I picked up this coin in @John Anthony 's auction of last week, thought I'd snap a photo once it arrived. I posted it on a Facebook ancient coin group and it received 37 likes in a couple of hours, one poster commenting that this coin type got him involved in collecting ancients many years ago. The city was actually destroyed in 256 A.D. by the forces of Shapur, not long after the minting of this coin. So, without further adieu: COMMAGENE, Zeugma. Philip II and II.247-249 AD. Æ31, 19.2g; 6h (a nice chunky coin, how about that?) Obv.: AYTOK K M IOYΛI ФIΛIΠΠOC CЄB; Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right. Rev.: ZЄYGM-ATЄΩN; Peribolos containing grove of trees, seen in perspective; tetrastyle temple in distance, draped figure within (Zeus?); in exergue, capricorn to right. Reference: Butcher 31c; BMC 35.
Kevin Butcher in "Coinage in Roman Syria," has another take on what is depicted. He writes, "tertrastyle temple on a hill, with structures at base of hill and up either side." For a few years I have been looking for examples of perspective on ancient coins. I started a thread on it in 2016: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/perspective.279926/ and contributed to a thread on the OP type which argues it is not a courtyard : https://www.cointalk.com/threads/mountain-not-a-courtyard.324110/ Here is a similar coin for his wife, Otacilia Severa. 29 mm. 16.65 grams. Butcher CRS Zeugma 31b. "Probably struck at Antioch" (for Zeugma). Sear Greek Imperial 4056.
John Anthony started a thread about these coins last week in which he argues, as you do, that the reverse depicts a peribolos (a grove of trees) in perspective in front of a temple rather than a temple on a hill. He and you have convinced me: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ze...onzes-of-philip-i-and-ii.336587/#post-3466031
Here's mine: Philip II, AD 244-249 (or 247-249). Roman provincial Æ 28.0 mm, 14.93 g, 12 h. Syria: Commagene, Zeugma. Obv: AVTOK K M IOVΛI ΦIΛIΠΠOC CЄB, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust, right. Rev: ZЄYΓMATЄΩN, tetrastyle temple, before which is a grove; colonnade on right and left; portico in front. Capricorn right in exergue. Refs: Sear 4142; BMC 40; Butcher 31c; SNC 60-62.
I'm glad I got one as it is a really interesting type and one I was unfamiliar with before. Gotta keep looking for those cool provincials.
Interesting how almost Aztec the temples look on these, in a strange sort of way. My eye keeps seeing "pyramid with building on top" instead of "grove of trees with temple in distance".
Periboli were very common structures adjacent to temples in the Greek world, so it's an application of Occam's Razor as far as I'm concerned. If an Aztec-like pyramid with a temple at the top were discovered in the ruins of Zeugma, we would of course have to reconsider. But as for now, I don't see how you can legitimately interpret the coin any other way.
Oh, I'm not extrapolating Aztec-style pyramids in Greece. Merely commenting upon the optical illusion of that, which resulted from the way I initially viewed the images. The use of perspective is actually more interesting, once I retrained my eyes to see what was going on there.
Yeah, the problem is that drawing perspective on coins was not a refined technique at the time, so it's easy to see that image as flat.