I've been wanting a coin with a temple for the LONGEST time. I finally got one for less than $20, which is pretty solid IMO for a large, 27mm provincial with clear details. The reverse features a generic tetrastyle temple. I wish I knew which one it was, but even if we did, there's about a 0% chance it still survives. Extant tetrastyle temples are rather few and far between, which is sort of a bummer. IN any case, this coin hails from somewhere in Moesia Inferior. I couldn't find a match in Wildwinds, but I probably wasn't looking hard enough. The patina is rather nice. It is a yellowish brass-color, with a mottled layer of dark green. I could remove the green, but I think it adds to this coin. There is also some significant gray/black mineral encrustation which I WILL be removing, but only mechanically (no chemicals this time!) I would still like a coin where I can clearly see the cult statue within, but I suspect that's going to be out of my price range for a while.
Nice new temple, @hotwheelsearl, and at 27mm, it is a good size. Congrats on your first! I'm sure it won't be your last. I have one, though smaller at 20mm, that also is a nice yellowish brass color with red "highlights". It also has two temples on one coin, and you can mostly make out the statues within--Poppaea in the obverse temple and it's believed to be Nero and Poppaea's daughter Claudia in the temple on the reverse, but she was only 4 months old when she died, so maybe they guessed as to what she would've looked like? Syria, Trachonitis. Caesarea Paneas AE20, Struck after 65 AD Diva Poppaea Sabina, with Diva Claudia, died 65 and 63 AD, this coin deified the two. Obverse: DIVA POP-PAEA AVG, statue of Diva Poppaea seated left within distyle temple set on high podium. Reverse: DIVA CLA-VD NER F, statue of Diva Claudia standing left on basis within hexastyle belvedere set on high podium. References: RPC I 4846, Hendin 1270 Size: 20mm, 5.0g
Nice one! Coins with temples on the reverse are really neat, and I think quite popular too. I wish to add a coin with the temple of Vesta and the temple of Janus. Both are e.g. seen on the reverses of Nero's coinage. There are many other examples on Imperial coinage, not to mention provincial. Does anyone know if there's a list with all the temples shown on ancient coins? Here are my temple coins, showing 1) the temple of Jupiter Optimus and 2) the temple of deified Augustus and Livia.
@David Atherton recently had a thread that skewed a book on the subject... https://www.cointalk.com/threads/enough.368271/#post-4943247 And I know that @Ancient Aussie is a big fan of architecture on coins. I wonder if he knows? And I hope he can share some of his more interesting temples here.
TEMPLES My eye seems more attracted to non-architectural objects, and generally towards animals on coins (hey, sorry @Curtisimo ! ). I only have two temples. RR Volteius 78 BCE AR Den Jupiter Temple S 312 Cr 385-1 RI Philip II 244-249 Nisibis Mesopotamia-farthest EAST Temple Tyche river god Mygdonius - sinister left
A temple coin I haven't shown in a while. But it's a Faustina II, so I can't help myself! Faustina II, AD 147-175. Roman Provincial Æ 20.2 mm, 6.93 g, 7 h. Cilicia Trachea, Antiochia ad Cragum, AD 147-161. Obv: ΦΑΥϹΤЄΙ-Ν-ΑN ϹЄΒΑ, bare-headed and draped bust right; early coiffure. Rev: AΝΤ-ΙΟ-ΧЄ-ΩΝ Τ-ΗϹ ΠΑΡ, temple with four columns and rounded pediment enclosing statue of turreted Tyche seated, left, holding rudder and cornucopia. Refs: RPC IV.3, 9909 (temporary); Levante, Antiocheia 10-12; SNG Cop 67.
There is a book (affordable) which I refer to often called Price and Trell Coins and their Cities, which shows the reverse only of most temples and other architecture than other books also has an index at back listing the ancient cities coinage types like type of temple and how many on a coin. MOESIA INFERIOR, Nicopolis. Septimius Severus. 193-211 AD. Æ 26mm (10.18 gm: h 8). Aurelius Gallus, magistrate. AVT L CEPT CEVHP PER, laureate head right / UP AUP GALLOU NIKOPOLEITWN PROC ICTP, city gate, small temple seen through doorway, ornate large colonnaded building above. AMNG I 1331; BMC Thrace pg. 42, 7; SNG Copenhagen -; Price & Trell 45 (fig. 26). Sear GIC 2124. H&J 8.14.46.1 (R7); Varbanov 2733 (R6) Very rare, dark green patina, near extremely fine. Ex Gorny & Mosch 186, 8 March 2010, lot 1524.
..not bad ...i think ive only one temple coin meself..(but not from the lack of bidding on others) a T Bone provincial..and there's really a lot goin' on on this reverse..i call these types a 'hey diddle diddle' reverse
Gorgeous coin @jdmKY ! Here is the Temple of Mars Ultor, as seen on an Alexandrian Diobol of Agustus. You can see the reclaimed standards through the doorway. Emmett-3.ud; Geissen-5 to G-6; Dattari/Savio-14, pl 1; RPC I-5003 : Milne-5; BMC-7. - Broucheion
If you like temple architecture, this series of Maxentius has a ton of variations across different mints. Different acroteria, different decorations in the pediment, etc. Maxentius. 306-312 CE. AE Follis. 23mm, 5.87g. Rome mint. Obverse: IMP C MAXENTIVS P F AVG. Laureate head of Maxentius right. Reverse: CONSERV VRB SVAE. Cult image of Roma in a hexastyle temple, wreath in pediment. Mint mark in exergue weak but likely RBP. Van Meter 18; RIV VI Rome 210.
Hotwheelsearl, The closest match I find in the 2012 edition of Hristova/Hoeft/Jekov, Coins of Nicopolis ad Tstrum, p. 129, first coin on page: Septimius Severus at that mint, rev. Asklepios standing in four-columned temple, under governor Aurelius Gallus.