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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Valentinian, post: 2866539, member: 44316&quot;]I have collected late Roman AE for decades. I just bought three coins of 388-392 and saw they had a detail described in a different way. Here is the usual way:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]683892[/ATTACH] </p><p>Arcadius 14 mm. 12:00. 1.02 grams</p><p>RIC Antioch 67d2</p><p>Victory advancing left, <b>holding trophy on shoulder</b> with right hand and dragging captive with left.</p><p>cross-rho in field left. </p><p>mm:&nbsp; ANTΓ</p><p>RIC Antioch 67d2</p><p><br /></p><p>The following coins are small, 14 mm. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]683893[/ATTACH] </p><p>Here is a closeup. Look above the Victory&#039;s left shoulder (on the right). What do you see?</p><p>[ATTACH=full]683896[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>That one is a coin of Theodosius from Cyzicus, SMKB.&nbsp; Here is another, and then one of Valentinian II:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]683899[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]683894[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]683900[/ATTACH] </p><p>SMKA</p><p>[ATTACH=full]683901[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Okay, now you have seen three examples from Cyzicus. The previous owner, who cared a great deal about early Christian symbols on coins, thought that was the <b>hand of God reaching down and touching Victory on the shoulder</b>. </p><p><br /></p><p>I don&#039;t recall any book or article which described that detail that way. Do you?</p><p><br /></p><p>On the first, usual, coin you can see in the right hand of Victory the pole of the trophy, the bulk of which is at 12:30, over her shoulder. On my three Cycicus coins her right hand is up, in much the same position, but I see no pole and I do see something that might be interpreted as a hand reaching down. The hand, if that&#039;s what it is, is only 2 mm long which may excuse the lack of detail. </p><p><br /></p><p>We know that AE2 coins of Arcadius from 383-388 had a &quot;hand of God&quot; crowning Arcadius on the obverse:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]683909[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>So the idea of a &quot;hand of &quot;God&quot; was around when the coins were minted. </p><p><br /></p><p>I am trying not to bias the interpretation. Do you think the three coins from Cyzicus I showed have a trophy or a hand of God (or something else)?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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