An interesting and possibly rare Roman provincial bronze of Otacilia Severa

This is a coin that I purchased purely for the reverse. I don't really collect Roman provincial coins on any systematic basis, but instead on what attracts me to a particular coin.

Otacilia Severa, 244-249 AD, AE 27, Coele-Syria, Damascus. Astarte on reverse.
17.55 grams



Despite the coin's rough surfaces the reverse is pretty well defined, with Astarte seated above, facing left, with five figures giving homage, one to the immediate left and four more below, something of a Astarte fan club I'd guess.

Astarte is an interesting female deity, worshipped in the East, notably in Syria, but in other regions as well. Originally a Canaanite and Phoenician deity, her worship became associated with fertility, sexuality, war and hunting, spanning from the Bronze Age to the Classical period. While this coin well post dates the latter period, it is clear that Astarte continued to play an important religious role in Syria, well into the period of the Roman Empire.

For more information about Astarte, here's a link.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astarte

Edit: I looked this coin up on the RPC website, something I probably should have done first, rather than relying on the dealer's description, and found this information:

RPC Volume VIII

Unassigned ID 26755

"For the reverse, in upper register, Fortuna seated l., on rock, holding fillet or diadem and cornucopia; in upper l. field, ram leaping l., head r.; before, Marsyas standing r., holding wineskin and raising hand; in lower register, four Tychai: the outer pair with hands raised towards Fortuna of Damascus; l. of centre figure holding up uncertain object; r. of centre figure sacrificing over altar."

There are 11 examples of this type, six of which are in the core collections.

So, does the reverse depict Astarte or Fortuna? The leaping ram, quite obscure on this coin, is an interesting element and one that I would not associate with Fortuna. Besides, Astarte is a far more interesting goddess!

 

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You can be sure the deity seated above is Fortuna, not Astarte. She wears a turreted crown and under her feet you can distinguish the typical river-god swimming. This Tyche (that's Greek for Latin Fortuna) sitting on a rock above a swimming river god is a copy of the Tyche of Antioch, like many Tyches of other Syrian, Mesopotamian and Cilician cities. The leaping ram looking backwards is also a symbol usually associated with the Tyche of Antioch, but it is present with the Tyche of Damascus as well. The little Marsyas is the statue of Marsyas on the Roman Forum, near which citizenship was granted to freedmen and newcomers. It symbolizes the Jus Italicum being given to the colonia of Damascus.

Astarte is rarely represented as a woman. Like many semitic deities (Yahweh, Allah, even Muhammad), it was forbidden (or just avoided) to give her an anthropomorphic aspect. Do you know many statues or reliefs of the Roman period showing Astarte? I don't. She was the goddess of Sidon, and since the Achemenid Empire in the 5th c. BC the coins of Sidon represented her through her title ("Sidonian Goddess"), her galley, a spherical baetyl in its cart. Some numismatists assimilate Astarte and Tyche, and think the Tyche of Sidon, with her turreted crown, must be Astarte. It's a possibility, but it's a Tyche in the first place...


Elagabalus, Sidon, AE 19 mm. The Baetyl of Astarte in its cart.


Sidon, pseudo autonomous under Domitian :
Obv. Veiled head of Tyche r., star and aphlaston in r. field
Rev.: ΣΙΔΩΝΟΣ ΘΕΑΣ, ΗϘΡ (above), ΑϚ (below), galley, l. (AD 87/8)

 

Thanks!

 

Actually 26775: https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/type/26775

Don't feel bad about mistaking Astarte for Fortuna... Lindgren & Kovacs (2388) made the same error AND thought it was Tyre:



Note: that specimen cited in the RPC entry, but w/ corrected mint & description.

Can't really blame Lindgren & Kovacs. They were writing 40 years ago when there were very few references on Roman Provincials, so it was the first of its type & most extensive reference for Greek/RPC bronzes by far.

I always check how older authors referenced my coins & try to trace how those attributions changed over time. Gives an interesting additional dimension to each coin's ID.

 

Thank you all for the corrections. It is a fascinating coin with a very "eastern' character.