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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GinoLR, post: 24718047, member: 128351&quot;][ATTACH=full]1580798[/ATTACH]</p><p>CILICIA, Aegeae. Valerian I. 253-260 AD. Æ 27mm.</p><p>Obv.: AV KAI ΠOV ΛIKI OVAΛEPIANOC CEB, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, serpent-staff before</p><p>Rev.: IEPOIKOVMENIKOC ACKΛHΠIOC / AIΓAIωN, prize-crown with two palms on table; amphora below, purse to either side, T in central field.</p><p><br /></p><p>Coins are almost all that is left of ancient Aegeae, (or Aigeai), an sea-port in Cilicia. It is today no more than Yumurtalik, a small Turkish town by the sea, where visitors can see the walls and towers of a medieval and ottoman citadel and have some good time at the beach. In the 19th c. the whole town was enclosed in the citadel, all the rest was vague ancient and medieval ruins. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1580799[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">Ayas (ancient Aegeae) on a 1858 map</font></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1580800[/ATTACH] <font size="3">Ayas (or Yumurtalik) today</font></p><p><br /></p><p>I don&#039;t think any systematic archaeological exploration has been undertaken, specialists just noted some Greek inscriptions and even a neo-hittite stela.</p><p><br /></p><p>Yumurtalik was called by the Italians <i>Aiazzo</i> or <i>Laiazzo</i> in the late Middle Ages. Marco Polo has been there on his road to China. This name was derived from the ancient <i>Aigeai</i>, and the citadel is still called <i>Ayas</i>. The city is mentioned by many ancient authors, among which Tacitus and Philostrates. In the Hellenistic and early Roman period it was a busy port, well connected by good roads to central Anatolia. Roman tombstones of sailors from Aegeae are known as far as North Africa. When Macrinus, defeated in Syria by Julia Soaemias, attempted to escape to Rome, he crossed the gulf of Alexandretta and passed through Aegeae. </p><p><br /></p><p>But the city was also well-known for her sanctuary of Asclepios, the god of Medicine. It had an Asklepeion as important as the ones in Pergamum or Epidaurus. Pilgrims from far away came there to be cured by the local priests who were doctors. Saints Cosmas and Damian were two Arab doctors who were working there, in Aegeae, before converting to christianity. They are said to have cured the patients for free : a kind of ancient free healthcare.</p><p><br /></p><p>The importance of Aegeae and her Asklepeion was such in the 3rd c. that the emperor Valerian, as soon as he arrived in Orient to fight the Persians, authorized Aegeae, who happened to be just celebrating the 300th anniversary of her refoundation by Julius Caesar, to organize lavish games in honor of Asklepios, open to contestants from the whole world. This coin commemorates the event : <b>(ἀγὼν) ἱερὸς οἰκουμενικὸς Ἀσκληπιός</b> means : &quot;<i>Holy worldwide Asclepian Games</i>&quot;. </p><p><br /></p><p>The reverse type is the prize-table, like the ivory one that existed in Olympia for centuries. On the table there is the &quot;agonistic crown&quot; with two palms for the winners, flanked by two purses (you didn&#039;t win the glory only !). Under the table is the sorting urn in which athletes could pick the tablet with their starting rank. The letter T is the numeral for 300, year 300 of the local era, 253/4 AD.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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