIVINE TWINS/HORSEMEN on coins and the COMET Part II

This write-up is a continuation of the original post on the Dioscuri on coins and in global lore. Here it is https://www.cointalk.com/threads/di...coins-and-in-global-lore.323658/#post-3191741
The most recent collection I have put together has a theme connected to the lineages of spiritual initiation in ancient times and how this appears on ancient coins. Thank you to all who posted and liked the original page on the twins. It is my belief that many themes including several deities and animal/plant totems as well as personages on ancient coins are interconnected with the Divine Twins, and their hats called Pillium or Pilos. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pileus_(hat)
These hats I believe represent the human lines of secret initiation into these mystery traditions. As stated on the first post there are many obvious connections with the Divine Twins and the development and traditions of the great religions of the world in this present day as well as the aboriginal traditions all over the globe. As the native Americans say, "Mitakuey Oyasin"= We are all related.
Here is a recent page from CT (@dadams )that is also connected to all this https://www.cointalk.com/threads/mithridates-vi-of-pontus-comet-coin.315874/ and thanks to the CT members who added to that page. Ed Snible posted a related coin of Paphlagonia, Sinope. circa 120-100 BC that shows the cornucopia between the pilos caps and surmounted by stars as they often are. I do believe that the comets were often seen as heralds of the Divine Twins themselves and so various personages believed they ruled or officiated in religious traditions by divine right when these comets appeared at special times in their lives. Pegasus as a winged white horse is therefore connected to all this as a divine messenger/vehicle and so that brings us to the legend of the great King of Pontus.
I am writing this and posting a coin that was not part of the collection I had stated previously was complete because I never thought I could afford one of these and since they are so expensive I would require a good provenance and always figured that would be an impossible cost on my budget until this showed up. It is not in great shape but it was less than the four figure prices these coins draw and it also had a great provenance! but one I had to search out and corroborate.
Mithradates VI is an amazing historical figure and I believe may have been a bridge in the spiritual traditions and high profile leaders between ancient Greece and Persia and the new age that the spectacular birth of the Roman Empire brought to the world. He claimed to be an heir of both the lineage of the ancient Persian Kings and of the line of Alexander the Great. His life and rule by divine right was woven about the appearance of sacred comets. It is an amazing connection I believe that he died sometime in 63 BCE and that a certain Roman was born in September of that very same year who was called Gaius Octavius and also known as Octavian, later to be called Augustus Caesar. He too as we all here know claimed a connection with the Divine comet, his great uncle Julius and their divine right to rule the mighty Roman Empire. And during his life another person of Jewish heritage was born, his birth was marked by a bright star in the sky that some legends have said was a comet and we know about what happened with that little story.

15.66g
Diademed head of Mithradates VI right
Stag grazing left, star and crescent symbol to left, "HKS" = year = 229= 69/68 BC. "BASILEWS MIThRADATOY EYPATOPOS" all within a wreath
De Callatay S 22 D75R2b
Overstruck on anot
(on some of these the stag has obvious wings and is said to be Pegasus and alludes to the comet out of that constellation in the year 135 BCE and the birth of this King)
this very same coin from acsearch:Kingdom of Pontos, Mithradates VI 120-63 BC, Tetradrachm, 15.66g: Obv: Diademed head of Mithradates VI right Rev: Stag grazing left, star and crescent symbol to left, "HKS" = year = 229= 69/68 BC. "BASILEWS MIThRADATOY EYPATOPOS" all within a wreath. De Callatay S 22 D75R2b. Overstruck on another coin (uncertain undertype), Collection of Alexandre Carathéodory Pasha (1833-1906) (and how I know it has a provenance-the seller did not state this?!)

Here is the man from the collection the coin came from.
Here is the original auction lot on CNGCOINS that I corroborated the provenance from: Coin in the lower left:

auction CNG: 351, Lot: 892.
This coin below is one of those from pontus with the two stars one on either side, one with the horse's head(Pegasus and or the Horsemen?) and the other with the comet's tail.
KINGS OF PONTUS
INCERTA, PERHAPS MITHRIDATES VI.
ca. 120-63 B.C.
AE Bronze. Perhaps minted in Amisos. Head of horse to r., with 8-rayed star below. Rv. Seven-rayed star with corn ear (or comet?). 2,29 g. SNG Stancomb 653. Lindgren III,9,654. Hoover, Handbook Anatolia, 100,317.
So many coins are interconnected with all this so post what you wish!

 

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A wonderful writeup.

 

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years
Genesis 1:14

 

Great post!

 

For folks here who are interested in pursuing the study of how comets were understood by ancient peoples here is recommended a great book on ancient Egypt https://www.amazon.com/Serpent-Sky-Wisdom-Ancient-Egypt/dp/0835606910 Serpent in the Sky by John Anthony West. The photo is from the original cover and a piece of hieroglyph.If you look closely you will see that the snake has a star on his head. Remember who it was that said to "be ye as wise as serpents". Also recommended especially for the Christian folks, as well as Jews and Muslims here would be the lectures of Rudolph Steiner which are available online. He has a vast corpus of literature on how the different stellar objects connect with various portions of the soul(ether of Plato)realm and how some like the comets actually act as interfaces between dimensions. Modern physics has now discovered that over 95% of all material substance in the cosmos is not visible and evades all detection. They are calling this "dark matter". They know it IS THERE because there is way more gravity that is measured than there is detectable matter in the cosmos that could produce all that gravitational force. And the "elements" of the ancient peoples who made our coins often connect to the concept of these fundamental elements- Earth-Air-Fire-Water(and ether of the Platonic schools). These at a causal level may be also related to the FOUR FORCES of modern physics- Gravity(earth), Weak Nuclear(air), strong nuclear(water) and electro-magnetic(fire). At a substance level they may also just simply relate to the four states of matter-solid,liquid,gas,and plasma.
Also is recommended this book from the Native American tradition which has a whole section on the "Stars with tails beings" https://www.amazon.com/Other-Council-Fires-Were-Before/dp/006250763X as being heralds and emmisaries that bring us into new evolving epochs of the creation.
Our bodies are made of crystalline stardust generated within ancient supernovae.

 

Here's my only Dioscuri and pileus caps coin:


Mn. Fonteius C.f., 85 BC.
Roman AR Denarius, 3.97 g, 21.0 mm, 5h.
Rome mint.
Obv: MN. FONTEI C. F, Laureate head of Apollo-Vejovis right; thunderbolt below; Roma monogram below chin.
Rev: Infant Genius seated right on goat; pilei of the Dioscuri above; below, filleted thyrsus right; all within wreath.
Refs: Crawford 353/1c; Sydenham 724a; Fonteia 10; RCV 271.

 

Good job finding the coin in a CNG group lot. It can be surprising what goes through those lots!

Here is a Mithradates the Great coin with two Dioscuri hats that I believe represent his two comets:

Paphlagonia, Sinope. circa 120-100 BC, Æ15, 4.58g.
Obv: Winged and draped bust (of Mithradates or Perseus?) right.
Rev: [Σ]INΩΠHΣ. Cornucopia flanked by piloi surmounted by stars (or comets?).
Ref: Lindgren and Kovacs 91, SNG Black Sea 1520-, SNG Stancomb 791.

Two interesting books you might enjoy if you like mystery religion and astronomy. Wilk's Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon has several chapters on the myth of Perseus and astronomy. The other book is Ulansey, The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient World. Mithradates seems to have a fondness for coins depicting the stuff in those books. Both books are somewhat speculative.

 

Thanks Ed, i will check out those books. especially the Mithraic Mysteries

 

Excellent, @Mike Margolis .


Denarius - Augustus - RIC 38b (17 BC)

 

I really like your write-up @Mike Margolis , as well as your coins. I missed your prior write-up on the Dioscuri, and I plan to post there (looked and have AT LEAST 25+ Dioscuri coins... so I really enjoyed that prior post also!

I have a few Pileus Caps:


RR Porcius Laeca 125 BCE AR Den Roma - Libertas in Quadriga holding pileus and rod crowned by Victory flying S 146 Cr 270-1



RR Egnatius Maxsumus 76 BCE Bust Libertas pileus behind- Roma Venus stndg cupid on shoulder Wolf Head S 326 Cr 391-3



RI Claudius 41-54 Ae As 28mm LIBERTAS AVGVSTA holding pileus S-C RIC 113



RI Nerva AE Dupondius 96-98 CE LIBERTAS PVBLICA -pileus TIF

 

I do have a coin featuring Mithra. I captured it as you rarely see Mithra featured on coins.


Bithynia Kios
250 BCE
AE11 1.06g
Obv: Laureate hd Mithra r
Rev: Kantharos 2 grape bunches hanging K-I below within a wreath
Ref: SNG Cop 382