Hello everybody Still as part of my collection: "Hermes - Mercury - Caduceus - Turms", (now named HMCT ;-) I acquired a coin from the city of GADARA at the time of the Decapolis. the coin is referenced : Spijkerman 3 - Sofaer 3 It is dated -47 / -46 (LIH) It bears the inscription ΓAΔA + ΡEΩN or ΓAΔA + ΡEωN on either side of the caduceus The caduceus in question seems to have "starving" wings. I have 2 questions and one request, and maybe you can help : - Does the inscription: ΓAΔAΡEΩN (or ΓAΔAΡEωN) mean GADARA or something related to it? - Does the caduceus have (starving) wings or is it a sort of branch? - Can someone send me an extract from one of the aforementioned works (Spijkerman 3 - Sofaer 3), concerning this coin Thank you all in advance François
Yes. It is Greek: Γ (G) A (A) Δ (D) A (A) Ρ (R) ...etcetera Several CoinTalk members are much more knowledgable about naming conventions than am I but the suffix (-EωN) makes the word mean something like "the people of Gadara". (I might be mistaken about this) @Roman Collector, can you help me out? They seem to be stylized wings. Other examples can be seen on ACsearch, all with similarly sparse branch-like "wings". It was published in 1978 so you may not find a free online version but I didn't search very hard. If you have access to academic libraries you might be able to read it somewhere online, or perhaps your local library can acquire it via interlibrary loan. Here's a copy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Decapolis-Provincia-Biblici-Franciscani-collectio/dp/B0000E9CIM
The ancient Greeks rarely mentioned a city by its name, they more often mentioned it by the name of its citizens. Thucydides did not say "Athens" or "Sparta", he said "the Athenians", "the Lacedaemonians". Gadara was the name of the city, its citizens were the Gadarenoi or Gadareis, genitive plural Gadareon. Gadareon means "(money) of the citizens of Gadara". Gadara was a Greek city in the middle of a Jewish and Syrian inhabited land, overlooking the Lake of Tiberias. Today it is called Umm Qays (Jordan) and you can visit the ruins of the ancient city. In Antiquity, because the Gadarenes were Greeks, they ate pork and raised pigs. The episode in the Gospels in which Jesus exorcizes demons (Mark 5:1-20; Matthew 8:28-34; Luke 8:26-39) took place in Gadara, not Gerasa.
Thanks for all ) I validate the hypothesis of stylized wings for the caduceus (for lack of anything better) For documentation, even if France is rather small, I am 100 km away from the first serious public library (it's a choice to live in peace) so I have +/- only internet to document. ...And as my collection's theme is very vast ("Hermes - Mercury - Caduceus - Turms" through Greek and Roman cultures) I do not have the means to document thoroughly on each region and period concerned :-(( Concerning the translation, you agree with GinoLR who has just completed your answer .............. and i am a happy man thanks again François
Reading your answer made me think I should have been more careful at school. ) Really THANK YOU for your lights !! I like numismatics but the real pleasure lies in researching the history of the coins and their historical context François
Yes, it means "of the Gadareans." @GinoLR is exactly right. I have only one coin of this city. It features Faustina II, of course. That's Zeus on the reverse.
On the reverse of my coin there is "LIH" which must indicate the year of issue based on the Pompeian calendar whose origin is in -63 BC. JC. The works that I have consulted indicate that LIH corresponds to the year 18 of the Pompeian era (....... but do not explain it) On the epigraphic works I found the Greek alphabetical notation where 'I' would represent 10 and "H" 8 units, therefore "18" .......... but what is "L" corresponding to? Can you help me on that?
The L just means "year". I don't know why. Coins minted in Roman Egypt always have this L for the date. Some cities in south Palestine did the same, especially in the 1st c. BC and AD.
it is true that almost all dated coins have an "L" as date's first letter, but there are exceptions .... such as the coin of Roman collector above. But actually I retain the "L" as annunciator of the date thanks a lot François
Just received this one from CNG DECAPOLIS, Gadara. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ (25mm, 14.67 g, 12h). Dated CY 223 (AD 159/60). Laureate and cuirassed bust right / Bust of Herakles right, with lion’s skin tied around neck; ΓKC (date) in legend. Spijkerman 32; Rosenberger 39; RPC IV.3 Online 6292; Sofaer 33. Earthen black patina. VF.
Γ = 3 K = 20 C = 200 account is good but no "L" announcig the datation maybe the way of announcing a date has evolved towards a simplification between -63 bc and +159 ad ?
Rare Pompey the Great bronze coin - Gadara in Decapolis. Minted in the first year after Pompey's foundation of the city, 63 BCE. Bust of Herakles left with club on shoulder. Reverse: Prow of galley, Greek inscription: 'year one of Rome.' Meshorer 217; Spikerman 1; Rosenberg 1.
Dear friends of ancient history! Reading your posts about Gadara I remember that I have an older article that is worth to share with you. The coin: Syria, Dekapolis, Gadara, Marcus Aurelius, AD 161-180 AE 23, 7.31g, 22.37mm, 0° struck AD 160/61 (year 224, Pompeian era) obv. AVT KAIC M AVP - ANTΩNEINOC Bust, draped and cuirassed, laureate, r. rev. ΓAΔAPEΩN (l. field from below) r. field ΔKC (year 224) Tyche (city goddess) of Gadara, in short chiton, stg. frontal, head r., holding in l. arm cornucopiae and resting with raised l. hand on long sceptre; on her r. side Nike stg. l. on column crowning her with wreath; at her feet a river god swimming frontal ref. Spijkerman 42; RPC IV online temp. nr. 6669 (same dies) Very rare, VF, grey green patina Pedigree: ex coll. Reinhart Falter ex Helios Auktion Nr.3, 29./30.4.2009, Lot 739 Gadara, todays Umm Quais, in the Roman imperial time belonging to the South Syrian cities league of Dekapolis, is today located in the extreme Northwest of Jordan 35km west of the provincial main town Irbid. The preferred situation in immediate neighbourhood of an agricultural fertile plateau above the river Yarmuk, eye contact to the Lake Tiberias and into the Valley of the river Jordan, which gave this place at all time a special strategic importance, and finally the linkage to the transregional road network were the reason to found Gadara on an isolated 350m high brow of rock, providing furthermore favourable defending possibilities. In Roman time the Yarmouk was called Hieromax. Therefore I think the depicted river god will be the Hieromax. Probably Gadara was a Ptolomaic fortress which has been destroyed by Antiochos III about 200 BC. 100 years later the settlement was destroyed again by the Hasmonean Alexander Jannaeus. Pompeji captured the city for the Roman empire in 64 BC. The city was incorporated into the Dekapolis. For a while Gadara was under control of Herodes the Great, after his death in AD 4 it became part of the Roman province Syria, later of Arabia Petra. As Roman city it acquired considerable importance. Gadara is remarkable for various reasons. Under Hadrian began the construction of a 170km long water pipe that partially ran subterraneously. One of its tunnels had a lengst of 106 km - the longest ancient tunnel worldwide - that was discovered in 2004 by German researchers.. It was an engeenering master piece and should supply the cities of Adra'a, Abila and Gadara. Historically Gadara is important, because here from August 15 to August 20 AD 636 the Battle of Yarmouk was fought. This Battle between the Califate of the Rashidun and the Byzantine Empire lasted 6 days and ended with the catastrophical defeat of the Byzantine army. This battle is seen as one of the most decisive battles of the history of man. This battle represents the first big wave of Islamic conquests after the death of Mohammed and led to the rapid advance of Islam into the Christian Levant. Byzanz lost Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and was no more able to keep Egypt. It was a desaster from which Byzanz never could recover. It was the beginning of the rise of the Muslims and the decline of the Byzantine Empire which ended in AD 1457 in the conquest of Constantinopolis. Khalid ibn al-Walid, the winner of this battle against a considerable greater enemy - the Byzantine troups are estimated at 80 - 100 Thousand, the Islamic troups in contrast at 25 - 40 Thousand - here realized his most important triumph and hereby strengthened his fame as great strategian and leader of cavalry. Who is interested in history and importance of this battle should read the article in Wikipedia. I have added a pic of the Byzantine central church that has been unearthed since 1974 in order of the Deutsches Evangelisches Institut für Altertumswissenschaft des Heiligen Landes. Today this institute operates closely with the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut at the resesarch of this ancient place. Sources: (1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarmouk_River (2) http://www.dainst.org/index_580_de.html Water pipe to Gadara: (3) http://www.zabern.de/pdfs/2200038_1.pdf (4) http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-40517-4.html Battle of Yarmouk: (5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Yarmouk Best regards Jochen
