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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 3012642, member: 75937&quot;]Julia Iotape Philadelphus was the wife, sister, and cousin of Antiochus IV. Oh, the irony! <i>Philadelphus</i> is the Latinized form of the ancient Greek <i>Philadelphos</i> (Φιλάδελφος) meaning &quot;brother-loving.&quot; How did this hyper-incestuous relationship happen?</p><p><br /></p><p>She was the daughter of Antiochus III and Iotape, the king and queen of Commagene. Her parents were full-blooded siblings and direct descendants of the Seleucid kings. Iotape and her brother Antiochus IV were very young when their father died in AD 17.</p><p><br /></p><p>Tiberius agreed with the citizens of Commagene to make their Kingdom a part of the Roman province of Syria. From AD 17 until 38, Iotape and her brother were raised in Rome, members of the remarkable court of Antonia Minor. Antonia Minor was a niece of Augustus and the youngest daughter of Mark Antony. She was very influential and supervised her circle of various princes and princesses, assisting in the political preservation of the Empire’s borders, and the affairs of client states. In 38, Caligula returned Antiochus IV and Iotape to the throne of Commagene. In addition, Caligula enlarged their territory with a part of Cilicia bordering on the seacoast and gave them one million gold pieces, the total amount of revenue collected from Commagene during the twenty years that it had been under Syria. The reason for his extraordinary generosity is unknown. Perhaps it was just a stroke of Caligula&#039;s well-attested eccentricity.</p><p><br /></p><p>Iotape and Antiochus IV married and had three children. Iotape died before Commagene was annexed by Vespasian in 72. When she died, Antiochus IV founded a town called &#039;Iωτάπη, Iotape, in her honor (modern Aytap, Turkey).</p><p><br /></p><p>This is the only countermarked coin in my collection. I&#039;m not sure what the countermark is supposed to be; an anchor, crossed cornuacopiae, and a swastika appear on these issues. I don&#039;t have a copy of Howgego, so I&#039;m not very familiar with all the possibilities. If anyone HAS Howgego and would be willing to look this one up for me, I&#039;d appreciate it greatly. You may read more about these coins <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=x-zoBQAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA553&amp;lpg=PA553&amp;dq=countermark+commagene+iotape&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=fY9rQy1Lrv&amp;sig=FpUxMeWukH76C5s8IlxT9Nr8sd0&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiI3LuuqdDZAhUV6WMKHbLTCqAQ6AEIRjAH#v=onepage&amp;q=countermark%20commagene%20iotape&amp;f=false" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://books.google.com/books?id=x-zoBQAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA553&amp;lpg=PA553&amp;dq=countermark+commagene+iotape&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=fY9rQy1Lrv&amp;sig=FpUxMeWukH76C5s8IlxT9Nr8sd0&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiI3LuuqdDZAhUV6WMKHbLTCqAQ6AEIRjAH#v=onepage&amp;q=countermark%20commagene%20iotape&amp;f=false" rel="nofollow">here</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]747353[/ATTACH]</p><p>Julia Iotape, Queen of Commagene AD 38 - 72</p><p>AE diassarion, 23.4 mm, 13.64 g, 12 h</p><p>Syria, Commagene, Samosata mint</p><p>Obv: ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΑ ΙΩΤΑΠΗ ΦΙΛΑ∆ΕΛΦΟΣ, diademed and draped bust of Iotape, right; countermark: anchor?</p><p>Rev: ΚΟΜΜΑΓ−ΗИΩИ, scorpion and inscription all within laurel wreath</p><p>Refs: Lindgren-Kovacs 1887; RPC I 3858; BMC Galatia p. 109, 4; Nercessian AC --; SNG Cop VII 5; similar to Sear GIC 5514 (which has lunate sigmas in the inscription).</p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s a better image of the countermark:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]747359[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>As always, post anything you feel is relevant![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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