Here's an interesting coin that arrived through the mail slot today. It is a tridarchm of Trajan, Cappadocia-Caesarea, with Zeus on the reverse. It is the first coin of this fairly unusual denomination that I have owned, and the reverse is most intriguing. Here's what Beast Coins has to say about it: "This remarkable silver tridrachm type belonging to the opening phase of Trajan's reign has been the subject of considerable scholarly debate. Traditionally, it was assigned to Caesarea in Cappadocia (BMC and Sydenham) but in 1977 D. R. Walker reattributed it to an unidentified mint in Provincia Asia on the basis of its absence from any of the finds of Caesarean coinage. This reassignment was accepted by Metcalf in his 1996 publication on the silver coinage of Cappadocia from which the type was excluded. However, the reverse design has a distinctly oriental flavor and a further reattribution may be necessary at some future date. Update from Richard McAlee on April 2, 2008: This type has now been reattributed to Syria-Phoenicia as far as area of circulation, but it was actually minted in Rome for use in Syria-Phoenicia. See the chapter on Trajan's coins in my new book, "The Coins of Roman Antioch". The coin posted here is a pleasing example, fairly well centered, but lightly cleaned. Roman Empire, 98-99 AD Trajan Tridrachm Cappadocia-Caesarea (possibly minted in Rome - see note above) Obverse: Laureate head of Trajan right. Reverse: Zeus facing right, with thunderbolt in left hand, and mappa or short scepter in right, DHMARX EX-UPAT B in legend. 9.9 grams 21 mm, 6 h. BMC Cappadocia p. 52 and 46; Sydenham (The Coinage of Caesarea in Cappadocia) 173; cf. Metcalf (The Silver Coinage of Cappadocia, Vespasian-Commodus) p. 148; cf. Walker (The Metrology of the Roman Silver Coinage, part 2), p. 99. Very scarce. .
I've never seen Zeus portrayed anything like that before either. Is that a jeweled turban, or some sort of crown? Whatever it is, Zeus does look more like an Eastern potentate than a Greek god. So I find it interesting that the coin was apparently minted in Rome. One wonders where it was designed. The obverse, on the other hand, looks like a typical portrait of Trajan.
robinjojo, It looks like you scored a fascinating rarity ! Your coin type is clearly illustrated in McAlee's book on page 207, #477/2. On page 194 of his book he illustrates 16 different types, (drachms, didrachms, & tridrachms) that were struck in Rome for use in Arabia. Many of those coins have been found in Judaean hoards indicating the Jews probably used them also. The figure of Baal-Zeus on your coin is wearing a kalathos, a woven basket that looks like a top hat. They were used for collecting fruits & grain for harvest. There is a lot of confusion & different opinions among "experts" attributing many of Trajan's coinage meant for Eastern provincial circulation. The Trajan Tet in my collection is a good example of this . There are many different varieties of this coin type & the "experts" can't make up their minds if they were struck in Antioch or Tyre . The coin looks like a Tyre Mint product to me, but who am I .....
I assume that's Melqart/Hercules on the reverse? I have a similar coin (RPC 3526, McAlee 452, Prieur 1482) attributed to Tyre.
is this yours? The style of melqart is not very good. It's a bit strange compared to the ones I have seen in auctions
My specialty is Sasanian and Parthian coins but I have a side collection of Roman provincial and quite few of them all coming from CNG and Mike prieur col so I just state my observation compared to Mike prieur coins I own
I bought the coin through VCoins from a very reputable dealer in California who's been around for a long time and has a special interest in Roman provincial coins. There's no reason to doubt that it's genuine.
You might be right and I hope I am wrong but the style to my eyes look different and I wouldn't buy something like this
...who is it you're conversing with??...i see no one other than you..oh..it must be a troll i've already blocked..
Optimus princeps, is Latin for handsome fella: TRAJAN, As, TR POT COS III PP, Mars standing right, RIC 410
Well, it just goes to show that you don't know everything, and just because you haven't seen a particular style before doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with it.. The style of Melqart on my coin looks almost exactly the same as on the illustrative coin for this type (RPC 3526) at https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/3526, as well as the example at https://www.acsearch.info/image.html?id=3342389 . I'm not discussing it with you further, and I strongly suggest that you refrain in the future from commenting on coins I post.
Whoever designed the reverse had a splendid imagination, combining a Greek god and an eastern king. The consensus, it appears, is that the image is one of Zeus, especially with the association of the thunderbolt clasped in his left hand. This is an utterly interesting coin and along with the other examples shown in this tread, demonstrates the diversity of reverse designs deployed by Trajan during his reign.
Thank you for the additional information. It looks like I'll be creating more than one label for this coin.