Many years ago, well before the computer crash that destroyed my records some 15 years ago, I acquired this provincial of Septimius Severus from Nicopolis ad Istrum in a group lot on eBay. Septimius Severus, AD 193-211. Roman provincial Æ 25.6 mm, 10.03 g, 1 h. Moesia Inferior, Nicopolis ad Istrum, Lucius Aurelius Gallus, legatus consularis, AD 201-204. Obv: ΑVΤ CΕΠΤ• CΕVΗΡ ΠΕΡ, laureate head, right. Rev: VΠ ΑVΡ ΓΑΛΛΟV ΝΙΚΟΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ / ΠΡΟC ΙCΤΡ, AIMOC across left field, mountain-god Haemus reclining right on wooded rock outcropping, resting right arm above head and cradling scepter in left arm; below, bear right, chasing leaping stag. Refs: AMNG I 1315; Varbanov (2nd ed.) 2721; HrHJ 8.14.43.3; Moushmov 1023. I remember having a terrible time attributing it because we simply didn't have the online resources that we have today. But attribute it, I did, but I'd never really been happy with it. Its surfaces are rough and pitted; it had been zealously overcleaned and bright orichalcum glistened on the high points where the patina had been scraped away. It was an ugly coin.Twenty years later, it has toned down and the highlights aren't so brassy, but I always wanted a nicer example. That opportunity came when I purchased one from @PeteB at Akropolis Ancient Coins. It has a very nice, smooth patina, and much more eye-appeal, even though it has been well-circulated and its legends are incomplete. It is, unsurprisingly, a double-die match to my first example. Septimius Severus, AD 193-211. Roman provincial Æ 25.0 mm, 11.27 g, 7 h. Moesia Inferior, Nicopolis ad Istrum, Lucius Aurelius Gallus, legatus consularis, AD 201-204. Obv: ΑVΤ CΕΠΤ• CΕVΗΡ ΠΕΡ, laureate head, right. Rev: VΠ ΑVΡ ΓΑΛΛΟV ΝΙΚΟΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ / ΠΡΟC ΙCΤΡ, AIMOC across left field, mountain-god Haemus reclining right on wooded rock outcropping, resting right arm above head and cradling scepter in left arm; below, bear right, chasing leaping stag. Refs: AMNG I 1315; Varbanov (2nd ed.) 2721; HrHJ 8.14.43.3; Moushmov 1023. The mythology is interesting, and you may enjoy reading about it and seeing similar coins in @Jochen1's thread from a few years back. Briefly, Haemus is the mountain god personifying the Balkan mountains, called Haemus mons by the Romans. There are two myths about the etiology of the name of the mountains. In ancient times, the Greeks called the entire Balkan Peninsula the "Peninsula of Haemus" (Χερσόνησος τοῦ Αἵμου). The oldest, recorded in Apollodorus' Theogony (1.6.3), states the mountain is named after the blood (haema) of the dragon Typhon, shed during his battle with Zeus. The relevant passage reads: διόπερ ἐπιδιωκόμενος αὖθις ἧκεν εἰς Θρᾴκην, καὶ μαχόμενος περὶ τὸν Αἷμον ὅλα ἔβαλλεν ὄρη. τούτων δὲ ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ κεραυνοῦ πάλιν ὠθουμένων πολὺ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὄρους ἐξέκλυσεν αἷμα: καί φασιν ἐκ τούτου τὸ ὄρος κληθῆναι Αἷμον. I translate this as: And then, being pursued again, he (Typhon) came to Thrace, and fighting near (Mount) Haemus, he began throwing entire mountains. But when these were thrust back at him by the thunderbolts (of Zeus), a stream of blood (haema) gushed out upon the mountain: and for this reason, it is said, the mountain is called Haemus. The other myth about the etiology of the mountain is told in Ovid's Metamorphosis (6.87-89): Threiciam Rhodopen habet angulus unus et Haemum (nunc gelidi montes, mortalia corpora quondam!), nomina summorum sibi qui tribuere deorum. I translate this as: One corner holds Thracian Rhodope and Haemus (now icy mountains, but at one time mortal bodies!) who claimed for themselves the names of the gods most high. To understand Ovid, you must know the (untold) backstory. Haemus, the son of Boreas, was a mythological king of Thrace. Haemus and Rhodope were brother and sister as well as husband and wife. The gods most high, of course, refers to Jupiter and Juno, who were similarly brother and sister yet husband and wife. Ovid's tale relates how Haemus and Rhodope were metamorphosed into mountains as punishment for their boastful assumption of the names of the gods. Let's see your coins depicting personifications of geographic features!
I love this reverse type! On mine, the scene is slightly different, with the little bear looking slightly disconsolate, probably after it didn't manage catch the stag shown on your coin. MACRINUS AE27. 12.0g, 26.9mm. MOESIA INFERIOR, Nicopolis, AD 217-218. Statius Longinus, legatus consularis. Hristova-Hoeft-Jekov (2018) 8.23.41.1 (R5); Varbanov 3428. O: AVT K M OΠЄΛ CЄV MAKPЄINOC AV, laureate bust right. R: VΠ CTA ΛONΓЄINOV NIKOΠOΛITΩN ΠPOC ICTPΩ, the mountain-god Haimos seated left on rock, resting arm above head and holding spear; AIMO/C in left field; bear advancing right below.
Very cool coin and nice upgrade! Here's a recent purchase of a geographic personification: Scythia. Olbia circa 310-280 BC. Bronze Æ 19mm. 5,69g. Horned head of Borysthenes left / Axe and bow in bowcase; monogram to left, OΛBIO upwards to right. good very fine Frolova & Abramzon 721-30; Anokhin 297; SNG BM Black Sea 453. VF "Borysthenes is a geographical name from classical antiquity. The term usually refers to the Dnieper River and its eponymous river god, but also seems to have been an alternative name for Pontic Olbia, a town situated near the mouth of the same river on the Black Sea coast, or the earlier settlement on Berezan Island."
