Galatia-Pontus, Amasea ; Caracalla, AD 205/6. AE 30 mm, 16.65 g, 6 h. Obv. : AY KAI M AYP ANTΩNINO[c] , laureate, draped and cuirassed bust, seen from front, of young Caracalla right. Rev. : AΔP CЄY ANT AMACIAC MHT NЄ ΠP ΠO , eagle standing facing, head left, wings open and holding wreath in beak, on monumental rectangular stone altar by a tree on the left; in field ЄT CH. The reverse legend develops : Ἁδρ(ιανῆς) Σευ(ηριανῆς) Ἀντ(ωνινιανῆς) Ἀμασίας μητ(ροπόλεως) νε(ωκόρου) πρ(ώτης) Πό(ντου) / ἔτ(ους) σηʹ : (Money) of Hadriana Severiana Antoniniana Amasia, metropolis, neocorate, first of Pontus. Year 208 ( = AD 205/6). Amasia (Today Amasya in Turkish), of Hittite origin, has been in the Hellenistic times the capital of the Kingdom of Pontus. The monumental rock-tombs of the Pontic kings are still visible today overlooking the city. It was the birth place of the Greek geographer Strabo. Under the Roman Empire Amasea was included in the provinces of Galatia and of Cappadocia, but as the capital of the district of Pontus. It is today a charming touristic city with an early Ottoman mosque and picturesque old Ottoman houses, beautifully restored, on the banks of the river Yeşilırmak (ancient Iris). The monumental stone altar represented on the reverse of this coin is the altar of Zeus Stratios ("Zeus of the Army"), a god that was probably the interpretatio Graeca of the Persian god Ahura Mazda worshiped by the Mithridatic dynasty in Hellenistic times. This altar was not situated in the city, its remains have been located on the plateau near the village of Yassiçal, a few kilometers east of Amasya. It is often represented on the largest Amasean coins from Trajan to Severus Alexander, with nothing on top of it under Trajan and Antoninus Pius or, under the Severian dynasty, topped by a fire, or a rectangular cage with flames, or a burning forepart of bull, or a facing solar quadriga, or an eagle like on this coin. This variety of depictions on coins otherwise identical and all minted the same year is very original and interesting. This coin is referenced in RPC V.3 (unassigned; ID 83122). 4 specimens are listed, one from the Paris BNF, the three others from public auctions. All of them, like this specimen too, are from the same pair of dies.
