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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ocatarinetabellatchitchix, post: 3364382, member: 99554&quot;]<b>Urban legend : <i>a story of obscure origin and with little or no supporting evidence that spread spontaneously in varying forms.</i></b></p><p><b><i><br /></i></b></p><p><b>Prologue : </b></p><p>Summer of 269AD. Thessalonica is put under siege by the barbarians Goths. They have already sacked Thrace, Macedonia and Greece. It seems there is no way out. But the arrival of the emperor Claudius « Gothicus » forced them to run away. For the inhabitants of the city, they also resist the invasion with the help of the Cabiri— the tutelary deity of the place. But who are the Cabiri ? They are the 3 or 4 sons of god Vulcan and goddess Cabira. In 1888, a temple in their names was excavated near Thebes.</p><p>Claudius mints struck after this event an interesting an unusual coin with this reverse legend : <b>DEO CABIRO</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]892211[/ATTACH] </b></p><p>One of the&nbsp; Cabiri son of Vulcan and the nymph Cabira</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]892214[/ATTACH]</p><p>Ruins of the Sanctuary of the Cabiri, Thebes Greece</p><p><br /></p><p><b>The urban legend</b></p><p>1718. Anselmo Banduri, a Benedictine scholar, archeologist and numismatologist, published 2 folio volumes on the imperial coinage from Trajan to the last of the palaeologi.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]892215[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Anselmo Banduri</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]892216[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>In the volume 2, he described the <b>DEO CABIRO </b>coin but did not give an engraving of it :&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Cabirus, with cap on his head, and a band round the body, standing, a hammer in&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; right and a pair of nippers or tongs in his left hand.&nbsp; Third brass of Claudius&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Gothicus.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]892223[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>1815. Theodore Mionnet, in his book <i>De la rareté et du prix des médailles romaines </i>, reported the existence of the <b>DEO CABIRO </b>coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]892230[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>1892.&nbsp; Henry Cohen, in his <i>Description historique des monnaies frappées sous l’empire romain </i>incuded it in his catalogue.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]892230[/ATTACH]</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; 1927. RIC , in the reference for Thessalonica, cited the coin by the way of Banduri</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; ( RIC V 204 ).</p><p><br /></p><p>Now the big question : <b>Where is the DEO CABIRO coin ? </b>It appears that nobody on this planet has ever seen that specimen. Here are 3 possible explanations :</p><p>1)&nbsp; The DEO CABIRO just does not exist. It is a 300 years old urban legend.</p><p><br /></p><p>2)&nbsp;&nbsp; The coin has been considered a misreading for REGI ARTIS ( another rare type );&nbsp; &nbsp; REGI have been read as DEO [ D for R, O for G and I became C, first letter of CABIRO ] and ARTIS was read as ABIRO [ B for R, I fot T and possibly IS was not legible at all ] .......</p><p>3)&nbsp;&nbsp; The coin is hidden somewhere, maybe in a private collection, in a museum dusty basement or in an University’s attic....</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]892247[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>An example of a REGI ARTIS</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]892249[/ATTACH]</p><p>A possible misreading ?</p><p><br /></p><p>So what do you think :<b>Is the DEO CABIRO coin of Claudius Gothicus only an urban legend ?</b>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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