Roman Imperial Coin with Isis and Horus on the Reverse

Thank you, @Roman Collector. I found the linked thread extremely interesting. I have some thoughts and comments.

First, regarding your statement about the Julia Domna denarius under discussion that "Isis had never appeared on an imperial coin issued for an empress up to this point": what about the following coins listed in RIC and OCRE?:

http://numismatics.org/ocre/results?q=deity_facet:"Isis"

"RIC III Antoninus Pius 1197 (as)
Date
AD 141
Denomination
As
Mint
Rome
Obverse
DIVA FAVSTINA: Bust of Faustina I, veiled, left
Reverse
S C: Isis, seated front, head left, on dog, holding sistrum

RIC III Antoninus Pius 1197 (dupondius)
Date
AD 141
Denomination
Dupondius
Mint
Rome
Obverse
DIVA FAVSTINA: Bust of Faustina I, veiled, left
Reverse
S C: Isis, seated frong, head left, on dog, holding sistrum

RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1725
Date
A.D. 161 - A.D. 176
Denomination
As
Mint
Rome
Obverse
FAVSTINA AVGVSTA: Bust of Faustina II, draped, hair elaborately waved in nearly vertical lines and fastened in a low chignon at back of head, down cheek, curls, left
Reverse
Isis, with lotus flower on her head, holding sistrum in right hand; at her feet, peacock standing left and lion standing right."

See also John Melville Jones, A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins (1990) at p. 148, stating that "Isis herself appears . . . on some issues of the two Faustinas and of Julia Domna."

Second, like you, I had assumed that the object in Isis's right hand on the reverse of my Julia Domna denarius is probably her right breast, even though it seems clear that the infant Horus is nursing at her left breast. I am now persuaded from the examples in your thread that what she's actually holding is definitely a wreath or some other large ring-shaped object. Here are three other examples making that clear, out of the 23 examples of the Rome version of denarius on OCRE; the first two are from the ANS's collection and the third is from the Münzkabinett der Heinrich-Heine-Universität in Düsseldorf:

http://numismatics.org/collectionimages/19001949/1948/1948.19.1539.rev.noscale.jpg



http://numismatics.org/collectionimages/19001949/1944/1944.100.51309.rev.noscale.jpg



http://www3.hhu.de/muenzkatalog/ikmk/image/ID1612/rs_exp.jpg



I also took what I think is a somewhat clearer photo of the reverse of my example of the coin, and created a closeup detail of that part of the reverse, and think these photos make the object look a little less like a breast and a little more like a ring-shaped object:





So I have now revised my personal catalogue's description of my coin to say the following:

Julia Domna, AR Denarius ca. 201 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Draped bust right, hair waved vertically and fastened in large bun in back, IVLIA AVGVSTA / Rev. Isis, wearing polos on head, draped, standing three-quarters right, head right, holding the nursing infant Horus in left arm against left breast, with her right hand holding a wreath or other ring-shaped object against her chest, her left foot against prow, right, and her left knee bent with Horus resting on it; to left of Isis, rudder rests against altar; SAECVLI FELICITAS. RIC IV-1 577 (p. 170), RSC III 174 (ill.), Sear RCV II 6606, BMCRE 166. 18x20 mm., 3.35 g., 6 h. Ex. A.K. Collection; ex. CNG Triton XX Auction, Jan. 10, 2017, part of Lot # 614, No. E027.

Finally, I see no evidence in any of OCRE's 23 examples of the Rome denarius of any of the "horizontal ridges/waves in Isis's hair" that you mention you saw in one of the Eastern mint denarii. All I can see of Isis's hair in those examples (as well as in mine) is that a number of them show rather clearly that she has a long pigtail hanging from the back of her head. Not something I associate with Julia Domna, although I don't have a problem with your suggestion that the Isis figure is meant to symbolize Julia Domna in some way.

 

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I'm quite happy to drop back to 'Syria' for safety but we lose the distiction we had previously between the COS dated issues and the IMP dated issues even though those may not be separate anyway. I see the rush to Antioch as failing to address the period when Pescennius was minting coins at the same time as Septimius (the pre-COS dated issues). Both were not using the same mint at the same time. There seems to be a great desire to discredit previous BM bosses, especially Mattingly. I suspect both are wrong so the same thing is to say we do not know rather than to make yet another guess. My guess would include a travelling mint but for the time being I prefer to retain Mattingly's guesses in quotation marks ("Emesa") rather in the same way that we still use Sellwood for Parthians even though some of his king assignments are out of date. "Syria" works unless we are going to move some issues the Caesarea in Cappadocia so "East'" would be better. I have not seen work proving how many different mints there were or addressing possible relocation of staff from one place/ruler to another. We are a bit short on well studied material to state anything with assurance.

Homeless coins (once 'Emesa' but now wandering in the Syrian wilderness):
..and a few Domnas
When I started collecting these, we 'knew' so much more than we do today. I am not aware of any professional numismatists working on this seriously (meaning working on a book) but I would not expect them to tell me if they were. I do not expect to see the questions resolved in my lifetime.