Make the Empire Pagan Again! (A quick coin)

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Parthicus, Jun 4, 2020.

  1. Parthicus

    Parthicus Well-Known Member

    Just a quick snack that I picked up from Frank S. Robinson's most recent bargain list:
    Roman anonymous pagan.jpg
    Roman Empire. Antioch. AE4. Anonymous (time of the Tetrarchy c. 303-313 AD). Obverse: Jupiter seated left, holding globe and scepter, legend around IOVI CONSERVATORI. Reverse: Victory advancing left, legend around VICTORIA AVGG, in exergue ANT. This coin: Purchased from Frank S. Robinson, 2020.


    This coin is part of a series of anonymous types featuring pagan deities (including Jupiter, Isis, Serapis, and Apollo) but without any portraits or mention of the issuing emperor(s). The coins were issued from the eastern mints of Antioch, Alexandria, and Nicomedia, most likely during the time of the persecution of Christianity under the Tetrarchy. Diocletian was the driving force behind the persecution, and portrayed it as a restoration of traditional Roman values. These coins were apparently part of the effort to get the people to return to the worship of the older gods. The persecution was most enthusiastically enforced in the eastern portion of the empire, so it makes sense that that is where these coins were struck. I like this coin as a mini historical document, the portrait of Jupiter is appealing to me, and best of all this coin only cost me $6.35. Please post your coins from this series, or whatever else is related.
     
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  3. ominus1

    ominus1 Well-Known Member

    ...i was expecting a Julian ll..:)
     
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  4. ancient coin hunter

    ancient coin hunter 3rd Century Usurper

    Very interesting. MEPA cap now in hand.
     
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  5. David@PCC

    David@PCC allcoinage.com

    I wrote my own interpretation of these.
    ri252.jpg
    Civic coinage of Antioch
    Summer 300 AD
    Antioch mint
    Obvs: IOVI CONSERVATORI, Jupiter seated holding globe and scepter.
    Revs: VICTORIA AVGG, Victory holding wreath and palm branch. ANT in ex
    AE quinarius 14x15mm, 1.39g
    Ref: Vagi 2955; Van Heesch 2
     
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  6. Roman Collector

    Roman Collector Well-Known Member

    Here's my Tyche of Antioch:

    [​IMG]
    Anonymous issue under Maximinus II.
    Roman billon quarter follis, 1.35 g, 16.3 mm, 11 h.
    Antioch, officina 6, AD 311-312.
    Obv: GENIO ANTIOCHENI, Tyche of Antioch seated facing; river god Orontes swimming below.
    Rev: APOLLONI SANCTO, Apollo standing left holding patera and lyre; S in right field, SMA in ex.
    Refs: RCV 14927; Vagi 2954; Van Heesch 3(a); McAlee 170f.
     
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  7. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    What attracted me to these is the story behind their omission in RIC. When volume VI was published, the prevailing opinion was that the coins came from the time of Julian II so they did not make vol. VI. By the time volume VIII came out, they had been reattributed to c.313 so they were omitted from that volume as well. ERIC II copied from RIC or did not consider them coins. There are two places to find them easily. First is in David Vagi's Coinage and History of the Roman Empire. Second is Victor Failmezger's Late Roman Bronze Coins. I have not seen the new Millennium Sear volume on late Roman. Can someone confirm that he included them?

    A good part of the reattribution came from the fact that Antioch used a series of ten officinae numbered A through I including in place of the unlucky theta an additive delta + epsilon (4+5=9). In the time after about 330 AD, the old pagan superstition about a solo theta had been dropped and officina nine used the theta.
    ru3750bb2173.jpg ru3850b02202lg.JPG

    You have to watch out for sellers who use the omission from RIC as and excuse to run up the price on the two common varieties (shown above).
     
  8. Victor_Clark

    Victor_Clark all my best friends are dead Romans Dealer

    Yes, they are in Volume IV "The Tetrarchies..." He also gives Van Heesch reference numbers.
     
  9. Cachecoins

    Cachecoins Historia Moneta

    I was as well. Instead it is about Antioch, that city of beard haters that treated him so poorly and drove him to write the Misopogon. :) Nice surprise.
     
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  10. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    At $6.35, it is impossible to not be enchanted with the coin in the OP. The history... the patina... that's a whole lot of bang for the buck! (or six)
     
  11. Bing

    Bing Illegitimi non carborundum Supporter

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