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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Anthony, post: 1969910, member: 42773&quot;]For those unfamiliar with Roman provincial coins that commemorate games and festivals, I&#039;ve included a brief excerpt from Barclay Head&#039;s <i>Historia Numorum</i>...</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Philip I was known as “Philip the Arab,” although it’s unlikely he possessed any ethnically Arabian heritage. He was born in <i>Provincia Arabia</i>, and although we don’t know who his mother was, we do know that his father was a Roman citizen by the name of Julius Marius. (The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_the_Arab" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_the_Arab" rel="nofollow">wiki article on Philip</a> is both concise and accurate.)</p><p><br /></p><p>Philip spared no expense remodeling his hometown (modern day Shahaba, southeast of Damascus) as Philippopolis, and he actively encouraged festivals such as the Actia Dusaria. Dushara was a deity worshiped by the Nabataeans, whose culture continued to flourish into the 3rd-century, despite the Roman annexation of the kingdom in 106. (In fact, the cult of Dushara may have continued into early Islamic times, as suggested by 9th-century historian Hisham Ibn Al-Kalbi in <i>Kitab al-Asnām</i>.)</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]349293[/ATTACH]</p><p>The Nabataean Temple of Dushares, source: <a href="http://nabataea.net/dushares.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://nabataea.net/dushares.html" rel="nofollow">Nabataea.net</a></p><p><br /></p><p>The Nabataeans celebrated the Festival of Dushara annually, on December 25. Unfortunately, the coins issued for these festivals are not dated, so we can only attribute them with a range coinciding to the years of Philip’s rule. This is actually a coin of Philip II, his son, who was elevated to the rank of Caesar with his father&#039;s accession to the throne in 244.</p><p><br /></p><p>It’s difficult to say whether these coins are any more scarce than any other type of Arabian provincials, mostly because they are not in demand, and probably get sold in larger lots. I could only find one other example on the web, auctioned by Heritage in 2012. Mine is a much finer specimen than the one sold by Heritage. Although some of the obverse inscription is missing, the coin is centered, the portrait is attractive, and the reverse is completely intact.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Arabia, Bostra. Philip II Caesar AD 244-247, </b></p><p>AE 28mm, 14.85g, Bosra mint, 245-246.</p><p>[MARC IVL] PHILIPPOS CESAR; Radiate bust right</p><p>COL METROPOLIS BOSTRA; AKTI/A ΔOVC/APIA in wreath</p><p>Spijkerman 59, SNG ANS 1247-50.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]349295[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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