I like meteorites and I like A-Pi (he was a decent guy compared to most of those sociopaths) so I wanted this coin with him and the Sacred Stone of Emesa, which may have been a meteorite. SYRIA, Seleucis and Pieria. Emesa. Antoninus Pius AD 138-161 Æ24, 12.06 gm, 11h Obv: Laureate head right Rev: Eagle, holding wreath in beak, standing right, head left, on baetyl of El-Gabal Ref: SNG Copenhagen 309 (Γ in right field of rev.); SNG München 811 var. (Є in right field of rev.); BMC 1-7 (various letters on rev.) From CNG: Emesa was the major cult center for the deity El-Gabal, who was worshipped there in the form of a baetyl (an aniconic stone idol; in the case of El-Gabal, a large black conical stone, often interpreted as a meteorite). Some sixty years after Pius’ death, a teenage priest of the god, Varius Avitus Bassianus, was declared emperor and took the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, although he is more commonly known as Elagabalus for his devotion to El-Gabal. Elagabalus moved the baetyl to Rome upon his accession and, for a brief period, it seemed that El-Gabal might become the principle deity in the Roman pantheon. Wishing to distance himself from Elagabalus’ unpopular religious practices, his successor Severus Alexander sent the baetyl back to Emesa. The cult of El-Gabal saw a resurgence in Rome under Aurelian, who wisely promoted the worship of the deity in an iconic form more acceptable to westerners. Although not a coin, I'll use this excuse to show off an interesting slice of meteorite from the Esquel pallasite, the best and most desirable pallasite ever found. The main mass is owned by Bob Haag, from whom I purchased these two precious slices. The crystals are olivine. Isn't that incredible? Peridot from space!
Great coin, great post, TIF. Judging by the fascination we still have with meteorites today, I wouldn't doubt that the Sacred Stone of Emesa was one.
I have one of these also: Antoninus Pius Provincial AE - Sacred Stone of Emesa Syria Obverse: Laureate bust right AVT KAI TI AIΛ ANTΩNEINOC CEB EV (Augustus Caesar Antoninus Augustus Pius) Size: 23mm Weight: 8.71gm Catalog: BMC 1 Struck: AD 138-161 Emesa Syria Emesa began to mint coins during the reign of Antoninus Pius when it became a major city.
very interesting, here's a related coin...an unknownish elagablus from emesa. thanks to john anthony for helping me out with this one. syrian coins seem to have a patina i really like most of the time.
I was expecting to see that coin in this thread, Chris. BTW, I have Lindgren volumes II and III coming my way this week, so I might be able to nail it down.
Great piece of history. The sometimes unreliable Herodian, the Roman historian of Syrian descent, writes about the stone: This stone is worshipped as though it were sent from heaven; on it there are some small projecting pieces and markings that are pointed out, which the people would like to believe are a rough picture of the sun, because this is how they see them. As explained from Wikipedia, his name has an interesting derivation: Quote Interestingly enough, although the cult of Elagabal might be the cult of "the God of the Mountain," there are no large mountains near Emesa, Syria. A modern interpretation by Martijn Icks: Good stuff, guy
Thats very cool! I like the sandy highlights a lot too. I got the Pius, and the meteorite slice , but no coin from Emesa :/
Yep, I have many more, mostly bought 5-6 years ago. Although I just caved and bought a couple of teensy slices of the moon How 'bout you?
I recently visited one of the museums at Harvard University that had an extensive collection of meteorites. It turns out that the entire collection was donated by a rather well known coin collector.....Q. David Bowers
Very interesting, Ziggy! It makes sense that people who are interested in rare coins are also interested in other rarities, like meteorites.
