DEO CABIRO: a 300 years old urban legend ?

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Ocatarinetabellatchitchix, Feb 15, 2019.

  1. Ocatarinetabellatchitchix

    Ocatarinetabellatchitchix Well-Known Member

    Urban legend : a story of obscure origin and with little or no supporting evidence that spread spontaneously in varying forms.

    Prologue :

    Summer of 269AD. Thessalonica is put under siege by the barbarians Goths. They have already sacked Thrace, Macedonia and Greece. It seems there is no way out. But the arrival of the emperor Claudius « Gothicus » forced them to run away. For the inhabitants of the city, they also resist the invasion with the help of the Cabiri— the tutelary deity of the place. But who are the Cabiri ? They are the 3 or 4 sons of god Vulcan and goddess Cabira. In 1888, a temple in their names was excavated near Thebes.
    Claudius mints struck after this event an interesting an unusual coin with this reverse legend : DEO CABIRO

    0A610783-29C0-4937-8A4D-E8885AF9B7A5.jpeg

    One of the Cabiri son of Vulcan and the nymph Cabira

    98DECD5B-74B8-4E0B-9BCC-9B4172EAFD87.jpeg
    Ruins of the Sanctuary of the Cabiri, Thebes Greece

    The urban legend
    1718. Anselmo Banduri, a Benedictine scholar, archeologist and numismatologist, published 2 folio volumes on the imperial coinage from Trajan to the last of the palaeologi.

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    Anselmo Banduri

    2C0A6ADD-37AD-4B39-AA08-E28294ACAB05.jpeg

    In the volume 2, he described the DEO CABIRO coin but did not give an engraving of it : Cabirus, with cap on his head, and a band round the body, standing, a hammer in
    right and a pair of nippers or tongs in his left hand. Third brass of Claudius
    Gothicus.

    EB677884-AD54-46C0-88BD-AA3C5FA5D9AE.jpeg

    1815. Theodore Mionnet, in his book De la rareté et du prix des médailles romaines , reported the existence of the DEO CABIRO coin.

    36420625-D396-4B21-8DC3-501B01284157.jpeg

    1892. Henry Cohen, in his Description historique des monnaies frappées sous l’empire romain incuded it in his catalogue.

    36420625-D396-4B21-8DC3-501B01284157.jpeg
    1927. RIC , in the reference for Thessalonica, cited the coin by the way of Banduri
    ( RIC V 204 ).

    Now the big question : Where is the DEO CABIRO coin ? It appears that nobody on this planet has ever seen that specimen. Here are 3 possible explanations :
    1) The DEO CABIRO just does not exist. It is a 300 years old urban legend.

    2) The coin has been considered a misreading for REGI ARTIS ( another rare type ); REGI have been read as DEO [ D for R, O for G and I became C, first letter of CABIRO ] and ARTIS was read as ABIRO [ B for R, I fot T and possibly IS was not legible at all ] .......
    3) The coin is hidden somewhere, maybe in a private collection, in a museum dusty basement or in an University’s attic....

    7DB5C136-06C3-4663-88A9-547C116F1BA9.png

    An example of a REGI ARTIS

    A0250C3C-B670-47D7-91FC-8744CD00D9F2.jpeg
    A possible misreading ?

    So what do you think :Is the DEO CABIRO coin of Claudius Gothicus only an urban legend ?
     

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    Last edited: Feb 15, 2019
    zumbly, Pavlos, TIF and 18 others like this.
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  3. KIWITI

    KIWITI Well-Known Member

    Nice detectivesque work!
     
  4. Stevearino

    Stevearino Well-Known Member

    The “letter substitution” theory seems like a stretch. My wild guess: the coin will turn up in my lifetime.

    Steve
     
  5. Neal

    Neal Well-Known Member

    Have you checked eBay? Now that you have brought this up there will probably be lots of them show up having been "hidden" in China.

    More seriously, that is a very interesting post, well researched. What made you notice that one obscure reference was missing?

    It seems to me the confusion with REG IARTI is unlikely unless the first person to be confused had a very poor specimen in front of him or her. It would require so many letters to be confused by someone who likely was a keen student of the coins to begin with. If such a mistake were made, it would be more likely that a rare coin would be mistaken to be a more common variety than a known variety be mistaken for an otherwise unknown one. It seems more likely that a very rare, even unique, specimen was lost through the ravages of time, war, fires, earthquakes, etc. or that, if it still exists, it is hidden unappreciated in a collection passed down to non-collector heirs. Or possibly it is known and appreciated by its owner so much that it has simply never been put on any market.
     
  6. Ocatarinetabellatchitchix

    Ocatarinetabellatchitchix Well-Known Member

    There was an interesting article on Claudius II in the Celator in 2003. That’s where I learned about the mysterious DEO CABIRO RIC V 204. Fifteen years later, the coin didn’t show up yet....
     
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2019
    Neal and Roman Collector like this.
  7. TIF

    TIF Always learning.

    Very interesting, @Ocatarinetabellatchitchix! I'm not sure what to think. At a glance the misread legend theory seems unlikely but considering the odd rendering of some letters on official coins, sloppy workmanship, wear, damage, etc... perhaps a misreading is the explanation!

    I'm sure we'll all be keeping an eye out for one now, just in case. :D
     
    Roman Collector likes this.
  8. Ricardo123

    Ricardo123 Well-Known Member

    Amazing story. I wonder what says the latest edition of RIC about the coin.
     
    arizonarobin likes this.
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