April Romans

Hey, I'm still waiting for the first snowfall.

 

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Bing, that's your place and pool?

 

let's have a party at bings house!

 

That's where he sits, sipping on his margarita, watching his bikini babes cavort.

 

I wish (bikini babes that is). Yes, my house, but no snow again this year. I think there just may be something to this "global warming" thingy.

 

=> I'm in charge of bringin' the "ice"

 

What winter?

 

I feel you Gil, I've had the flu for the past week. It's not fun, I have lost four pounds already.

 

Here's a nice little provincial I won today.

Valerian I, AE20 of Alexandrea, Troas.
Obv.: IMP LIC VALERIANVS AV, laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right
Rev.: COL AVG above, TROA beneath horse grazing right.
Reference: SNG von Aulock 7573 var (endings of both legends)

 

Nice Valerian. I've always like the coins of Alexandria Troas.


VALERIAN I AE20
OBVERSE: IMP LICI VALERIAN, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right
REVERSE: VCOL AVG TRO, horse grazing right
Struck at Alexandria
Troas, 253-60 AD
4.86g, 21mm
SNGCop 191v

 

I really like that new Valerian of yours, JA. Bing's is superb too. I've been wanting one of these Alexandria Troas types with just the horse in comparable condition to match my Sev Alexander with the accompanying shepherd.

 

I must be daft (please don't answer right away), but I don't understand what constitutes being an "April Roman"? ...

... but regardless, I have a Valerian I to toss into the ol' mix ...

 

Nice coins, guys. The grazing horse type (and its variations) caught my eye because the design is so obviously a celebration of pastoralism, which seems so very un-Roman compared to the sea of coins that depict gods and goddesses and various images of military prowess.

The grazing horse predates Roman influence in Troas - you find it on the earliest civic issues dating to the 3rd-century BC, paired with busts of Apollo and Tyche, and it didn't lose its popularity even after more traditional Roman provincial types were introduced. I see it on coins of Commodus, Caracalla, Elagabalus, Julia Paula, Severus Alexander, Julia Mamaea, Maximinus I, Maximus, Valerian I, Gallienus, and Valerian II. There's probably more.

One of the most curious and (to me) astonishing reverse types out of Troas is the scene that combines military and pastoral themes. Here you have a soldier and probably an ordinary citizen seated at table, perhaps engaged in conversation over some wine, while a shepherd works in the background. There's no ostentatious display of...well, anything. Everybody is just chilling out.

This is not my coin. It can be found at Wildwinds.

http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/troas/alexandreia/t.html

Trebonianus Gallus AE 22mm of Alexandria Troas.
Obv.: IMP VIB TREB GALLVS P F AVG, laureate, draped & cuirassed bust right.
Rev.: COL AVG, TROAD in exergue, two beardless male figures facing each other, the one to the right holding out three arrows in his right hand & and bow in left; the other rests his right hand on his seat; between the two, upper part of bearded herdsman facing, holding pedum.
Reference: Bellinger A402



Steve, by April Romans, I just mean that I'm going to post whatever Romans I collect during the month of April in this thread, rather than create a bunch of separate ones.

 

Ummmm, speakin' of TROAS ...

 

Steve, that top coin is from Sigeon in the region of Troas, right? As opposed to the Roman colony Alexandreia Troas.

At any rate, super coins as always!

 

Valerian I Billon Antoninianus. 2.6g, 23mm

OBV: IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS PF AVG. Radiate, draped bust right.

REV: VICTORIA AVGG. Victory standing left resting on shield and holding palm.

REF: RIC 128C, Cohen 224

 

Valerian I AR Antoninianus. 253-260 AD, 3.3g, 23mm

OBV: IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS PF AVG, Radiate, draped cuirassed bust right.

REV: VIRT-VS AVGG, Valerian and Gallienus facing each other, one holding spear and globe, the other Victory and spear.

REF: RIC 293v, Cohen 276

 

Valerian I BI Antoninianus. 253-260 AD, 2.1g, 20mm

OBV: IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS PF AVG, Radiate, draped bust right.

REV: ORIENS AVGG, Sol standing left, right hand raised, left hand holding whip.

REF: RIC 106, Cohen 140; Sear5 9950

 

=> man, I can't slip anything by the ol' goalie, eh?

 

I thought my coin depicted nothing more than a pastoral scene until I came across a thread in Forvm that suggested that the 'herdsman and horse' coins that were issued at Alexandria Troas during Imperial times were a synthesis of the earlier grazing horse type and the legend of Apollo Smintheus (Apollo the Mouse-Killer), whose worship in Troas began with his revelation to the herdsman Ordes and the recovery of his cult statue by Ordes. The author highlights the fact that the herdsman seems to lean forward, as if being lead to a discovery on the ground by the horse, and also that the convention of a tree in the scene is indication that it depicts a sacred area.

For anyone interested in mythological types, that whole thread on Forvm is fascinating :
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=25089.200