Below is another ancient that I have come across. (still digging) I know there are more, One I had seen earlier is really thick, like 3/8" or so..
Nice coin...I don't have any ancients yet, but I recently purchased a lot of 10 uncleaned romans on ebay just for fun, and hope to receive them on Monday...I'll try to post pictures of my finds here=p
Jim, what you have is a coin of the emperor Elagabalus aka Antoninus Pius minted between 220 and 222 AD. The reverse inscription reads IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG and the reverse is SACERD DEI SOLIS ELAGAB. The reverse also depicts Elagabalus in Syrian religious dress sacrificing over the altar of his favorite god and namesake Baal.The inscription translates to "The Priest of the Sun God Baal" The interesting thing is that this particular coin was issued only as a silver denarius and from your pic,it must have been seriously debased,but it IS a denarius.Here's a pic of another one like yours Nice find!
THanks Mik. Always interesting to see what the heck something is that you have no clue about. Have to wonder where this coin has been in the last. Ohhhh,,1800 or so years.
Mikjo0, there is some debate about the origin of the name Elagabalus. It could refer to the god El, as in 'El-gabal' or 'El of the mountain'. There is some confusion about the two gods, and in the end they probably stem from the same mythological concept. Ba'al is often refered to as the son of El. The denarius in this thread is all the more fascinating to me for the history particular to Elagabalus, his short and rather provocative tenure in Rome. Thanks for sharing!
