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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 4487818, member: 110350&quot;]Thank you, [USER=75937]@Roman Collector[/USER].&nbsp; I found the linked thread extremely interesting.&nbsp; I have some thoughts and comments.</p><p><br /></p><p>First, regarding your statement about the Julia Domna denarius under discussion that &quot;Isis had never appeared on an imperial coin issued for an empress up to this point&quot;: what about the following coins listed in RIC and OCRE?:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/results?q=deity_facet%3A%22Isis%22" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/results?q=deity_facet%3A%22Isis%22" rel="nofollow">http://numismatics.org/ocre/results?q=deity_facet:&quot;Isis&quot;</a></p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;RIC III Antoninus Pius 1197 (as)</p><p>Date</p><p>AD 141</p><p>Denomination</p><p>As</p><p>Mint</p><p>Rome</p><p>Obverse</p><p>DIVA FAVSTINA: Bust of Faustina I, veiled, left</p><p>Reverse</p><p>S C: Isis, seated front, head left, on dog, holding sistrum</p><p><br /></p><p>RIC III Antoninus Pius 1197 (dupondius)</p><p>Date</p><p>AD 141</p><p>Denomination</p><p>Dupondius</p><p>Mint</p><p>Rome</p><p>Obverse</p><p>DIVA FAVSTINA: Bust of Faustina I, veiled, left</p><p>Reverse</p><p>S C: Isis, seated frong, head left, on dog, holding sistrum</p><p><br /></p><p>RIC III Marcus Aurelius 1725</p><p>Date</p><p>A.D. 161 - A.D. 176</p><p>Denomination</p><p>As</p><p>Mint</p><p>Rome</p><p>Obverse</p><p>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</p><p>Reverse</p><p>Isis, with lotus flower on her head, holding sistrum in right hand; at her feet, peacock standing left and lion standing right.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>See also John Melville Jones, <i>A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins </i>(1990) at p. 148, stating that &quot;Isis herself appears . . . on some issues of the two Faustinas and of Julia Domna.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Second, like you, I had assumed that the object in Isis&#039;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.&nbsp; I am now persuaded from the examples in your thread that what she&#039;s actually holding is definitely a wreath or some other large ring-shaped object.&nbsp; 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&#039;s collection and the third is from the Münzkabinett der Heinrich-Heine-Universität in Düsseldorf:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://numismatics.org/collectionimages/19001949/1948/1948.19.1539.rev.noscale.jpg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://numismatics.org/collectionimages/19001949/1948/1948.19.1539.rev.noscale.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://numismatics.org/collectionimages/19001949/1948/1948.19.1539.rev.noscale.jpg</a></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1113782[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://numismatics.org/collectionimages/19001949/1944/1944.100.51309.rev.noscale.jpg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://numismatics.org/collectionimages/19001949/1944/1944.100.51309.rev.noscale.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://numismatics.org/collectionimages/19001949/1944/1944.100.51309.rev.noscale.jpg</a></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1113783[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://www3.hhu.de/muenzkatalog/ikmk/image/ID1612/rs_exp.jpg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www3.hhu.de/muenzkatalog/ikmk/image/ID1612/rs_exp.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://www3.hhu.de/muenzkatalog/ikmk/image/ID1612/rs_exp.jpg</a></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1113784[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>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:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1113785[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1113786[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>So I have now revised my personal catalogue&#039;s description of my coin to say the following:</p><p><br /></p><p>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.&nbsp; RIC IV-1 577 (p. 170), RSC III 174 (ill.), Sear RCV II 6606, BMCRE 166. 18x20 mm., 3.35 g., 6 h. <i>Ex. A.K. Collection; ex. CNG Triton XX Auction, Jan. 10, 2017, part of Lot # 614, No. E027</i>.</p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, I see no evidence in any of OCRE&#039;s 23 examples of the Rome denarius of any of the &quot;horizontal ridges/waves in Isis&#039;s hair&quot; that you mention you saw in one of the Eastern mint denarii.&nbsp; All I can see of Isis&#039;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.&nbsp; Not something I associate with Julia Domna, although I don&#039;t have a problem with your suggestion that the Isis figure is meant to symbolize Julia Domna in some way.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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