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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Pellinore, post: 7341940, member: 74834&quot;]The third of the Roman Provincial coins I bought lately with an eye on the reverse. It is from Ephesus, issued by Philip II as caesar. It is hard to understand what the reverse is about. But it mentions the Third Neokoria, the temple - sanctioned by the Emperor - that Ephesus built for the Emperor&#039;s cult. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1281219[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Philippus II as caesar, 244-247. AE22, Ephesus. Obv. Bare-headed, draped and cuirassed bust right. Μ ΙΟΥ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟϹ ΚΑΙϹΑΡ. Rev. Two children playing with astragali; between them, cult statue of Artemis Ephesia.&nbsp; Γ ΝЄΩΚΟΡΩΝ / ЄΦЄϹΙΩΝ. The third neokorion was dedicated by Elagabal. 22 mm, 4.54 gr. RPC VIII online unassigned; <a href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/type/20472" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/type/20472" rel="nofollow">ID 20472</a>. Seller&#039;s picture.</p><p><br /></p><p>This reverse shows two little children throwing astragali (= play knuckle-bones) between them before the cult statue of Artemis. Above them the word ΝЄΩΚΟΡΩΝ and left the number Γ. or 3. So the Third Neokoria was celebrated, but what have the children and their knuckle play to do with it? I don&#039;t know. I always think with coins like this, that a special sculptural scene might have been copied here, maybe a sculpture of two playing children in that particular temple.</p><p><br /></p><p>This type of reverse exists for Ephesus only, and only for the emperors Gordian III, Philip I the father, Philip II the son, and Trajan Decius (who was a distinguished general under Philip I, but later rebelled against him and won). </p><p>We have seen <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/stop-cracking-your-knuckles.273899/page-2#post-2333005" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/stop-cracking-your-knuckles.273899/page-2#post-2333005">knuckles</a> on CoinTalk before, mainly from the Roman Republic. We have [USER=75525]@rrdenarius[/USER] , a member with a special interest in knucklebones / astragali. But this curious Provincial type, as far as I see, has not been mentioned here. So - I&#039;m curious about your posts: throw your knuckles! Play your astragali![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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