This coin has baffled numismatists for centuries. I have a new take on it and open it up to others ideas, especially those in the biblical ancients field. Most nowadays agree that this is the first "Judea Capta" Roman style coin and that the guy on the back is the Jewish High Priest Aristobulus who was captured and imprisoned in Rome. He is kneeling and offering an olive branch to a Roman soldier out of view to the right. It is the same style as another issue by a different moneyer a few years earlier who has a defeated Nabatean King kneeling by his camel in the same fashion but a totally different Obverse. The mystery has been the name "Bacchius" which was not an alternate name of Aristobulus. Some people explain this by saying that the word "Bacchius" is used as a generic for "priest" as in a priest of the Roman deity Bacchus. They also say that the Jewish priest is by a camel because the Romans grouped the Jews and Arabs as in the same ethnic group so the camel fits. Maybe that works since there were Jewish Bedouins also that may have used camels but the association is not as tight as with the Sahara dwelling Arabs. Not sure on the history of that though. My question that I believe changes the whole equation is the bust of Cybele on the Obverse of the coin which is not on the earlier issue by the moneyer Scarus. The mythology tells us in many different stories that she was famous as the grandmother and wet nurse of the deity BACCHUS!! Could that be just a coincidence that she is on the front and the name "BACCHIUS" is in exergue on the reverse. That changes the fact that the deities name is just a personal name of a particular defeated Jew. Any other thoughts or info on this type? I will post the coin below and the earlier like issue of the celebrating the Nabatean defeat. Attribution: Crawford 431/1; Plautia 13; Sydenham 932 Date: 55 BC Obverse: A PLAVTIVS before turreted head of Cybele right Reverse: Aristobulus, the Jewish High Priest kneeling right and extending olive branch, his camel beside him; IVDAEVS to left; BACCHIVS in exergue Size: 18.3 mm Weight: 3.69 grams Description: good Fine. And here is the earlier like type 58 BC by moneyer Scarus: btw- as most of the coins I have the one above is worn and was affordable on my budget and the words were very clear. The image of the second issue pictured of the Scarus coin was just gotten from the net.
You know more on the subject than I do. Here is an earlier denarius of similar style: M. AEMILIUS (POMPEY Victory v ARETAS ); GENS AEMILIA AR Denarius OBVERSE: M . SCAVR / AED CVR above king Aretas kneeling beside a camel r., EX on ,S . C on right, REX ARETAS in ex REVERSE: HYPSAE (vs) / AED CVR above Jupiter in quadriga left, CAPTVM on right, c. HYPSAEVS cos PREIV (ER) in ex. scorpion below horses Rome 58 BC 3.1g, 17mm Cr422/1a; Syd 912
The earlier coins of Scaurus were insanely popular among Romans because of their exotic theme. I have an analysis of this type on my website here, a classic case of Roman numismatic propaganda. These coins were so popular, that many of them were saved rather than spent, which is why one can find excellent, high-grade examples today. Unfortunately the flans are always a bit tight and capture the full dies only very rarely. It's interesting and certainly worth pursuing the significance of the later issues, but one thing is certain: they are knock-offs trying to capitalize on the popularity of Scaurus' issues. It's like you can't have Hamburger Helper without Panburger Partner.
Ok- thanks John, so the image of the camel and kneeling supplicant is just a canned label used to garner popularity and maybe only tangential to the rest of the message of the coin. Which message could be the supplication of another ethnicity/religion to that of the Roman-Bacchus/Cybele. Where Bacchus does not refer to the name of the kneeling supplicant at all. In the little research online I did I found a google book on Camels and camel outfitting that uses these two coins as a milestone in the appearance of a new kind of camel saddle/pack outfit- a first historical record pictured on these camels!
So the scorpion represents the defeated desert dwelling people I suppose. Didn't notice that before. A lot of major propaganda- maybe "fake news" as John states on the whole incident.
The scorpion is not fully understood. The earliest dies of the Scaurus/Plautius coins did not bear the scorpion and it seems to have been added around the same time that "REX ARETAS" was added. Given that the scorpion is on the reverse, which alludes to the capture of the city of Privernum, I think it is probably related to the moneyer named on the reverse or something related to his family rather than the events alluded to by the obverse. I will be co-authoring a paper in the next year or so which should shed some additional light on this issue by analysis of the dies and varieties that make it up. Here's one of the scarce early sans-scorpion and sans-Aretas issues:
