A new purchase. I've always wanted one of these because Isis is one cool goddess! Post anything you feel is relevant! Claudius II Gothicus, AD 268-270. Roman billon antoninianus, 4.07 g, 22.4 mm, 5 h. Antioch, officina 5, issue 1, end 268-end 269. Obv: IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right. Rev: SALVS AVG, Isis standing left, holding sistrum and situla; Є in exergue. Refs: RIC 217A; MER/RIC temp 1024; Cohen 256; RCV 11370; Huvelin 1990, 10; Normanby 1109. This coin shows one of the most common representations of Isis. It is very similar to a Roman marble statue of Isis in the British Museum: On the coin, as in the statue, Isis wears some sort of headdress (which Bill Welch discusses in greater detail on an excellent page about Isis on Roman coins). In her left hand, she is holding a ceremonial water container, called a situla. Sometimes this is called a bucket or pail but, as you can see in the statue, a situla is more ornate than bucket or pail might suggest. In her right hand she holds a sistrum (missing on the statue), a kind of metallic rattle made of an oval metal frame on a handle, with loose metal rods passed horizontally through holes in the frame. Sometimes metal discs were strung on the rods. When shaken, it made a metallic jingling sound similar to a tambourine. It was used by the priestesses in Isis's temples to draw attention to various parts of the ceremonies. This is one of many examples in the British Museum: The sistrum on my coin has only two horizontal bars; this example at the British Museum has only two as well, but unfortunately, it's missing its handle: You can listen to a four-rod sistrum that was found in Pompeii in this video: Early, possibly romantic, modern interpretations of these attributes of Isis include this tidbit by Servius, as quoted by Eckhel: "Isis is the genius of Egypt, who by the movement of her sistrum, which she carries in her right hand, signifies the access and recess (or the rising and falling) of the Nile; and by the situla, or bucket, which she holds in her left hand, she shows the filling of all lacuna, that is all of the ditches and furrows into which the stagnant water of the Nile is received." Thus, to her followers, Isis was responsible for the fertility of the land as well as the transport of the grain. Given that much of the grain consumed in the Roman empire came from Egypt, and Isis's religious impact on Roman life, I share Bill Welch's surprise that she does not appear on more Roman coins.
Nice, I have the same type. Claudius II (268 - 270 A.D.) Æ Antoninianus O: IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind. R: SALVS AVG, Isis Faria standing facing, head left, holding sistrum and basket; Є Antioch mint 22mm 3.37g RIC 217
Fantastic coin! I would love to have a Claudius II with Isis, especially one with the eye appeal of yours. Most of my coins showing Isis are from Roman Egypt. Plain Isis: EGYPT, Alexandria. Vespasian year 4, CE 71/2 diobol?, 25.4 mm, 5.45 gm Obv: AVTOKKAIΣΣEBAOVEΣΠAΣIANOV; laureate head right Rev: bust of Isis left; LΔ in right field Ref: Emmett 217.4 (diobol) EGYPT, Alexandria. Domitian Year 9, CE 89/90 AE diobol, 25 mm, 9.13 gm Obv: laureate bust right Rev: bust of Isis right Ref: Dattari-Savio Pl 19, 6747 (this coin); Geissen 329; Emmett 296.9, R5 ex Dattari collection (Giovanni Dattari, 1858-1923) Isis in her role as overseer of seas and harbors: EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian year 18, CE 133/4 Æ drachm, 32 mm, 23.3 gm Obv: AYT KAIC TPAIAN A∆PIANOC CEB, laureate and draped bust right Rev: Isis Pharia right holding a billowing sail with both hands and left foot, sailing toward the Lighthouse of Pharos, which is surmounted by a statue and two Tritons, each blowing a buccinum (sea shell trumpet); L IH (year 18) above center Ref: Emmett 1002(18), R1 Another Isis Pharia, a rare version of tetradrachm which somehow escaped @Okidoki's clutches Hadrian tet, year 9, Isis Pharia. Emmett 868.9 (R5) Isis head with serpent body: EGYPT, Alexandria. Domitian AE obol, 20 mm, 5 gm regnal year 10, CE 90/91 Obv: laureate head right Rev: AVTKAIΣAPOMITIANOΣΣEBΓEPM; Isis-Thermouthis standing right; LI in right field Ref: Emmett 321.10, R5; RPC 2593; Geissen 376 Isis-Sothis: EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius AE drachm, regnal year 21 Obv: laureate bust right Rev: Isis-Sothis, seated facing and holding a cornucopia and scepter, riding a dog (Sirius?) right; the dog is looking back at Isis Ref: Dattari 2680; Emmett 1593.21 Ex Robert L. Grover Collection of Roman-Egyptian Coinage, previously held by the Art Institute of Chicago Isis as mother: EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius AE drachm, RY 8 Obv: laureate bust right Rev: Isis seated right on throne, nursing the infant Harpokrates, all within arched temple with solar disc and uraeus on pediment; L-H Ref: Dattari 3044; Emmett 1587.8, R4 Ex Robert L. Grover Collection of Roman-Egyptian Coinage, previously held by the Art Institute of Chicago A Ptolemaic Isis: Ptolemy V-VI 204-145 BCE Æ 27mm, 18.4g; Alexandria mint. Obv: diademed head of Isis right Rev: ΠTOΛEMAIOΥ BAΣIΛEΩΣ; eagle on thunderbolt. Ref: Svoronos 1234 and SNG Cop 247 (as Ptolemy IV) Not Isis but a nice sistrum, "held" by a cobra: EGYPT, Alexandria. Marcus Aurelius year 12, CE 171/2 AE diobol, 22 mm, 7.53 gm Obv: [MAV]PHΛIOC ANTω[ΝΙΝΟCCE]; laureate bust right Rev: Uraeus serpent erect left, wearing headdress; "holding" sistrum and grain ear; LI - B across upper fields Ref: Dattari 3605 and Pl. XXXII, 3605 (this coin). Dattari-Savio Pl. 193, 3605 (this coin); Geissen --; Emmett 2260.12, R5 ex Dattari collection (Giovanni Dattari, 1858-1923) A sistrum held by the personification of Egypt: HADRIAN AR Denarius. 18 mm, 2.95 gm. struck CE 134-138, Rome Obv: HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P, bare head right Rev: AEGYPTOS; Aegyptos reclining left holding sistrum; ibis standing right at feet Ref: RIC II 297 Lastly, a lovely carving of winged Isis on a scarab: Blue glazed steatite scarab. Egypt, Late Period, 664-332 BC. Face engraved with winged Isis standing right before a solar disk and a cartouche containing r’nfr, or “may beauty exist”; below, the hieroglyph n’b or “lord” (14x10mm). Crack down center with some very minor loss of material on back. Ex Christie’s London ‘Fine Antiquities,’ 10 July 1991, lot 85 (part of).
Very lovely collection of Isis coins, @TIF ! You can be justifiably proud of them. I particularly like the cobra who wishes it were a rattlesnake and has to shake a sistrum with its tail!!
That's an outstanding coin, and thanks for the excellent writeup! It's a little hard to see because of the thick concretions, but it's a sistrum on the reverse of this Trajan dichalkon. TRAJAN AE Dichalkon. 1.74g, 15.7mm, EGYPT, Alexandria, Year 16 = AD 112/3. Kellner p. 103, pl. 4, Abb. 7; Emmett 720 var. (seven R5, one R3, but unlisted for RY 16). O: Laureate head of Trajan right. R: Sistrum; L - IS (date) across field. And, of course, I can't pass up the opportunity to post my Festival of Isis issue depicting on the reverse the syncretic god Hermanoobydoo. FESTIVAL OF ISIS. Anonymous. Rare. AE. 0.79g, 12mm. Rome mint, mid-4th Century (time of Julian II). Alföldi, Festival pl. VIII, 11; Vagi 3393. O: [ISIS F-A]RIA, draped bust of Isis right, wearing hem-hem crown and necklace. R: [VOTA P-]VBLICA, Hermanubis standing left, holding sistrum and caduceus.
EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian Drachm 132-33 AD Isis Pharia standing Reference. Var. on Date placement Emmett 1000.17; RPC III, 5837; Milne 1372; Dattari 1757 Issue L IZ = year 17 Obv. ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙС ΤΡΑΙΑΝ - ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟС СƐΒ laureate draped and cuirassed bust of Hadrian, r., seen from rear Rev. LI Z Isis Pharia advancing, r., holding sistrum and sail. 26.87 gr 34 mm 12h
