Abila is an obscure coin-issuing city. The British Museum had no coins from the city when BMC 20 was published in 1899. The city is not mentioned by name in the Bible, either. It was one of the cities of the Decapolis, east of the Jordan river, and known in ancient times as Ἄβιλα Δεκαπόλεως (Abila of the Decapolis)[1] to distinguish it from the Abila near Leucas in Coele-Syria.[2] The town was located 12 miles east of Gadara[3] and about three miles south of the Yarmuk River (nahr el-Yarmuk), the modern border between Jordan and Syria.[4] The site, now referred to as Qweilbeh, occupies two tells, Tell al-Abila and Khirbet Tell Umm al-Amad.[5] Abila lies east-southeast of the Sea of Galilee in modern day Jordan.[6] Photograph taken between 1890 and 1900 of Suk-Wady-Barada (Abila). Public Domain.[7] The first known European to visit the site was Ulrich Jasper Seetzen in 1806 and there has been intermittent archaeological activity at the site since.[8] The city issued coins for only a short period, from the time of Marcus Aurelius to the early third century.[9] I recently acquired a famous coin of the city, a small bronze issued for Faustina the Younger and bearing an image of a bunch of grapes on its reverse. The bunch of grapes probably refers to the vineyards of Abila, described by Eusebius in his Onomasticon as πόλις οἰνοφόρος (wine-bearing city).[10] I became interested in this coin because it was used as the logo for an early 20th century coin dealer, Thomas L. Elder, as seen on this old letter. I wonder why, of all the coins Mr. Elder could have chosen to represent his business, he chose this particular one. Here's the new acquisition for my numophylacium Faustinae: Faustina II, AD 147-175. Roman provincial Æ 15 mm, 1.62 g, 6 h. Decapolis, Abila, AD 162/3 (year 226 of the Pompeian era). Obv: ΦΑYϹΤЄΙΝΑ ϹЄΒΑϹΤΗ, bare-headed and draped bust, right. Rev: ϹЄΛЄYΚ ΑΒΙΛΑ ϚΚϹ, bunch of grapes. Refs: RPC IV.3 6509 (temporary); Spijkerman 6; Rosenberger 5a; Sofaer 8. Let's see your coins of Abila, coins with bunches of grapes, coins of the Decapolis, or anything else you feel is relevant! ~~~ Notes 1. "Abila (Decapolis)." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 June 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abila_(Decapolis). 2. Wroth, Warwick. Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Galatia, Cappadocia, and Syria. Trustees of the British Museum, 1899, p. lxxxiii. 3. Ibid. 4. John Brown University. "Project History." John Brown University, https://www.jbu.edu/abila/history/. 5. Gibson, Shimon, and Avraham Negev. Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land. Continuum, 2001, pp. 11-12. 6. Cahill, Tim. "Abila." Mapcarta, https://mapcarta.com/12838508. 7. "Abila (Decapolis)." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 June 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abila...uk-Wady-Barada,_Holy_Land,-LCCN2002725063.jpg. 8. John Brown University, op. cit. 9. Wroth, op. cit. 10. As cited by Wroth, op. cit.
Love the coin and the ephemera. Maybe Mr. Elder really enjoyed his wines? No Abila coins here just a coin from the nearby city of Gadara. Syria, Decapolis, Gadara. Caracalla. AD 198-217. Obv: Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right. Rev: Zeus, holding Nike and scepter, seated left within tetrastyle temple; date in pediment. Æ 25mm.).
The BM has got some Abila coins since 1899... For this city I think the best collections are the collection of the Franciscans in Jerusalem (Studium Biblicum Franciscanum) and the Sofaer collection in New York. Here is the Sofaer collection :
