Need ID of Roman Coin

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by 7Calbrey, Dec 7, 2018.

  1. 7Calbrey

    7Calbrey Well-Known Member

    The following Roman coin has a lot of wear and needs professional cleaning. I decided to post it though, because I felt it might be important. The reverse has a horse running left with its long neck and big head. There seems to be a woman standing and wearing some crown on her head. Hope someone could guess, at least the name of the Emperor.
    It weighs 10.83 g. Dimension : 2.5 cm. Thanks..

    EmpHors  O.jpg EmpHorman.jpg EmpHorsix.jpg
     
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  3. TIF

    TIF Always learning.

    Let's walk through it, 7C...

    You know (or hopefully know) it is a provincial Roman coin.

    In hand you can probably make out some of the obverse legend but we can't because of the terrible low-resolution scans. However, the bushy hair and the beard suggest this coin is going to be either Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus, or Commodus.

    If you can't discern enough of the reverse legend to narrow down the issuing city, go to Wildwinds and click on each of the emperors listed above. Click the "view with thumbnails" option and scroll past the Imperial entries and slow down once you get to the Provincials. You can just glance at them all quickly looking for a reverse match, or you could use your browser's "find on page" search function to narrow it down, such as with the word "horse".

    Go ahead and try that. I see a match in there but will let you find it.

    Once you've hit upon the emperor and city, if desired you can check for other examples in CNG's archives, ACsearch, and Vcoins.
     
  4. 7Calbrey

    7Calbrey Well-Known Member

    Tomorrow will be another better day to search. I feel too sleepy, it's 2.50AM here.
    Good night to all of you. Cheers.
     
  5. TIF

    TIF Always learning.

    An alternative to the above steps would be to plug a few terms into ACsearch since it is a larger database than Wildwinds. For example, with your coin I'd go to ACsearch and try "marcus aurelius horse cornucopia", because you can see all of those things on the coin (with Marcus Aurelius as a guess). If I found a reverse match under Marcus Aurelius, and if I wasn't sure about the obverse legend, I'd next search for Lucius Verius + the city and horse, and the same for Commodus.

    You will need to be able to discern a few letter of obverse legend to definitively nail down this particular coin.
     
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  6. 7Calbrey

    7Calbrey Well-Known Member

    I found the answer, just 3 minutes after searching at Wildwinds. Thanks for your complete detailed assistance.
    That's Marcus Aurelius. Coin struck at Antioch ad Hippum-Syria, Decapolis. Reverse shows Tyche standing left near horse, holding it by bridlle with her right hand, and cornucopiae with her left hand. Spijkermann 8.
    Decapolis seems the same place of that coin I posted 2 days ago of Aramaean -Syrian god Hadad.
     
  7. TIF

    TIF Always learning.

    :)

    Can you make out any of the obverse legend? Although I didn't study them carefully, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus both issued this reverse and their portraits look almost identical. The portion of the legend in the right field will have the name. You can probably make out a letter or two in hand to confirm which emperor it is.
     
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  8. Ocatarinetabellatchitchix

    Ocatarinetabellatchitchix Well-Known Member

    Another very useful ressource is RPC online. You will find there some of the rarest coins not listed anywhere else. Sadly, the database has not been completed yet for all emperors...
    http://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/
     
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  9. 7Calbrey

    7Calbrey Well-Known Member

    It's 100 percent Marcus Aurelius. The same reverse pertaining to Lucius Verus is listed under Spijkerman 19. On my coin the left field of obverse has CM, nearly last letters. As for the right field of obverse, there's clearly ANTO. As you can see in the following scan. None of these exist on Lucius Verus. I think I read Greek well.

    MarcPortion 600.jpg
     
  10. 7Calbrey

    7Calbrey Well-Known Member

    I would like to share the following coin of Elagabalus among my coin-friends. It weighs 17.74 g. , and measures 31mm. Reverse has Tyche seated, with river god Orontes swimming under her feet. Antioch . Butcher 474c. ElagabalTyc But 474c.jpg ElagabaTych R.jpg
     
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  11. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    Does everyone realize that Decapolis is not a town but means '10 towns' of a region we call ancient Syria although the cities are, today, in Jordan, Syria and Israel. The site in question here is now called Hippos located in Israel.

    We should also mention that there were several cities named Antioch much more common than Hippos. These include Antioch ad Orontes which gave us the Elagabalus shown above.
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2018
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  12. TIF

    TIF Always learning.

    I didn't know that :oops:. Thanks!!
     
  13. ancient coin hunter

    ancient coin hunter 3rd Century Usurper

    Also, the ten towns visited by Jesus and/or the apostles back in the day.
     
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  14. 7Calbrey

    7Calbrey Well-Known Member

    @ACH.. Would that include the cities of Tyre and Sidon where Jesus had assisted the Cannanean woman ?
     
  15. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    From Wikipedia
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decapolis
    The names of the traditional Ten Cities of the Decapolis come from the Roman historian Pliny the Elder in his Natural History.[1] They are:

    1. Gerasa (Jerash) in Jordan
    2. Scythopolis (Beth-Shean) in Israel, the only city west of the Jordan River
    3. Hippos (also Hippus or Sussita; Al-Husn in Arabic) on the Golan Heights
    4. Gadara (Umm Qais) in Jordan
    5. Pella (west of Irbid) in Jordan
    6. Philadelphia, modern day Amman, the capital of Jordan
    7. Capitolias, also Dion, probably Beit Ras or possibly Al Husn, both in Jordan
    8. Canatha (Qanawat) in Syria
    9. Raphana, usually identified with Abila in Jordan
    10. Damascus, the capital of modern Syria [2]
    While the cities were significant in Biblical accounts, the cities predate that period. There is some discussion on why the ten were selected but the theory I like is that they were cities with more importance to the Greek and Roman culture than some others that were local and more 'Eastern'. I'll bet you can find some online discrepancies on the matter.
     
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  16. ancient coin hunter

    ancient coin hunter 3rd Century Usurper

    Not those two cities...here's more

    The New Testament gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke mention that the Decapolis region was a location of the ministry of Jesus. According to Matthew 4:23-25 the Decapolis was one of the areas from which Jesus drew his multitude of disciples, attracted by his "healing all kinds of sickness". The Decapolis was one of the few regions where Jesus travelled in which Gentiles were in the majority: most of Jesus' ministry focused on teaching to Jews. Mark 5:1-10 emphasizes the Decapolis' gentile character when Jesus encounters a herd of pigs, an animal forbidden by Kashrut, the Jewish dietary laws. A demon-possessed man healed by Jesus in this passage asked to be included among the disciples who traveled with Jesus but he was refused and instructed to remain in the Decapolis region.

    1. Gerasa (Jerash) in Jordan
    2. Scythopolis (Beth-Shean) in Israel, the only city west of the Jordan River
    3. Hippos (also Hippus or Sussita; Al-Husn in Arabic) on the Golan Heights
    4. Gadara (Umm Qais) in Jordan
    5. Pella (west of Irbid) in Jordan
    6. Philadelphia, modern day Amman, the capital of Jordan
    7. Capitolias, also Dion, probably Beit Ras or possibly Al Husn, both in Jordan
    8. Canatha (Qanawat) in Syria
    9. Raphana, usually identified with Abila in Jordan
    10. Damascus, the capital of modern Syria [2]
     
  17. ancient coin hunter

    ancient coin hunter 3rd Century Usurper

  18. Ocatarinetabellatchitchix

    Ocatarinetabellatchitchix Well-Known Member

    According to Eusebius the historian( and also a friend of Constantine I), before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the christians ran away in one of the city of the Decapolis, Pella.They obeyed to the order of Jesus in Luke 21:20,21.
     
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