Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 7852522, member: 110350&quot;]I have one coin from Tomis:</p><p><br /></p><p>Philip II, AE Tetrassarion, 247-249 AD, Moesia Inferior, Tomis [now Constanţa, Romania]. Obv. Bareheaded, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from rear, Μ ΙΟΥΛ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟC ΚΑΙCΑΡ / Rev. Griffin seated left with right paw on top of wheel [<i>representing Nemesis*</i>], ΜΗ-ΤΡΟ-Π-ΠΟ-ΝΤΟ, continued in exergue in two lines: Υ ΤΟΜΕ/ΩϹ(ME ligate), Δ in right field [signifying the denomination, 4 assaria]. 27 mm., 12.22 g. RPC [<i>Roman Provincial Coinage</i>] VIII Online 28171 [temporary ID number] (see <a href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/type/28171" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/type/28171" rel="nofollow">https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/type/28171</a>) [this coin is Specimen 7, used as primary illustration for type, see <a href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coin/156187" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coin/156187" rel="nofollow">https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coin/156187</a> ]; Varbanov 5781 [Varbanov, Ivan, <i>Greek Imperial Coins And Their Values, Volume I: Dacia, Moesia Superior &amp; Moesia Inferior</i> (English Edition) (Bourgas, Bulgaria, 2005)]. <i>Purchased from Herakles Numismatics, Jan. 2021; ex. I-Nummis, Paris, Mail Bid Sale 6, Nov. 7, 2008, Lot 399&nbsp; (see </i><a href="https://www.coinarchives.com/a/openlink.php?l=239902|348|399|a3b582d0b87f863b39d084dd851a7a89" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.coinarchives.com/a/openlink.php?l=239902|348|399|a3b582d0b87f863b39d084dd851a7a89" rel="nofollow"><i>https://www.coinarchives.com/a/openlink.php?l=239902|348|399|a3b582d0b87f863b39d084dd851a7a89</i></a><i>).</i> [<i>“Scarce”: 11 specimens in RPC (including this coin), 6 examples in ACSearch (including this coin).</i>]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1352470[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>*See <a href="https://www.getty.edu/publications/romanmosaics/catalogue/8/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.getty.edu/publications/romanmosaics/catalogue/8/" rel="nofollow">https://www.getty.edu/publications/romanmosaics/catalogue/8/</a> : “The image of a griffin supporting one of its forepaws on a wheel appears in Roman art by the first century AD. The wheel, a symbol of the cyclical movement of human fortune, and the winged griffin are both distinctive attributes of Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance, who is also often represented with wings. In a first-century AD wall painting from the House of the Fabii at Pompeii, Apollo and two female figures are accompanied by a winged griffin with a wheel. This motif also occurs on coins of Alexandria dating to the reign of the emperor Domitian (AD 81–96). Scenes depicting Nemesis with a griffin are especially common during the second and third centuries AD and occur in many different media, including coins, gems, statues, and funerary and votive reliefs. The particular image of a griffin resting its paw on a wheel, typically seated at the foot of Nemesis, is so pervasive that it eventually became a symbol for the goddess herself. For example, a limestone mold of the second to third centuries AD from Egypt, possibly from Alexandria, shows a griffin and a wheel with the Greek inscription Nemesis.</p><p><br /></p><p>Representations of the griffin with a wheel unaccompanied by Nemesis, as in the Getty mosaic, are particularly common in North Africa and the eastern periphery of the Roman Empire. The motif appears in the second and third centuries AD in Egyptian statuettes in faience [see image at <a href="https://www.getty.edu/publications/romanmosaics/assets/images/pics/pic_30_faience-egyptian-statuette.jpg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.getty.edu/publications/romanmosaics/assets/images/pics/pic_30_faience-egyptian-statuette.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://www.getty.edu/publications/romanmosaics/assets/images/pics/pic_30_faience-egyptian-statuette.jpg</a>], relief stelai from the amphitheater at Leptis Magna in present-day Libya; tomb paintings in Jordan; a votive marble statue from Erez, Israel, bearing a dedicatory inscription in Greek (dated AD 210–211); gems from Caesarea Maritima in Israel and Gadara in Jordan; and terracotta tesserae from Palmyra. While the worship of Nemesis was widespread across the Roman Empire, it was particularly prevalent in Egypt, where she had a pre-Roman cult, and in Syria and the surrounding regions, where she was associated with several important local deities, including the classical goddesses Tyche (personification of fortune) and Nike (personification of victory) and the Arabic deities Allath (goddess of war) and Manawat (goddess of fate).” [Footnotes omitted.][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in