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<p>[QUOTE="TIF, post: 2579906, member: 56859"][ATTACH=full]559812[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>THRACE, Hadrianopolis. Gordian III </b></p><p>AE 18 mm, 2.59 gm</p><p>Obv: AVT K M ANT ΓORΔIANOC AVΓ; laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.</p><p>Rev: AΔPIANOΠOΛEITΩN; ostrich running like [USER=44183]@stevex6[/USER] is chasing it with a basting brush</p><p>Ref: Varbanov 3833, rare</p><p><br /></p><p>But ostriches aren't extinct, you say. True, but I believe the bird on this coin is <i>Struthio camelus syriacus</i>, the Arabian ostrich.</p><p><br /></p><p>The common and extant <i>Struthio c. camelus </i>lives in the southern Sahara and northern subsaharan Africa. Its habitat is shown in orange on the map below. <i>Struthio c. syriacus's</i> approximate habitat at the time of the Roman Empire was in the areas shown in pink. The Arabian ostrich was extinct by the mid 20th century.</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]559814[/ATTACH]</p> <p style="text-align: center"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostrich#/media/File:Struthio_camelus_distribution.svg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostrich#/media/File:Struthio_camelus_distribution.svg" rel="nofollow">image adapted from Wikipedia</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The two types are similar in appearance, with the Arabian ostrich being perhaps a bit smaller.</p><p><br /></p><p>I'm not terribly familiar with the extent of Romans' travels but it seems the location of Arabian ostriches (the cluster near what is now the junction of Saudia Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, and Syria) would be a much more convenient location for ostrich acquisition.</p><p><br /></p><p>Exotic animals seemed to be be used as status symbols by various emperors. If an empire is wealthy enough to acquire animal from afar for mere amusement, the message would be that the empire is doing very well. Perhaps imported sports cars are the equivalent for modern man?</p><p><br /></p><p>In addition to sometimes being used in fights in the Colosseum, ostriches were kept in aviaries, stocked in reserves for local safaris, used to draw chariots, and- my favorite- occasionally given away as dinner party door prizes by everyone's favorite wacky weirdo, Elagabalus.</p><p><br /></p><p>From <b>Historia Augusta, The Life of Elagabalus</b>, chapter 22:</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">At his banquets he would also distribute chances inscribed on spoons, the chance of one person reading "ten camels," of another "ten flies," of another "ten pounds of gold," of another "ten pounds of lead," of another "ten ostriches," of another "ten hens-eggs," so that they were chances indeed and men tried their luck. These he also gave at his games, distributing chances for ten bears or ten dormice, ten lettuces or ten pounds of gold. Indeed he was the first to introduce this practice of giving chances, which we still maintain. And the performers too he invited to what really were chances, giving as prizes a dead dog or a pound of beef, or else a hundred aurei, or a hundred pieces of silver, or a hundred coppers, and so on. All this so pleased the populace that after each occasion they rejoiced that he was emperor.</span></p><p><br /></p><p>Of course, they were also eaten.</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]559831[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]559832[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>I think sautéed with a robust red curry sauce sounds tastier <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>...</p><p><br /></p><p>Anyway, extinct bird or not I'm delighted to have this unusual coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>Please join in with any weird animal coins you are especially fond of, or any coin you think fits this thread <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.giphy.com%2Fmedia%2FCZpBW6b45Fj5S%2Fgiphy.gif&hash=9579af30f465ff5f2da7ced69b54e290" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> <img src="https://www.cointalk.com/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FSrxda6Y.gif&hash=cda44f3b989844322ca22f5db53a4776" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> <img src="https://www.cointalk.com/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2F67.media.tumblr.com%2F382b18fa78f1a7260dacfff23fa9d5ef%2Ftumblr_nzrh9lOigr1tpri36o1_500.gif&hash=97580a46425af4ca9b893c38604fba65" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="TIF, post: 2579906, member: 56859"][ATTACH=full]559812[/ATTACH] [B]THRACE, Hadrianopolis. Gordian III [/B] AE 18 mm, 2.59 gm Obv: AVT K M ANT ΓORΔIANOC AVΓ; laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. Rev: AΔPIANOΠOΛEITΩN; ostrich running like [USER=44183]@stevex6[/USER] is chasing it with a basting brush Ref: Varbanov 3833, rare But ostriches aren't extinct, you say. True, but I believe the bird on this coin is [I]Struthio camelus syriacus[/I], the Arabian ostrich. The common and extant [I]Struthio c. camelus [/I]lives in the southern Sahara and northern subsaharan Africa. Its habitat is shown in orange on the map below. [I]Struthio c. syriacus's[/I] approximate habitat at the time of the Roman Empire was in the areas shown in pink. The Arabian ostrich was extinct by the mid 20th century. [CENTER][ATTACH=full]559814[/ATTACH] [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostrich#/media/File:Struthio_camelus_distribution.svg']image adapted from Wikipedia[/URL][/CENTER] The two types are similar in appearance, with the Arabian ostrich being perhaps a bit smaller. I'm not terribly familiar with the extent of Romans' travels but it seems the location of Arabian ostriches (the cluster near what is now the junction of Saudia Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, and Syria) would be a much more convenient location for ostrich acquisition. Exotic animals seemed to be be used as status symbols by various emperors. If an empire is wealthy enough to acquire animal from afar for mere amusement, the message would be that the empire is doing very well. Perhaps imported sports cars are the equivalent for modern man? In addition to sometimes being used in fights in the Colosseum, ostriches were kept in aviaries, stocked in reserves for local safaris, used to draw chariots, and- my favorite- occasionally given away as dinner party door prizes by everyone's favorite wacky weirdo, Elagabalus. From [B]Historia Augusta, The Life of Elagabalus[/B], chapter 22: [COLOR=#0000ff]At his banquets he would also distribute chances inscribed on spoons, the chance of one person reading "ten camels," of another "ten flies," of another "ten pounds of gold," of another "ten pounds of lead," of another "ten ostriches," of another "ten hens-eggs," so that they were chances indeed and men tried their luck. These he also gave at his games, distributing chances for ten bears or ten dormice, ten lettuces or ten pounds of gold. Indeed he was the first to introduce this practice of giving chances, which we still maintain. And the performers too he invited to what really were chances, giving as prizes a dead dog or a pound of beef, or else a hundred aurei, or a hundred pieces of silver, or a hundred coppers, and so on. All this so pleased the populace that after each occasion they rejoiced that he was emperor.[/COLOR] Of course, they were also eaten. [CENTER][ATTACH=full]559831[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [ATTACH=full]559832[/ATTACH] I think sautéed with a robust red curry sauce sounds tastier :D ... Anyway, extinct bird or not I'm delighted to have this unusual coin. Please join in with any weird animal coins you are especially fond of, or any coin you think fits this thread :) [IMG]https://www.cointalk.com/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.giphy.com%2Fmedia%2FCZpBW6b45Fj5S%2Fgiphy.gif&hash=9579af30f465ff5f2da7ced69b54e290[/IMG] [IMG]https://www.cointalk.com/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FSrxda6Y.gif&hash=cda44f3b989844322ca22f5db53a4776[/IMG] [IMG]https://www.cointalk.com/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2F67.media.tumblr.com%2F382b18fa78f1a7260dacfff23fa9d5ef%2Ftumblr_nzrh9lOigr1tpri36o1_500.gif&hash=97580a46425af4ca9b893c38604fba65[/IMG][/QUOTE]
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