Do you love provincial coins? I sure do! It's a huge area ripe with interesting niches and opportunities for contribution, discovery, and deeper knowledge if you're of an armchair academic mindset. Like rarities? Provincials are loaded with them! As a group, Provincials seems understudied compared to Imperials. Portraiture is not the draw. Often, the portraits bear little resemblance to the Imperial portraits. It matters little-- the reverses are the most interesting part of Provincials. They give insight into what was important to that city or area. Sometimes they are just plain wacky to our modern view. Let's see how many Roman Provincial coin cities we can cobble together here. Let's try to do it by alphabet, allowing a couple of days per letter. Inevitably there will be latecomers, omissions, or later purchases but that's okay-- just add them when you can if that letter's time has already passed. Also, it's okay if you want to post a city that someone already posted. Go ahead and show it off if you wish Feel free to include maps showing the location of your coin's city and whatever else you think is appropriate or interesting. How many cities are we potentially talking about? Well... using a list compiled by Henrik Agndal (found on TJ Buggey's site-- a great site by the way), and adding some Egyptian cities and nomes (and I still have more to add), and allowing for pre-Imperial Greek cities under Roman rule-- there are more than 635 cities. I've converted Mr. Agndal's list to a spreadsheet, with some additions and clarifications, and with more additions to come. Roman Provincial Coin Cities by Alphabet: alphabetical list by city, with region or state following The spreadsheet is not editable but you can copy and paste it into your own spreadsheet program if you wish to customize it. If you find errors please let me know. Spellings variations occur (Kyrene instead of Cyrene, for instance), so if you don't find a city, consider whether it has an alternative spelling. At first I labeled the list "Roman Provincial Mints" but there are instances where the named city and mint are different, so I went with the more inclusive (okay, vague ) label of Cities. Also, there may be instances of coins issued for a state or region without a known city of minting. It's a work in progress. Edited to add a posting schedule. Some letters have few cities and so have been grouped with another letter. ..... Let's get started! Post your Provincial coins from cities beginning with the letter A! .... Alexandria, EGYPT. #19 on the map below. I have >160 from this city but I'll just post one . It may not be my finest or my most prestigious Alexandrian, but the iconography is unmistakably Egyptian. EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian BI tetradrachm; 26 mm, 12.6 gm Regnal year 11 (CE 126/7) Obv: AVTKAI TPAIAΔPIA CEB; laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind Rev: L ENΔ EKATOV: Canopus of Osiris right Ref: Emmett 827.11, R3; Milne 1205 Alexandria Troas, TROAS TROAS, Alexandria. Trebonianus Gallus CE 251-253 AE 21 mm, 4.76 gm Obv: IMP VIB TREB GALVS AV; laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right Rev: COL AV / TROA; Apollo, head right and holding kithara, seated facing on griffin springing right, head left Ref: RPC IX 407; Bellinger A403 Anazarbus, CILICIA CILICIA, Anazarbus. Severus Alexander AE 24.8, 9.2 gm struck CE 230/1 Obv: AVT KM AV CE AΛE ΞANΔPOC; laureate bust right Rev: ANAZ CNΔOΞMHTP・ETOYC; heptastyle temple; Γ-B across fields; AMK below temple Ref: similar to Righetti 1503 and Righetti 1504 Τhe date, ΕTOYC, is CY 249 which is CE 230/1, per a coin in CNG's archives which is also similar to mine, although less similar than the Righetti examples cited above. Arados, PHOENICIA (Marker 16 on the map below) PHOENICIA, Arados. Trajan CY 375 (CE 116/7) Æ 22, 9.65 gm Obv: draped bust of Astarte-Europa right; before, small laureate and draped bust of Trajan Rev: bull charging left Reference: SNG Copenhagen 81; BMC 374
Brilliant idea - and this is going to force me to quickly ID some of the Provincials I just cleaned up...
I'll add my one Alexandrian: Provincial Rome - Egypt Nero, r. 54-68 A.D. (64-5 A.D.) Alexandria mint, BL Tetradrachm, 24.23 mm x 11.8 grams Obv.: NEPΩ KΛAYΔOΣ ΣEB ΓEP. Radiate bust right, wearing aegis Rev.: AYTOKPA. Eagle standing left, palm frond behind, LIA to left Ref.: SGICV 657 (Emmett 118) Ex. Doug Smith Collection #178
I won't have much to contribute here, so I'd better get one in while I can: Antioch, Syria (now in Turkey): AR tetradrachm of Augustus, issued in 5 BC. Tyche, wearing murate crown, holding palm, seated right; below, river-god Orontes swimming right. Year (ΥΠA IB) and ANT monogram in field. The ςK indicates the 26th year of the Actian era ("26th year of the victory" at Actium), and the IB indicates the 12th consulship.
There's Antioch ad Orontem, of course: Otacilia Severa, 244-249 Roman provincial AR tetradrachm; 12.23 g; 25.1 mm Syria, Seleucis & Pieria, Antioch ad Orontem, AD 245 Obv: ΜΑΡ ΟΤΑΚΙΛ CΕΟΥΗΡΑ CΕΒ, diademed and draped bust, right. Rev: ΔΗΜΑΡΧ ΕΞΟΥCΙΑC ΥΠΑΤΟ Α, eagle on palm, left, tail right, SC in exergue. Refs: McAlee 1088; Prieur 341; BMC 541 Macrinus, Augustus AD 217-218 Roman provincial Æ 19 mm, 3.80 g, 12:00 Syria: Seleucis and Pieria, Antioch ad Orontem Obv: ΑVΤ Κ Μ Ο C ΜΑΚΡΙΝΟC CЄ, laureate and cuirassed bust right Rev: Large SC, Δ/Є above and beneath; all within laurel wreath interrupted by star above Refs: SGI 2949; BMC 20. 198,385; SNG Cop. 233; McAlee 728 Diadumenian, Caesar AD 217-218 Roman provincial Æ 16.5 mm, 4.63 g, 11:00 Syria: Seleucis and Pieria, Antioch ad Orontem Obv: ΚΑΙ Μ Ο ΔΙA ΑΝΤΩΝΙΝΟC CЄ, bare-headed and cuirassed bust right Rev: Large SC, Δ/Є above and beneath; all within laurel wreath interrupted by star above Refs: SGI 3017; BMC 20. 201,408; SNG Cop. 235; McAlee 745a
ALEXANDRIA (several, but will post one): RI Poppea-Nero BI tetradrachm of Alexandria LI yr10 63-64 CE Milne 217 RPC 5275 How about a founded city by Alexander whose name later changed? Alexandria by Issus: The geographical location of Issus is along a strategic bottleneck between inland mountainous terrain on a coastal plain Makedon Alexander Lifetime Tet Myriandrus mint-Alexandria near Issus Issus was where Alexander met and beat Darius III for the first time, took his baggage train, his Wife, and his daughters, as well as an enormous amount of gold. Today called Iskenderun in Turkey, which is their derivative of Alexander... (OK, SORRY, not a provincial, but the Romans LOVED him, and my Avatar name is a bastardization of his name... ) Alexandria Troas: RI Valerian I 253-260 CE AE 20mm Alexandria Troas mint Horse Grazing Antioch: RI Aelia Flacilla w Theodosius I 373-388 CE 21mm 5-7g Victory Christogram shield Antioch RIC IX 61 Later, Augustus was absolutely TICKED-OFF with this guy for losing 3 Legions to the Germans... RI Publius Quinctilius Varus 5-4 BCE AE20 8.0g Tetrachalkon Zeus Tyche Orontes Antioch Yr ZK RPC 4252 SNG Cop 92
Interesting. Threads like this will force me to make time to get pics of my coins I'm so far behnd I'll offer an Alexandrian Salonina
Great start, everyone! Thanks for contributing. As for Antioch... it is a source of confusion for me an probably for others. I think but am not certain that all of the "Antioch" coins shown so far are from Antioch ad Orontem in Seleucia and Pieria, part of Syria. In CNG's format: SYRIA, Seleucis and Pieria. Antiochia ad Orontem. Can anyone out there confirm that this is correct (regarding all of the above coins Antioch)?
Theodosius isn't in my area, but I do have this Antioch Theodosius I Antioch 379-395 AD DN THEODOSIVS PF AVG Pearl diamdem cuirassed bust right CONCORDIA AVGGG Concordia turreted seated facing. Holding scepter and resting lft hand on knee ANNT in exergue RIC 4a(1)Antioch
All the references I have agree - the Syrian Antioch is Antioch ad Orontem. And here is my contribution. Caesarea Maritima Titus as Caesar AR Tetradrachm, 14.48g Caesarea Maritima mint, 70-71 AD RPC 1967 (3 spec.) Obv: AYTOKP TITOΣ KAIΣ OYEΣΠ; Bust of Titus, laureate, r., with aegis Rev: ETOYΣ Γ IEPOY; Eagle standing, l., with wreath in beak on palm branch; club in l. field Acquired from CGB, September 2015.
Thanks for the clarification and the coin, @David Atherton For clarity, is Caesarea Maritima in Samaria?
You're right it is, my bad. It's post-300 AD and is an anomally in my collection. I was only thinking letter "A" that I have pics of oops.
My one Nero of Alexandria. I love how thick and wide it is compared to denarii. It looks excellent too.
The other commonly seen Antioch is the one in Pisidia. Both are shown on this map. Antioch, Pisidia, as a full colony, issued coins with Latin Legends rather than Greek. Septimius Severus Severus Alexander
I have many cities beginning with A ... but for the most part others here will have them. Agrigentum might be scarce as a provincial. SICILY, Agrigentum/Akragas. Late 1st century BC - early 1st century AD. Æ 16mm, 5.43g. Obv: Triskeles with facing gorgoneion at center. Rev: AGRI/GENT in two lines within wreath. RPC I 659. ex-CNG e-auction 327, May 2014, lot 361 (The Continental Collection)
I'll contribute a fairly rare issue of Anemurium that I just acquired, Gallienus with Artemis reverse... Only four examples seen by CNG in the last 12 years, see here. On the southern coast of Turkey...
Interesting, Ed. I hadn't even noticed Agrigentum on the list and didn't realize until you posted the coin that it was under Roman rule at that time. Related, deciding what is "Imperial" and what is "Provincial" is not clear-cut. Roman Provincial Coinage Online has good summary and introduction: http://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/intro/whatisrpc/