Dear Friends! Have you seen this type before: Artemis carrying a child on her arm? Thracia, Philippopolis, Julia Domna, died AD 217(?) AE 25, 6.67g obv. IOVLIA. - DOM CEBACT Bust, draped, r., hair bound in broad chignon rev. FILIPP - OPOLITWN Artemis, in short chiton with bare r. shoulder and wearing boots, stg. r., resting with raised r. hand on inverted spear, holding in l. arm infant Dionysos, who stretches his arm to her; on the r. side stag stg. r. ref. a) Varbanov (engl.) 1386 var. (is supposed to have IOVLIA DOMA CEB!) b) another ex. in Lanz 112, lot 642 (same dies, heavy worn) c) not in BMC, not in SNG Copenhagen very rare, VF, dark-green patina pedigree: Gorny&Mosch, Auction 160, October 2007, Lot 1838 (spear in error described as torch) The problem with this coin is the rev. depiction. There is no depiction of Artemis with a child in LIMC (hint of a friend from the German Forum). And I don't know of any relations between Artemis and the young Dionysos. Therefore we have to ask: (1) Is it really Artemis and (2) is it really Dionysos in her arms? I want to share the informations which I got by my inquiries and hope for some critical comments. (1) Artemis as mother of Cupidus/Eros It is obviously Artemis in her usual hunting clothes, the spear as hunting weapon and with the stag at her feet, but there is no known myth in which Artemis is connected to the infant Dionysos. But I came across another myth where Artemis is not only connected to a child but she herself is the virginal mother of this child! I don't know wether this can be the actual solution to the coin depiction, because this child is Cupido! My source is Cicero, De Natura Deorum, lib. III, c. 34. He knows from three different Dianas and writes about their parents. There were three differents myths about Diana. According to the first one her parents were Jupiter and Proserpina, the second Diana had as parents Jupiter and Latona, and the third one Upis and Glauce. And Cicero knows from three Cupidos too. The first Cupido was the child of the first Mercurius and the first Diana, the second Cupido the child of the second Mercurius and the second Venus and the third one from Mars and the third Venus. And Bingo! Here we have a child of the virginal goddess! And Diana and Cupido would be a nice counterpart to Julia Domna! Sadly the solid objection is the missing wings of the infant. But on the other side which attributions argue for Dionysos? (2) Artemis/Bendis as mother of Orpheus Then a friend from the German Forum has pointed me to the Thracian Artemis, the goddess Bendis. Originally rather correlated with Hera, the Thacians equated her with Artemis, Hekate and Persephone. Her name is according to Kretschmer coming from idg. bhendh- = 'to tie', interpreted as Zygia. But her iconography doubtless shows her character as a hunting goddess: her Epitheton dologchos is enlighted by a Bithynian coin from Nikomedes I, on which she is depicted with double spear and a dagger. She was connected with the god Deoptes who possibly could be a relative of the Thracian rider-god Heros, to whom Bendis has had a special relation too. He was suggested to be besides Bendis as Asklepios on the relief of Piraeus. The cult of Bendis was introduced in Athens 430 BC by its Thracian inhabitants and assisted by the polis because of poltical reasons as is seen on the stone fragments from Munychia. Her sanctum and the festival of Bendideia on 20th of the month Thorgelion with procession and torch relay was supervised by a collegium of Thracian Orgeiones. This official protection of this foreign cult with its supposed orgiastic imprint calls up the echo in the Attic comedy (Strab. 10, 247). Note: Orgeiones = those in charge of orgia. Often for cults of deities foreign to the area and whose rites were of an orgiastic nature. There was the conception too that the Thracian rider-god Heros was the virginally born son of Bendis. Here we have already the conception which later in the Christianism playes such an important role. And then Orpheus himself, the famous singer and mythical king of the Rhodopian mountains, was suggested to be a son of Bendis. Philippopolis was located in the centre of Thrace and surely the cult of Bendis was known. If the figure depicted on this strange coin would be Bendis, the Thracian Artemis, then the missing bow and the missing arrows are easily understandable. Her attribute was the spear. And Orpheus we know from several coins of Philippopolis. Bendis/Artemis and her virginally born son Orpheus would be a nice solution of this strange reverse. Philippopolis, Geta, Varbanov 1642. Orpheus taming the wild animals I personally would go with this second suggestion! Comment of Pat Lawrence: "Congratulations on your research. Considering what else may be found on Philippopolis coins and the importance of the city, I find this conclusion extremely attractive" Sources: (1) Der Kleine Pauly (2) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon (3) Cicero, De Natura Deorum Best regards
I agree with the attractiveness of suggestion #2 and did not immediately think of Artemis when I first saw the coin. To be a certain Artemis, I would expect a hound and a bow rather than the deer and spear. There is no reason to limit possibilities to the Cicero list since mythology develops and Domna was 250 years later. It would help to know what statues adorned Philippopolis c.200 AD. Even if we found one in the ruins, we would not know who it represented. We have nothing approaching a complete list of minor deities that were subject of art in some part of the Empire at some period. We can study the evidence but we have to realize the best we can do is make well educated and reasonable guesses. The obverse of this coin has a less than standard legend with different abbreviations for Domna and Sebasta. Is ths standard for this city at this period? I have no Domnas but the three Septimius coins of Philippopolis below share different than standard and what I believe to be earlier legend variations. None use the genitive plural for the city as seen on the Domna and the Geta (whose age dates the coin well).
I've never seen that reverse design ever. Very interesting. She is dressed like Artemis -- She wears a chlamys which comes to mid-thigh and boots and appears with a stag, as in this example from Hadrianopolis: But that's where the similarity ends. She has no bow or quiver on your coin and holds a baby. Very curious, indeed. Here's my only Domna from Philipopolis, a well-circulated coin with a Homonoia reverse: Julia Domna, AD 193-217. Roman provincial Æ 24.4 mm, 8.59 g. Thrace, Philippopolis, AD 193-211. Obv: ΙΟVΛΙΑ ΔΟΜΝΑ CΕΒΑ, bare-headed and draped bust, right. Rev: ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ, Homonoia standing left in front of burning altar, holding patera and conrnucopiae. Refs: Varbanov 1385.
I’ve recently been researching a similarly perplexing coin for a possible article for Koinon, and one realization that I had which has been very helpful in reconciling this sort of irregular iconography in my mind is that the ancient Romans and Greeks did not, strange as it sounds to us, necessarily believe that there was only one Artemis (or one Apollo, or even one Zeus). Read Cicero’s description of three Dianas very literally. Local deities were not just interpreted as being the equivalent Greco-Roman deity, but sometimes as a ‘different’ deity of the same name, and often adopted the implements of the god they were identified with plus some foreign element, which throws us off. So this could be the local cultic version of Artemis. Their logic for these things does not fit with our logic for these things, and it’s hard to wrap our head around. I would say that researching the archaeology and temples of the issuing city is the most likely route to reveal an answer. The second theory seems plausible, but sometimes these things are just forever forgotten, sad as it is. I never knew how many weird iconographic amalgams existed which don’t fit with our ‘orthodox’ concept of these gods.
