I really can't get enough of the rich mythological and religious types found in Roman Provincial coinage, and this new coin is a case in point. It's a rare issue from Nicaea in Bithynia, and shown on the reverse is a liknon and a Silenos mask, two objects that were used in the rites of the Dionysian Mystery religion. As is often the case, researching a coin leads down some interesting rabbit holes... The Mystery cults, of which the Eleusinian cult of Demeter was the most prominent, had their origins in a mix of ancient Greek agrarian superstitions, religious symbolism, and a good bit of kykeon, a psychotropic booze made from barley and pennyroyal. Their popularity with the masses, especially women, survived the initial hostility of the conservative Roman authorities who became overseers of most of the Greek world. By the time of the late Republic and Empire, the Mystery cults had spread deeply into Roman society, and members of the aristocracy, high-ranking officials and consuls, and even emperors such as Augustus, Hadrian, Commodus and Gallienus became initiates of Mystery cults. The rites of the Dionysian Mystery cult are by far less known than those of the Eleusinian cult. Most descriptions of them that I've read are at best interpretative, and really resemble nothing so much as the goings on in a satyrs-and-nymphs-themed BDSM nightclub... not that I'd know anything about such things . But more about that later... COMMODUS Rare. AE Hemiassarion. 3.13g, 17.1mm. BITHYNIA, Nicaea, circa AD 177-192. RPC online 6024 (4 specimens). O: [ΑYΤ Κ Μ ΑΥΡ] ΚΟΜ ΑΝΤωΝ, laureate head right. R: ΝΙΚΑΙЄΩΝ, Mask of Silenos in profile, back-section within a liknon (winnowing-fan). The liknon was a winnowing-fan, a type of woven basket used in ancient times by farmers to separate grain from chaff. These baskets were apparently also sometimes used as cradles by the Greeks for their children. In mythology, the newly-born infant Dionysos was hidden from the wrath of Hera in a liknon, and awakened from his slumber by a group of nymphs and thereafter tutored by the old satyr Silenos. The coin below, also from Nicaea (but not mine) shows baby Dionysos in his liknon. A remarkable group of wall paintings from a preserved home on the outskirts of Pompeii known as the Villa of the Mysteries depicts a Dionysian Mystery cult initiation. Below is the part of a painting which shows the use of a liknon as part of the rite. Sacral objects were placed within the basket, which would at some point be unveiled, allowing for the symbolic showing of these objects to the initiate, thereby 'awakening' them and ushering them into the thiasos, or retinue, of Dionysos. The objects kept in the liknon would typically have included fruits and a wooden phalli, but perhaps also the Silenos mask, symbolic of age and experience. Another painted scene from the Villa of the Mysteries shows the use of a Silenos mask, held up behind a youth who gazes with some trepidation into a bowl, inside of which he would have beheld a reflection of the painted mask behind that of his own young face, a juxtaposition which would have caused a sense of foreboding and fear. If you're interested to see more pictures and descriptions of the Villa, there's the Wiki here and another page here. A note on the city: Nicaea was one of the most significant cities in Asia Minor, a constant rival of Nicomedia for regional importance. The existing city was renamed by Lysimachos after his wife, Nicaea, the daughter of the Macedonian regent Antipater. In mythology, Nicaea was also the name of one of Dionysos's consorts, a river nymph who bore him a son, Telete.
Wow. It sometimes amazes me that we even know what these things were, let alone what they were called and how they were used. I guess that's where wall paintings and things like that are so useful.
Thanks for the kind comments, folks. If there are any appropriate coins you'd like to share, please feel free. Coins related to any Mystery cult, of showing items that may have been used in their rites (the cista mystica comes to mind), or coins featuring Dionysos or Silenos. Here's another with a facing mask of Silenos. MACEDON (Roman Protectorate) AE. 8.61g, 21.1mm. Transitional bronze issue, circa 166-165 BC. SNG Copenhagen 1324-6; BMC 55; HGC 3.1, 1117. O: Facing mask of Silenus, wearing ivy wreath. R: MAKE/DONON, legend in two lines; D above; all within ivy wreath.
I love these kinds of threads! Super cool addition @zumbly ! Here are a couple of mine: MYSIA, Pergamon. c. 166-67 BC. AR Tetradrachm, 29mm 12.5, 12h; Cistophoric standard. Struck c. 104-98 BC. Obv.: Cista mystica with serpent; all within ivy wreath. Rev.: Bow case with serpents; above, KP above prytaneis monogram, civic monogram to left, serpent-entwined staff to right Pontos, Amisos AE20, 8.2g, 12h; 85-65 BC. Obv.: Head of Dionysos with ivy wreath right. Rev.: AMIΣOY; Cista mystica with panther skin and thyrsus; monogram in left field. Antiochos I Soter, Seleucid Kings of Syria; 281-261 BC Æ, 16mm, 4.01 g; 3h; Antioch mint Obv.: Diademed head right Rev.: Apollo Delphios seated left on an omphalos; monograms to left and right http://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/baetyl_coins.htm I have a couple featuring altars too...
Cool! I've always liked those cista mystica tetradrachms but haven't picked up a decent example yet. I love the toning on yours.
Aw well thanks! The type always fascinated me, especially when I first started collecting. I was fortunate enough to score that one from JA.
