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<p>[QUOTE="DonnaML, post: 5311130, member: 110350"]I've had this coin for a little while, but didn't really know that much about it until I read two very excellent threads on such coins from last year: first, the important thread by [USER=80556]@David@PCC[/USER] (David Kalina) entitled "Sacred Apollo (anonymous civic coinage part I)" at <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/sacred-apollo-anonymous-civic-coinage-part-i.338433/#post-3511984" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/sacred-apollo-anonymous-civic-coinage-part-i.338433/#post-3511984">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/sacred-apollo-anonymous-civic-coinage-part-i.338433/#post-3511984</a> -- which led me to the expanded version at his website, <a href="http://allcoinage.com/anonymous_civic.php" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://allcoinage.com/anonymous_civic.php" rel="nofollow">http://allcoinage.com/anonymous_civic.php</a>. And second, the very informative thread begun by [USER=75937]@Roman Collector[/USER] entitled "Pagan coin of The Great Persecution" (see <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/pagan-coin-of-the-great-persecution.341410/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/pagan-coin-of-the-great-persecution.341410/">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/pagan-coin-of-the-great-persecution.341410/</a>), with contributions by, among others, [USER=80556]@David@PCC[/USER], [USER=44316]@Valentinian[/USER] (citing his own website on these coins,</p><p><a href="http://augustuscoins.com/ed/MaximinusII/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://augustuscoins.com/ed/MaximinusII/" rel="nofollow">http://augustuscoins.com/ed/MaximinusII/</a>), and [USER=10613]@Victor_Clark[/USER].</p><p><br /></p><p>In other words, some of our heaviest hitters, or, if you prefer, our most amazing scholars!</p><p><br /></p><p>Based on those two threads and the associated websites, and after consulting the few sources that I own or were quoted or linked in the threads (Sear, ERIC II, McAlee, notinric), I was able to cobble together for my personal catalog my own description of my coin, in which -- because I was persuaded by David's arguments, as I was in placing his interpretation of "SMA" first -- I refrained from characterizing the coin as part of a so-called pagan "Persecution" issue:</p><p><br /></p><p>Anonymous civic issue, reign of Maximinus II, AE quarter follis [?][Sear] or 1/12 nummus [?][McAlee], Antioch Mint (3rd Officina), ca. 311-312 AD. Obv. Tyche (city-goddess of Antioch) wearing mural crown, seated facing on rock, holding grain ears[?] with right hand and, with left hand, holding a two-handled basket (filled with grain ears[?]) resting on ground to right, river god Orontes swimming below with arms spread, GENIO ANTIOCHINI / Rev. Apollo standing left, pouring libation from patera held in right hand, and holding lyre in raised left hand, Γ [gamma, signifying 3rd Officina] in right field, APOLLONI SANCTO around; in exergue, SMA [<i>meaning Sigmata Moneta Antioch (money struck at Antioch) or Sacra Moneta Antioch</i>]. [Not in RIC; see <a href="http://www.notinric.lechstepniewski.info/6ant_civ_4v.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.notinric.lechstepniewski.info/6ant_civ_4v.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.notinric.lechstepniewski.info/6ant_civ_4v.html</a>.] <b>Sear RCV IV 14927</b> (ill); <b>Vagi 2954</b>; <b>McAlee 170</b>; <b>Van Heesch Type 3</b> [Van Heesch, J. "The last civic coinages and the religious policy of Maximinus Daza (AD 312)" in <i>Numismatic Chronicle</i> (1993), pp. 63-75 & Pl. 11]; <i><b>ERIC II</b></i>, “Anonymous Religious Coinage of the Fourth Century,” <b>pp. 1198-1199, No. 2</b>. 16 mm., 1.35 g. [<i><b>Struck either (1) to promote propaganda against Christians and aid in their persecution (and thus traditionally denominated the pagan “Persecution issue”); or (2) as proposed by David Kalina, for use in festivals, including the Festival of Apollo at Daphne, held in conjunction with the Olympics in Antioch in 312 AD. See Kalina, David, “Anonymous Civic Coinage,” Series 1, at <a href="http://allcoinage.com/anonymous_civic.php" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://allcoinage.com/anonymous_civic.php" rel="nofollow">http://allcoinage.com/anonymous_civic.php</a></b></i><b>.</b>]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1224243[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>But, after all that, I still have a couple of admittedly minor questions.</p><p><br /></p><p>First, essentially the same question that [USER=19463]@dougsmit[/USER] raised in the final post in [USER=75937]@Roman Collector[/USER]'s thread last year: what is the basis for the different denominations ascribed to the coin by various authorities, i.e., 1/4 vs. 1/12 of whatever the standard monetary unit was in Antioch at the time (no matter the fictional name one attaches to that unit, whether it be follis or nummus). Is it based entirely on the rather small (but not tiny) size of the type, 16 mm.? There's a rather large difference between 1/4 and 1/12, so I'm a bit puzzled.</p><p><br /></p><p>Second, none of the authorities I looked at (except McAlee in passing in the page reproduced in one of last year's threads), and nobody that I noticed in the two threads, addressed the questions of what Tyche holds in her right hand, and the identity of the object sitting on the ground next to Tyche on the right, beyond a "basket."</p><p><br /></p><p>The object in her right hand can't be seen at all in many examples, and it's certainly not so clear in mine. But, based on the fact that Tyche is usually shown holding a sheaf of grain ears in her right hand in the tetradrachms of Seleucis and Pieria, I'm guessing that that's what she's holding on my coin. Any thoughts?</p><p><br /></p><p>As for the object sitting on the ground to the right, next to Tyche's left hand, when I first saw it I thought it was a gigantic bunch of grapes! If it's a basket, it has an awfully large weave. But unless I'm imagining things, I see a handle on the right, and possibly another handle on the left that Tyche is holding. But what's in the basket? The same kind of thing she's holding in her other hand, namely grain ears? (McAlee says ears of wheat.) Again, most descriptions of the type I've looked at say nothing about the basket or its contents. Admittedly a minor issue, but sometimes such questions intrigue me.</p><p><br /></p><p>If anyone would like to share their own coins from Antioch from this and related issues, either ones they already posted last year (it's been long enough, I think!) or new ones acquired since, please go ahead.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="DonnaML, post: 5311130, member: 110350"]I've had this coin for a little while, but didn't really know that much about it until I read two very excellent threads on such coins from last year: first, the important thread by [USER=80556]@David@PCC[/USER] (David Kalina) entitled "Sacred Apollo (anonymous civic coinage part I)" at [URL]https://www.cointalk.com/threads/sacred-apollo-anonymous-civic-coinage-part-i.338433/#post-3511984[/URL] -- which led me to the expanded version at his website, [URL]http://allcoinage.com/anonymous_civic.php[/URL]. And second, the very informative thread begun by [USER=75937]@Roman Collector[/USER] entitled "Pagan coin of The Great Persecution" (see [URL]https://www.cointalk.com/threads/pagan-coin-of-the-great-persecution.341410/[/URL]), with contributions by, among others, [USER=80556]@David@PCC[/USER], [USER=44316]@Valentinian[/USER] (citing his own website on these coins, [URL]http://augustuscoins.com/ed/MaximinusII/[/URL]), and [USER=10613]@Victor_Clark[/USER]. In other words, some of our heaviest hitters, or, if you prefer, our most amazing scholars! Based on those two threads and the associated websites, and after consulting the few sources that I own or were quoted or linked in the threads (Sear, ERIC II, McAlee, notinric), I was able to cobble together for my personal catalog my own description of my coin, in which -- because I was persuaded by David's arguments, as I was in placing his interpretation of "SMA" first -- I refrained from characterizing the coin as part of a so-called pagan "Persecution" issue: Anonymous civic issue, reign of Maximinus II, AE quarter follis [?][Sear] or 1/12 nummus [?][McAlee], Antioch Mint (3rd Officina), ca. 311-312 AD. Obv. Tyche (city-goddess of Antioch) wearing mural crown, seated facing on rock, holding grain ears[?] with right hand and, with left hand, holding a two-handled basket (filled with grain ears[?]) resting on ground to right, river god Orontes swimming below with arms spread, GENIO ANTIOCHINI / Rev. Apollo standing left, pouring libation from patera held in right hand, and holding lyre in raised left hand, Γ [gamma, signifying 3rd Officina] in right field, APOLLONI SANCTO around; in exergue, SMA [[I]meaning Sigmata Moneta Antioch (money struck at Antioch) or Sacra Moneta Antioch[/I]]. [Not in RIC; see [URL]http://www.notinric.lechstepniewski.info/6ant_civ_4v.html[/URL].] [B]Sear RCV IV 14927[/B] (ill); [B]Vagi 2954[/B]; [B]McAlee 170[/B]; [B]Van Heesch Type 3[/B] [Van Heesch, J. "The last civic coinages and the religious policy of Maximinus Daza (AD 312)" in [I]Numismatic Chronicle[/I] (1993), pp. 63-75 & Pl. 11]; [I][B]ERIC II[/B][/I], “Anonymous Religious Coinage of the Fourth Century,” [B]pp. 1198-1199, No. 2[/B]. 16 mm., 1.35 g. [[I][B]Struck either (1) to promote propaganda against Christians and aid in their persecution (and thus traditionally denominated the pagan “Persecution issue”); or (2) as proposed by David Kalina, for use in festivals, including the Festival of Apollo at Daphne, held in conjunction with the Olympics in Antioch in 312 AD. See Kalina, David, “Anonymous Civic Coinage,” Series 1, at [URL]http://allcoinage.com/anonymous_civic.php[/URL][/B][/I][B].[/B]] [ATTACH=full]1224243[/ATTACH] But, after all that, I still have a couple of admittedly minor questions. First, essentially the same question that [USER=19463]@dougsmit[/USER] raised in the final post in [USER=75937]@Roman Collector[/USER]'s thread last year: what is the basis for the different denominations ascribed to the coin by various authorities, i.e., 1/4 vs. 1/12 of whatever the standard monetary unit was in Antioch at the time (no matter the fictional name one attaches to that unit, whether it be follis or nummus). Is it based entirely on the rather small (but not tiny) size of the type, 16 mm.? There's a rather large difference between 1/4 and 1/12, so I'm a bit puzzled. Second, none of the authorities I looked at (except McAlee in passing in the page reproduced in one of last year's threads), and nobody that I noticed in the two threads, addressed the questions of what Tyche holds in her right hand, and the identity of the object sitting on the ground next to Tyche on the right, beyond a "basket." The object in her right hand can't be seen at all in many examples, and it's certainly not so clear in mine. But, based on the fact that Tyche is usually shown holding a sheaf of grain ears in her right hand in the tetradrachms of Seleucis and Pieria, I'm guessing that that's what she's holding on my coin. Any thoughts? As for the object sitting on the ground to the right, next to Tyche's left hand, when I first saw it I thought it was a gigantic bunch of grapes! If it's a basket, it has an awfully large weave. But unless I'm imagining things, I see a handle on the right, and possibly another handle on the left that Tyche is holding. But what's in the basket? The same kind of thing she's holding in her other hand, namely grain ears? (McAlee says ears of wheat.) Again, most descriptions of the type I've looked at say nothing about the basket or its contents. Admittedly a minor issue, but sometimes such questions intrigue me. If anyone would like to share their own coins from Antioch from this and related issues, either ones they already posted last year (it's been long enough, I think!) or new ones acquired since, please go ahead.[/QUOTE]
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Questions about Anonymous Civic "Persecution" Coin from Antioch, under Maximinus II
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