A Posthumous Portrait of Nerva from Perinthos, Thrace

I've been working up a scruffy batch of Roman Provinicials (and two imperials) from eBay and I made what seems to be an unusual discovery - a posthumous issue for Nerva on a big, sestertius-sized flan (31 mm / 21.84 grams) from Perinthos, Thrace.

At first the portrait really threw me off - Hadrian? Domitian? Also, I at first thought it was from Perge, not Perinthos. So yeah, it took me a long time to track this down, but I think I'm correct; I even found a couple of die-matches for it (obverse). Mine has what might be a countermark on the obverse bust, or maybe just be a random bit of ancient damage:


Trajan (for Divus Nerva) Æ 31
(98-102 A.D.)
Perinthos, Thrace
[NEPOV]AΣ ΘEOΣ ΣE[BAΣTOΣ], laureate head of Nerva right / ΠER[IN]ΘIΩN,
Homonoia standing left, holding phiale and cornucopiae.
RPC III 684; Varbanov 43; Schönert-Geiss 312-4; BMC 18.
(21.84 grams / 31 x 29 mm)
eBay April 2022
Countermark: Unclear on obverse bust; eagle facing? This countermark is found on
many issues from Thrace.
Obv. die-match (Note heavy brow ridge, lettering):
Numismatik Lanz München Auction 144; Lot 462; 24.11.2008
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=551540
Gorny & Mosch Giessener Auction 134; Lot 1855; 11.10.2004
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=191941

Obverse die matches, I think (and nicer examples than mine, so you can see what these are supposed to look like - big noses!):



RPC has five examples: https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/684

As for other portraits of Nerva from Perinthos, there were, per RCP, six types, all seen here (different reverse deities):

https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/search/...ight_max=&diameter_min=&diameter_max=&format=

Along the same lines, a while back I found a reference to an Imperial issue of Trajan that may depict an otherwise unknown Temple to the Divine Nerva in Rome:


Trajan Æ As
(103-111 A.D.)
Rome Mint
[IMP CAES NERVAE TRAI]ANO AVG GER DAC PM [TR P COS V P P], laureate head
right, drapery on left shoulder / [SPQR OPTIMO] PRINCIPI, SC in exergue, Pax (Honos? Nerva?) standing within octastyle temple.
RIC II 575; BMCRE 955.
(8.82 grams / 25 x 24 mm)
eBay June 2020
Notes: Mary Taliaferro Boatwright, Hadrian and the City of Rome, "If the seated statue is to be identified as male (in the coins dated 105-107 A.D.), it is possible that Trajan did begin a temple here to honor Nerva. But given the time lag between the coin issues and the actual dedication of the temple by Hadrian, and the fact that the temple was dedicated to Trajan and Plotina without Nerva, it would be more plausible to assume that a different Trajanic series struck ca. 105-108, showing a standing male figure in an unidentified temple, depicts the otherwise unattested Temple of the Deified Nerva (fn. BMC Emp. III, nos. 955-58). In addition to chronological arguments against assuming that the Temple was first destined for Trajan's deified blood father, we note again that there is no evidence that a temple ever honored this individual." (p. 92)

Nerva's deification didn't seem to get much numismatic action, unless I am missing something. Any additional information, coins, etc. appreciated.

 

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Nice job sorting this out. It’s difficult when a letter like theta is nearly worn smooth because it can become several different letters in your head. Also that a gamma and iota are also easily confused with wear and you can spend all day looking for a coin from the wrong city.

I look at a lot of provincials and this is probably the only deified Nerva I’ve seen. Interesting post on the possible temple as well.

 

That is really interesting, and some good detective work too!

 

Nice discovery!

Divus Nerva is indeed a very rare one, and one I haven't managed to snag yet! (So shoot me a PM if you're looking to part with it )

I'm not really sure of the reason, but except for Augustus and Vespasian, none of the deified emperors got much Numismatic attention until Antoninus Pius kicked the bucket.

Divus Nerva is known from a few provincials, some stupidly rare aureii, and of course from Decius' consecration series a century and a half later.