Here's an interesting Roman Provincial of Tyre (they had many interesting ones!) that I picked up a couple of months ago. Its reverse is a standing-deity type, but as far as standing deities go, he's a pretty fascinating one - Hermes-Thoth, a conflation of the Egyptian Thoth and the Greek Hermes. Some of these Phoenician provincials can be pretty rough, but this one is actually really nice... deep green-black patina with some original encrustations, excellent centering with almost all the legends and devices legible and clear, and some cool adjustment marks thrown in for good measure. I really couldn't ask for more . If anyone is interested in reading a little about Hermes-Thoth, I have some info below, but first, the coin! Oh, and as usual, please post anything related... coins of Tyre, coins showing Hermes, Mercury, etc... GALLIENUS Very Rare. AE Dichalkon. 14.21g, 30.9mm. PHOENICIA, Tyre, circa AD 253-268. Rouvier 2529 var. (rev legend); AUB –; BMC –. O: IMP C P LIC GALLIENVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from front. R: COL TVRO MET, Hermes-Thoth, half-naked, standing left, holding papyrus roll and caduceus; to left, ibis standing left; to right, murex shell set upon palm tree. Ex Dennis Rider Collection of the Coins of Tyre; Ex John A. Seeger Collection (CNG 172, 5 Sep 2007), lot 125 Notes : The ancient Greeks identified Thoth, the Egyptian god of knowledge and magic, with their own Hermes. Like Hermes, Thoth was seen as the divine communicator of the will of the gods, and both deities were also psychopomps, guiding the spirits of the dead to the underworld. In Ptolemaic Egypt, where the worship of syncretic Graeco-Egyptian deities was fashionable, the two came together as Hermes-Thoth. The cult of Hermes-Thoth had as its centre the ancient Temple of Thoth in the city of Khmun, which was known to the Greeks as Hermopolis, the City of Hermes. The cult continued to flourish when Egypt came under the rule of the Romans, and during the time of Hadrian, obols were struck for the Hermopolite nome bearing the bust of Hermes-Thoth. There are also the famous Alexandrian drachms of the deified Antinoüs showing him on the reverse as an avatar of Hermes-Thoth, on horseback carrying a caduceus. In ancient Phoenicia, Thoth was known as Taautos, flute player to the moon goddess Ba'alat Nikkal. Taautos was also inventor of the Phoenician alphabet, from which was derived, amongst others, the Greek alphabet, and there is a wonderful series of Provincial coins struck at Tyre in the mid-3rd century AD depicting the Phoenician prince Cadmus presenting a scroll to an assembly of Greeks, thus introducing them to the written word. In his History of the Phoenicians, the 1st century writer Philo of Byblos tells of an incarnation of Hermes-Thoth, known as Hermes Trismegistus (Hermes the Thrice Great), who was advisor and scribe to Kronos (the Phoenician god El) and who assisted him in the overthrow of Uranus. A few centuries later, the early Christian authors Lactantius and Augustine would write of Hermes Trismegistus as a mortal man, a wise Pagan philosopher of an earlier antiquity whom they claimed foresaw the coming of Christ. This Hermes Trismegistus was credited as the author of thousands of ancient texts expounding upon philosophy, magic, and the divine, including the Emerald Tablet, the Asclepius and the Corpus Hermeticum. The coins of Tyre showing Hermes-Thoth are distinctive in their depiction of this syncretic deity, capturing his diverse essence with an array of associated symbols - the ibis (of Thoth), caduceus (of Hermes), and papyrus scroll (as patron of writers, and as the divine scribe, Hermes Trismegistus). These issues date from the reigns of Philip the Arab (AD 244-249) through Gallienus (AD 253-268). Statue of Hermes Vatican Museum Thoth, Lord of the Sacred Words Jean-François Champollion, Brooklyn Museum Hermes Trismegistus, the Thrice Great Floor mosaic in the Cathedral of Siena The inscription at the bottom reads "Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus, contemporary of Moses"
What a great score! I love coins with unusual deities. Phoenicia issued a bunch of very interesting coins and I have several (the "Dido overseeing the building of Carthage" bronzes are faves). No Hermes-Thoth though Here's a Tyrian bronze I haven't shown in a while: PHOENICIA, Tyre. Trebonianus Gallus CE 251-253 Æ dichalkon, 25 mm, 13.39 gm, 6h Obv: IMP C C VIBIVS TREBO GALLVS AVG; laureate and draped bust right Rev: COL TYRO METR[O?]; serpent-entwined baetyl; murex shell to left, palm tree to right Ref: RPC IX online 1961; Rouvier 2476; Babelon 2296; AUB –; BMC –.
Cool post and coins - I just love ancient religion. How about a Melqart? Tyre, Phoenica AE25, 12.5g; 12h; 2nd-1st Century BC Obv.: Head of Heracles-Melqart right Rev.: MHTPONΠOΛΕΩΝ; Club surmounted by monogram of Tyre, all within oak wreath
Well, I do have a semuncia of the RR with Mercury on the obverse...and a sort of related Serapis with Gordian II:
