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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 4288820, member: 75937&quot;]Nice write-up, [USER=82616]@David Atherton[/USER] . Serapis is one of the more interesting gods of antiquity, indeed. You might try to track down <i>Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius</i> by Samuel Dill, which has a chapter entitled &quot;Isis and Serapis in Roman Society.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Serapis, like most deities in Greco-Roman artwork, was portrayed with rather fixed iconography. I have <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/depictions-of-serapis-in-antiquity.332760/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/depictions-of-serapis-in-antiquity.332760/">discussed this previously</a> and won&#039;t repeat coins from that post, but here are a couple of new or notable ones.</p><p><br /></p><p>While Serapis is frequently depicted on provincial issues, he doesn&#039;t often appear on imperial issues until the third century, when his cult became more widespread. Here he is on a denarius of Caracalla. The iconography doesn&#039;t fit into Adolf Michaelis&#039; classification scheme.</p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/caracalla-pm-trp-xx-cos-iiii-pp-serapis-denarius-jpg.1054535/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Caracalla, AD 198-217.</p><p>Roman AR denarius, 2.9g, 19mm, 6h.</p><p>Rome, issue 10, AD 217.</p><p>Obv: ANTONINVS PIVS AVG GERM, laureate head right.</p><p>Rev: PM TRP XX COS IIII PP; Serapis, wearing polos on head, standing facing, head left, holding wreath and scepter.</p><p>Refs: RIC 289c; BMCRE 188; Cohen/RSC 382; RCV 6846; Hill 1586.</p><p><br /></p><p>On coins of Moesia Inferior and Thrace, the presence of confronted busts indicated the highest bronze denomination, either the pentassarion or tetrassarion, depending on the issuing city. Typically, the busts were of the emperor and a female relative with the title of Augusta, such as a wife, mother, or grandmother. On coins issued for unmarried men without such lofty women ancestors, a deity -- often Serapis -- filled this role. For example, Serapis appeared on these coins for Gordian III until his marriage to Tranquillina in AD 241, such as on this pentassarion from Dionysopolis.</p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/gordian-iii-and-serapis-dionysopolis-hygeia-jpg.943177/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Gordian III, AD 238-244.</p><p>Roman provincial Æ Pentassarion, 12.49 g, 26.6 mm, 7 h.</p><p>Moesia Inferior, Dionysopolis, AD 238-241.</p><p>Obv: AVT K M (below)/ANTWNIOC ΓΟΡΔΙΑΝΟC ΑVΓ, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian III, right, facing draped bust of Serapis, left, wearing modius.</p><p>Rev: ΔΙΟΝVCΟΠ-ΟΛΙΤΩΝ, Hygieia standing left, feeding serpent from a patera; E in lower left field.</p><p>Refs: Varbanov 559; AMNG I 395 var.; BMC 3, p.24, 4; Mionnet Suppl 2, 82; Moushmov 133; SNG Budapest 31; Jekov 49; SNRIS Dionysopolis 12.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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