Desr friends of ancitént coins! In my collection I have a nice coin from Maionia, which shows Dionysus in a centaur biga. Unfortunately, it is not perfectly preserved. Now I have found a second specimen from Yale University. With it I have succeeded in completing the legend. Composed of this 2 copies, the legend on the reverse reads: [EΠI IOVΛIAN - OV] - T..A. - A.B.APX[ONTOV] i.e. "[this coin was struck] under the archon Julianus". The abbreviations T.A.A.B. cause difficulties. Other coinages show that there was a 1st and a 2nd archon in Maionia. EΠI KYEINTOY B AΡX A could then mean "under Quintus, who is 1st archon for the second time". It is more difficult with EΠI KYINTOY B AΡX A T B e.g. means "under Quintus, who was 1st archon (APX A) for the second time (T B)". Here, however, the B before APX remains unexplained. 2nd archon would then be double! To my coin: T.A. could then mean "for the first time", although the counting usually starts with the second time. Could A.B. then mean 2nd archon? But then the written APX[ONTOV] behind it would actually be double. Can anyone help me out of this dilemma? And an additional question: Who is the female figur at the end of the biga? With thanks in advance Jochen
Sorry I can't help you with your questions Jochen....Just wanted to say the op and the YU example look to be a double die match. Very interesting type..
You are right. It is a double die match. Rev.: Dionysus, in long clothing, holding thyrsos in his left arm, his right elbow resting on the backrest under which the statue of a woman with raised right hand can be seen, leaning right in a biga drawn by two centaurs; the one in front, holding a club in the right arm and a torch in his raised left hand, looking back to Dionysos, the one behind holding a torch in his right arm. Best regards Jochen
A correction: The Genitivus of APXWN ist APXONTOC. So the legend has to be corrected to [EΠI IOVΛIAN - OV] - T..A. - A.B.APX[ONTOC]! Thank you Jochen
I want to inform you, that Tom Mullally has solved the mystery in Forum Ancient Coins. It was a reading error. It should have been noticeable that A.B. are separated by a dot, but TA are not. And that is because it is not TA, but ΓA! Indeed, the archon's name is IOVΛIANOC ΓA[Λ]. This leaves only B.APX[ONTOC], which can be casually explained as "Archon for the second time". Prof. Leschhorn has confirmed this. Now I can sleep peacefully again! Jochen
