I recently purchased this unassuming little provincial of Lucilla from @PeteB over at Akropolis Coins. Researching the city which issued it, Dalisandus in Lycaonia, has been a difficult endeavor, for there is little information about the city and care must be taken to avoid confusing it with other cities of ancient Asia Minor of the same name. Lucilla, AD 161-182. Roman provincial Æ 20.0 mm, 4.29 g, 12 h. Lycaonia, Dalisandus, AD 163-166. Obv: ΛΟVΚΙΛΛΑ ϹЄΒΑϹΤΗ, bare-headed and draped bust of Lucilla, left. Rev: ΔΑΛΙϹΑΝΔЄⲰΝ ΚΟΙΝ ΛVΚΑ, Athena standing, facing, head, left, holding spear, resting arm on shield. Refs: RPC IV, 10439 (temporary); SNG Righetti, 1456 corr. (incorrectly attributed to Faustina II). There has been little scholarship on the coinage of Lycaonia and even less on the coinage of Dalisandus. The most recent article I could find, Ann Johnston's review in The Numismatic Chronicle, dates to 1980.[1] She notes that prior to von Aulock's 1976 study of Lycaonia,[2] there had "not been a study of the coinage since an article by Waddington in RN 1883 and the BMC of 1900."[3,4] There was more than one city in ancient Asia Minor by the name of Δαλισανδός (Dalisandus), and care must be taken so as not to confuse them. Hill cautions, "The Lycaonian Dalisandus must be distinguished from the Dalisandus of the Isaurinan Decapolis, which is not known to have issued coins."[5] The Wikipedia article on Dalisandus in Isauria (there is no Wikipedia listing for Lycaonian Dalisandus) notes, "Dalisandus in Isauria is distinct from Dalisandus in Pamphylia, and from the Dalisandus in Lycaonia.[6] The location of the city is also unclear. Hill places it at Fassiller in the district of the Homonades.[7] The Wikipedia article notes its "site is considered to be at Belören."[8] Hans von Aulock marks the city's location with a question mark in the map (lower left) in his 1976 study, illustrated below.[9] Ex Hans von Aulock, Münzen und Städte Lykaoniens, 1976 The city was part of a Lycaonian koinon (for a discussion of such koina, see my previous post), as is apparent from the inscription ΚΟΙΝ ΛVΚΑ (KOINon of LYCAonia) on the reverse of my coin. The sole purpose of the Lycaonian koinon appears to have been to strike coins.[10] Its member cities appear to have been Dalisandus, Ilistra, Barata and Laranda, and the cities may have shared die engravers, if not entire mints.[11] Dalisandus struck coins only twice, for Marcus Aurelius and Philip.[12] In the case of the issues for Marcus Aurelius, a secure date of AD 163-166 is derived by elucidating the monograms of the imperial titles, a curiosity on Roman provincials.[13] Coins were issued for Marcus Aurelius himself, as well as for Faustina II, Lucius Verus, and Lucilla. The fact the coins are few in type and were issued sporadically suggests they were issued for an important occasion, such as a visit by the emperor or his family. Let's see your Lycaonian coins, provincials of Faustina, or anything you feel is relevant! ~~~ Notes: 1. Johnston, Ann. "The Intermittent Imperials: the Coinages of Lycia, Lycaonia, and Pisidia." The Numismatic Chronicle, vol. 20, no. 140, ser. 7, 1980, pp. 205–211. 7. 2. Aulock, Hans von. Münzen Und Städte Lykaoniens. Ernst Wasmuth, 1976. 3. Hill, G.F. A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Greek Coins of Lycaonia, Isauria, and Cilicia. British Museum, London, 1900. 4. Johnston, op. cit., p. 205. 5. Hill, op. cit., p. xix. 6. "Dalisandus (Isauria)." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalisandus_(Isauria), citing Hild, Friedrich (Vienna). "Dalisandus." Brill, Brill, 1 Oct. 2006, referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/dalisandus-e309840?s.num=24&s.start=20. 7. Hill, op. cit., citing Ramsay, Ath. Mitth. 1889, p. 175; Hist. Geog., pp. 335, 366, 419. 8. Op. cit. 9. Aulock, op. cit., reproduced in "Index Lycaonia." Collection of Greek Coins of Lycaonia - Isauria / Λυκαονία - Ισαύρια, Hourmo, www.hourmo.eu/68_Lycaonia/Index_Lycaonia.html. 10. Johnston, op. cit., p. 205. 11. Johnston, op. cit., p. 206. 12. Hill, op. cit., p. xix, and Johnston, op. cit., p. 205, who further notes the entire koinon struck coins only for Aurelius and Philip. Moreover, a search for "Dalisandus" at RPC online yields coins of only these two reigns. 13. Johnston, op. cit., p. 205. RPC, however, is less certain about the dates, assigning to my coin a date of "c. 163-169, perhaps later," and to others of the imperial family a date of "166-169."
Picked this one recently, found it very interesting. LYKAONIA, Laranda (ca 324-323 BC) AR obol Baaltars seated left, holding grain ear, bunch of grapes, and scepter Rev: Forepart of wolf right; crescent above; all within circle of pellets. Göktürk 82; SNG France 443 (uncertain Cilician mint); SNG Levante 225 (uncertain Cilician mint). 0,49 gr, 11 mm
What a beautiful rarity in a unique and fun style! Even a lucky lefty I wonder what the special occasion of the coin's minting was? Here's a fun little provincial of hers featuring a couple goddess cult statues Faustina II (147-175 AD) . AE PAMPHYLIA Aspendus Weight: 4,48 gr Diameter: 19,00 mm Obv: Bust of Faustina II Rev: Rv. AC, Two cult statues of Artemis and Aphrodite standing facing. Condition: Very Fine.Ex: Ares
That's a cool coin, @ambr0zie! I like the wolf under the crescent. That's an interesting and (apparently) scarce coin, @Ryro. RPC doesn't even have an example and you should submit yours! The cult statues of the Aphroditai Kastnietides are very interesting. Here's an article about their mythology (it's free to sign up with jstor).
Thanks @Roman Collector. I apologize in advance for being off topic but perhaps you know more about my coin. It was mainly an impulse buy because I liked the type. Do you (or anybody else) know the meaning of the crescent? Almost all the other examples I found were with inverted crescent. Also, is this style normal for the coin? I can't tell why but the overall aspect makes me think about the Alexander imitations from Celts and Dacians (sort of, not sure if this is the best comparison...)
I don't know anything about this issue. You might PM @Ed Snible, who knows an incredible amount about Greek coins.
Please no private messages for things anyone could answer. I have no clue about the crescent. How should we approach the question regarding the meaning of the crescent? A quick acsearch.info query yields this coin. The cataloger, probably Tom or Alfred, writes "This coin type was previously attributed to an uncertain Cilician mint. Göktürk, in 'Small coins from Cilicia and surroundings' reattributes it to the town of Laranda in Lykaonia. That seems promising.... Always look for the auction entries with the lots of text. (If anyone from @acsearch.info is here, it would be great if "longest description" could be included as a sort order.) Shove that title into a search engine and the paper pops out. Unfortunately I the official version seems to lack plates. I found another example on an unfamiliar web site that included plates (here). Göktürk's whole paper seems to just be a catalog with plates with no discussion or rationale. He sees a lambda, but I can't tell from his catalog if he puts these on Laranda because someone else did, because that is where he found examples, or because of the lambda. Looking at the other examples in acsearch there seem to be other letters, and it isn't clear if the "lambda" in the photographs is an actual lambda or another crescent! At this point dig into his bibliography or see if he wrote more on the subject elsewhere. The ANS library creates a card catalog entry for every article, not just every book. Search for his name. Six hits, none seemed relevant. If you figure it out, let me know.
