Hello all, @Mat sold me a few pretty cool tetradrachms of Egypt this week. Included was this beauty. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=6289&pos=4 As you can see from my attribution I am mostly lacking in having Milne and various other Roman Provincial references. I couldn't find it on WW and that basically is the entent of my resources. Any help on the obverse legend? The left side is kind of wonky. The reverse has LH for year eight on it. At first I thought it was LP but upon closer examination there are serifs at the top and bottom of the leftward vertical stroke of the letter. The tiniest of breaks between the top serif and right side of the letter makes me feel it is an H. As you can see the coin was struck slightly off flan on the reverse to the right so my letter trails off the edge. Any thoughts?
That is indeed Antoninus Pius (as opposed to Caracalla or Elagabalus, whose name also includes ΑΝΤѠΝΙΝΟC). The inscription begins at the 12:00 position. Reading clockwise from 1:00 to 5:00 it reads ΑΝΤѠΝΙΝΟC; from 7:00 to 10:00 it reads CЄΒ ЄVCЄΒ, making the entire inscription ΑΝΤѠΝΙΝΟC CЄΒ ЄVCЄΒ. The reverse figure is Serapis enthroned left, extending right hand over Kerberos at his feet and resting on scepter. Such a coin was produced during regnal year H (8): Köln 1462; BMC 985; Dattari 2370; Emmett 1431; Milne 1792
As an aside, CEB is short for CEBACTOC, meaning "Augustus" and EVCEB is short for EVCEBHC (εὐσεβής), meaning "Pius" (Latin) or "Pious" (English).
Thanks for your help folks, especially @Roman Collector. I did then go to acs and check out the coins they had to get a better feel for this coin. When I start working in a new area, one of the most frustrating parts of learning the area is not knowing what I am even looking for. So with this coin for example, I have to figure out the Greek legend, which is problematic sometimes when half of the legend is missing. Then also the legend starts at 12 o'clock instead of to the left like most coins at around 7pm. Which when you are looking at a type of coin for the first time and it is in Greek and you aren't sure of whether you are looking at an Emperor or magistrate or town name it is confusing at best. On the reverse, there sometimes is a Nike on the left top of the back of the chair. So when there are several choices and it is not clear on the internet references what the differences are it leaves the new collector sort of lost. So the help here makes it a lot easier. Thanks everyone!
