Help ID this emperor (or emperors) on this coin

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by monetarium, Jun 12, 2019.

  1. monetarium

    monetarium Member

    IMG_5037.jpg IMG_5038.jpg I just received this beauty (a drachm?), of what looks like a provincial coin.

    The head on the reverse looks like Trajan, but I have been researching this one with no luck so far.

    Any clues?

    Thanks!
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2019
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  3. furryfrog02

    furryfrog02 Well-Known Member

    Doesn't look much like Hadrian on the obverse which is what I would maybe expect, if the guy on the reverse is Trajan (and it sure looks like him)
     
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  4. Mat

    Mat Ancient Coincoholic

    Trajan, yours is much better than mine.

    [​IMG]
    Trajan (98 - 117 A.D.)
    AR Tetradrachm
    PHOENICIA, Tyre
    Dated COS 5, year 15 (111 AD)
    O: AVTOKP KAIC NEP TPAIANOC CEB ΓEPM ∆AK, Laureate head right set on eagle standing right; club to left.
    R: ∆HMAPX - EΞ IE YΠAT E, laureate bust of Melqart draped in lion-skin.
    24mm
    13.7g
    Prieur 1515; BMC Phoenicia pg. 301, 15
     
  5. furryfrog02

    furryfrog02 Well-Known Member

    @Mat, now I have to read up about Melqart. Not a name I've heard before.
     
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  6. monetarium

    monetarium Member

    Same here!
     
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  7. monetarium

    monetarium Member

    Many thanks, Mat!
     
  8. Sallent

    Sallent Live long and prosper

    OP Trajan is very nice. Mine is a little more pedestrian.

    Trajan Melqart tetradracm of Tyre .jpg
     
  9. Roman Collector

    Roman Collector Well-Known Member

    Melqart is a Phoenician god, not a human being.
     
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  10. Valentinian

    Valentinian Well-Known Member

    Trajan4AntiochHercules.jpg
    Melqarth must be a lot like Hercules. See the lion-skin tied around his neck?
    Trajan, 98-117
    24 mm. Struck 110/111
     
  11. Pellinore

    Pellinore Well-Known Member

    What a beautiful piece is the OP coin. What’s the weight?
    It has a fine classical style, the god Melqart looking more a character, less a caricature.
     
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  12. Al Kowsky

    Al Kowsky Well-Known Member

    There are many different varieties of this tetradrachm struck in the name of Trajan. The photos of the coin below I sold at a heritage auction in January of 2018 for a bargain price of $780.00 (including the buyers premium). Melqart is another version of the god Heracles, the Phoenicians borrowed from the Greeks.

    McAlee 455a, obv..jpg Blow-up 14.jpg Blow-up 15.jpg
     
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  13. PeteB

    PeteB Well-Known Member

    In my opinion, you got ripped off.
    It is a masterpiece...to me!
     
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