Keeping it in the family! Iotape and Antiochus IV.

Julia Iotape Philadelphus was the wife, sister, and cousin of Antiochus IV. Oh, the irony! Philadelphus is the Latinized form of the ancient Greek Philadelphos (Φιλάδελφος) meaning "brother-loving." How did this hyper-incestuous relationship happen?

She was the daughter of Antiochus III and Iotape, the king and queen of Commagene. Her parents were full-blooded siblings and direct descendants of the Seleucid kings. Iotape and her brother Antiochus IV were very young when their father died in AD 17.

Tiberius agreed with the citizens of Commagene to make their Kingdom a part of the Roman province of Syria. From AD 17 until 38, Iotape and her brother were raised in Rome, members of the remarkable court of Antonia Minor. Antonia Minor was a niece of Augustus and the youngest daughter of Mark Antony. She was very influential and supervised her circle of various princes and princesses, assisting in the political preservation of the Empire’s borders, and the affairs of client states. In 38, Caligula returned Antiochus IV and Iotape to the throne of Commagene. In addition, Caligula enlarged their territory with a part of Cilicia bordering on the seacoast and gave them one million gold pieces, the total amount of revenue collected from Commagene during the twenty years that it had been under Syria. The reason for his extraordinary generosity is unknown. Perhaps it was just a stroke of Caligula's well-attested eccentricity.

Iotape and Antiochus IV married and had three children. Iotape died before Commagene was annexed by Vespasian in 72. When she died, Antiochus IV founded a town called 'Iωτάπη, Iotape, in her honor (modern Aytap, Turkey).

This is the only countermarked coin in my collection. I'm not sure what the countermark is supposed to be; an anchor, crossed cornuacopiae, and a swastika appear on these issues. I don't have a copy of Howgego, so I'm not very familiar with all the possibilities. If anyone HAS Howgego and would be willing to look this one up for me, I'd appreciate it greatly. You may read more about these coins here.


Julia Iotape, Queen of Commagene AD 38 - 72
AE diassarion, 23.4 mm, 13.64 g, 12 h
Syria, Commagene, Samosata mint
Obv: ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΑ ΙΩΤΑΠΗ ΦΙΛΑ∆ΕΛΦΟΣ, diademed and draped bust of Iotape, right; countermark: anchor?
Rev: ΚΟΜΜΑΓ−ΗИΩИ, scorpion and inscription all within laurel wreath
Refs: Lindgren-Kovacs 1887; RPC I 3858; BMC Galatia p. 109, 4; Nercessian AC --; SNG Cop VII 5; similar to Sear GIC 5514 (which has lunate sigmas in the inscription).

Here's a better image of the countermark:



As always, post anything you feel is relevant!

 

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pleasingly pretty coin

 

Love it

 

I happen to have Howgego in front of me because I was looking for countermark info for another poster.

For Commagene, Howgego lists only the two types you already mentioned (crossed cornucopiae, and an anchor between A and N). I'll dig through the plates and descriptions to see if anything else might match. It looks like a monogram, or perhaps some non-Greek/Latin letter(s).

 

Hmmm...

According to acsearchinfo, CNG sold the Lindgren plate coin:



But they attribute it to a different mint, based upon the reverse inscription. The countermark is supposedly an anchor. CNG described the coin as follows:

"LYCAONIA, Laranda(?). Iotape, wife of Antiochos IV, King of Commagene. AD 38-72. Æ 25mm (16.33 g). Diademed and draped bust of Iotape right; c/m: anchor / ΛΥKAONΩN, scorpion within wreath. RPC I 3534.1 = Lindgren I 1887 (this coin); SNG France -; Howgego 372 (for countermark). VF, brown surfaces, light roughness. Rare, only one other specimen cited in RPC.
From the Garth R. Drewry Collection."

So Lindgren was wrong in his attribution and mine isn't this one. On my coin, I can see AΓ in the 5:00 position and ΗИΩИ starting in the 7:00 position on the reverse. Mine must therefore read KΟΜΜΑΓ−ΗИΩИ and would be from Commagene (Samosata mint, per Sear).

It's interesting how the Ns are backwards on this particular reverse die (shown rotated so the end of the inscription is more or less upright):

 

Thanks, @TIF !

 

I looked through all of the plates and some of the descriptions and unfortunately found no matches for your countermark.

It looks like a Greek monogram to me, perhaps Π + P?

 

Thanks for taking the time.

 

And here, on a coin I coincidentally purchased earlier today, is brother/husband, Antiochus IV:

 

I just read today that many primate groups have incestuous relations (of virtually all types) to resolve conflicts.

 

I was wondering when someone would snap that up! That's an ex X6 and one I considered getting (okay, well, I considered buying most of his coins but the bank account said no ).

Hope you don't mind but I'm going to post the auction pictures from when Steve bought it, in case you haven't seen them. I think they're much nicer than the current eBay pictures.

 

Yes, TIF, I've been watching that one for a while also. Thank you for posting the additional image! It is superior. I'm looking forward to seeing the coin in-hand!

 

That's a gorgeous example, @Carl Wilmont ! Of course, Steve had discriminating taste when it came to acquisitions for his collection. The scorpion on your new coin is nice and clear. Mine, unfortunately, got mashed against the anvil when the countermark was applied to the obverse.

 

D'oh!!! Why is it that when I discover errors, it's too late to edit them???

The first sentence of the OP should read, "Julia Iotape Philadelphus was the wife, sister, and cousin of Antiochus IV.

 

Hmm, I can edit my posts for much longer (days? weeks?). Must be one of the "Supporter" perks.

You can ask a moderator to fix it or to restore the edit button so that you can fix it . Or, you can become a Supporter

 

I second TIF's remarks. I also looked and the countermarks TIF noted that Howgego has on coins of Iotape don't look much like the one you have. Rotating it every which way, I can't decide what your countermark might be.

 

Thanks for looking!