[ancients] Late Roman Pick Up #4 : Festival of Isis

My final and favorite of this bunch of new pick ups is an anonymous Festival of Isis issue. I had been interested in them for some time and am now extremely pleased to be the owner of one. Despite being rare and somewhat pricey, many of these coins aren't actually much to look at and in fact wouldn't seem out of place in an LRB bargain bin. IMHO, mine is a pretty decent example even with the raggedy flan and missing details (some legend, the crown and part of the sistrum).



FESTIVAL OF ISIS
Anonymous (Julian II?)
Rome mint, mid 4th Century
AE. 0.79g, 12mm
Alföldi, Festival pl. VIII, 11; Vagi 3393.
O: [ISIS F-A]RIA, draped bust of Isis right, wearing [hem-hem crown] and necklace.
R: [VOTA P-]VBLICA, Hermanubis standing left, holding sistrum and caduceus.

The cult of the Egyptian goddess Isis was popular throughout the Ancient Greek and Roman world, and evidence of temples dedicated to her have been found in Rome, Pompeii, Delos and even London. Isis Pharia (Isis of the Lighthouse) was a patron of navigators and the inventor of the sail. Of her two major festivals, or ploiaphesia, the one on March 5 marked the beginning of the sailing season with the symbolic launch of the Navigium Isidis, the Ship of Isis. It was one of the last great pagan festivals to be celebrated in the Roman Empire, surviving well into the early Christian era.


A model representing the sacred Ship of Isis

The series of small issues known as Festival of Isis coinage have not been exhaustively studied and remain quite enigmatic. For one, many numismatists consider them tokens or small medallions rather than currency. It's also not entirely certain whether they were distributed during the springtime Festival of Isis, despite the name they're usually referred to by, or specifically only at the annual taking of public vows on January 3 (an event which may have been combined with other Festival of Isis that was held in wintertime). The argument for the January 3 date at least is strong because the VOTA PVBLICA legend is present on almost all of these coins.

What is known thus far and generally agreed upon is that these issues were official products of the Rome mint, consistently struck from the end of Diocletian's reign to that of Valentinian II, the majority in brass (orichalcum), and that they were never issued in large numbers. The series can be categorized into two groups - those with imperial busts of the emperors and the anonymous issues which show a bust of Isis, Sarapis or both jugate (these are usually attributed to Julian II). It has also been noted that many of the surviving examples are pierced, suggesting that they may have been worn as talismans or nailed to the frames of buildings.

There are many other interesting aspects of this series, including the fact that they were struck at the Rome mint but portrayed non-Roman deities, a feature more commonly associated with earlier provincial coinage. To add to that, the incongruity of pagan gods like Isis, Sarapis, Harpocrates, and Anubis appearing on coins bearing the imperial portraits of Christian emperors such as the sons of Constantine, Magnentius, Valentinian and Valens sheds some light on the fascinating mix of paganism and Christianity that the Roman Empire must have been during this period.

Apuleis, writing in the 2nd century, ends his novel The Golden Ass with a procession of the Festival of Isis. His description of the procession reads almost like a catalogue of the reverse images found on some of the coins - sistrums, situlas, the beautifully decorated Ship of Isis, and representations of deities including "Anubis, that dread messenger between the powers above and the powers beneath the earth, with a face one side black the other gold, his jackal's neck erect, bearing a caduceus in his left hand" (note: as on this coin he is perhaps more properly called Hermanubis, a syncretized Greco-Egyptian deity combining Hermes and Anubis).


Procession in Honor of Isis
An "Orientalist" painting by Frederick Arthur Bridgman

The complete variety of reverses is even more intriguing, and while it has been difficult searching for pictures of many actual coins online, the Tesorillo website has drawings accompanied with the catalogue descriptions:

http://www.tesorillo.com/isis/rev/index1.htm

And for those just wanting to read up further on the subject of the Festival of Isis coinage online, the full section on Tesorillo's is indispensable :

http://www.tesorillo.com/isis/index1.htm

 

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Oh cool!

 

Wow Z-bro, that baby is absolutely awesome!!

=> Isis obverse is very cool, but the good ol' Hermanubis-reverse is uber-cool, my friend (another sweet choice that is definitely on my wish-list!!)

yummy!!

 

It was definitely the Hermanubis reverse that did it for me. Glad that you like it, even though it's only a half-animal coin .

 

Excellent find, Z!

 

Oh, YOU were the one who outbid me, huh? Did you buy the other one in the same auction?

 

I went in with my bid in the last 20 seconds... erm, I believe I was the one who outbid the guy who outbid you earlier. Seriously!

I didn't bid on the DEO SANCTO NILO. Consensus seems to place it as a pagan civic issue and I was only interested in a Festival of Isis.

 

Lol, relax man. I never get mad at someone who outbids me fair and square. I don't think its right to sellers for us to try to collude. Like I always say, "there is always another coin". Heck, Steve outbid me a while ago on a nice temple reverse on Ebay, and I am still talking to him.

I have done alright the last few weeks. Just yesterday I got some really interesting Semirieche and Sogdian cash coins, as well as the standard book on Semiriechie coins. Before that I got some Funan and Dvaravati silver, and before that some Sassanid issues. As you can see, my interests are all over the board, so I don't sweat the coins I don't get. You are right, its a very rare and special coin, congrats on the pickup.

 

Phew. And for a moment there I thought I read that you were "still stalking" Steve.

It almost sounds like you're building a museum . Right now, some days it seems there are so many coins out there I want, and on other days very few that I actually need. I'll be attending my first coin show in September, I still don't know if I'll go crazy with purchases or walk out empty handed.

 

Yeah, you never know about shows. I have gone to the CICF and left empty handed except for some books, (sadly this will not happen again, but the trajic death of our great book dealer is another topic), and other times came home with literally dozens of coins. I think a lot of it is due to my mood, as much or more than the show itself. I desperately wanted to go to the ANA in Chicago next month, but I simply cannot get away from work.

 

what a cool coin, i wasn't even aware of the type. super nice finisher for you new batch of coins Z.

 

Really nice. Thanks for the post and the link!

 

Never seen this coin before. Very cool though. Really like the reverse.

 

I agree here. While the Nile type pagans are a lot more scarce than the two common Antioch types they are still more common that real Isis coins and should not, IMHO, be called that. I do not have an Isis. Pagans have mintmarks and officina letters. Isis do not. Agree?

 

What a fantastic coin. I was so tempted to bid in. I am happy it went to a good home.

 

Sounds right to me, but I don't know what to make of this particular coin:

https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=547&lot=574

Is there no mintmark or is it under some deposits? G&M place it under the Festival of Isis and they seem to give it an Alfoldi number (400, but I don't have the reference to verify). Tesorillo have it as an anonymous pagan civic.

 

Thanks! I hope you'll find one with your name on it soon. I had put my bid in in the last 20 seconds, discovered it wasn't enough to outbid the high bidder, but saw that just one more increment would make it mine. Thankfully there were enough seconds left for a final bid.

 

I used the same method for the Vespasian sestertius that is currently on its way to me. The extra bid pushed me over with a few seconds to spare!

 

The Hermanubis reverse makes the coin/token. Fantastic pick up, congrats!

 

A fascinating coin, and an excellent write-up. Well-done, sir!