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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 8198934, member: 110350&quot;]Thanks so much to all of you for the interesting examples you&#039;ve posted, and your kind words about the Memmius denarius. [USER=82322]@Ed Snible[/USER], it hadn&#039;t occurred to me that the [USER=90666]@Andrew McCabe[/USER] provenance contributed to the vigorous bidding on this coin and resulted in a premium, but now that I think of it I&#039;m sure I wasn&#039;t the only one who relied on his excellent taste! </p><p><br /></p><p>[USER=57495]@zumbly[/USER], your second coin, the Maxentius from Tomis, is particularly unusual: I doubt there are any other coins showing the Dioscuri not only dismounted but reclining!</p><p><br /></p><p>[USER=4298]@Cucumbor[/USER] and [USER=41219]@furryfrog02[/USER], I really love the Maxentius type, and now I want one myself! For one thing, I wasn&#039;t even aware before that there was ever a mint in Ostia. The design, with the Dioscuri on the outside rather than between their horses, reminds me of the statues on the Quirinal Hill on either side of the Egyptian obelisk (as opposed to the ones at the <i>Piazza del Campidoglio</i>, which resemble the design on my coin):</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1436443[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1436444[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Apparently, these two statues are among the few ancient sculptural groups never to have been buried or lost to view in nearly 2,000 years, even though they apparently weren&#039;t identified as Castor and Pollux until the 18th century. See <a href="https://www.througheternity.com/en/blog/history/dioscuri-castor-pollux-quirinal-hill.html#" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.througheternity.com/en/blog/history/dioscuri-castor-pollux-quirinal-hill.html#" rel="nofollow">https://www.througheternity.com/en/blog/history/dioscuri-castor-pollux-quirinal-hill.html#</a> .</p><p><br /></p><p>[USER=80952]@ambr0zie[/USER], I had actually never read that the Istros design with the inverted heads on the obverse has been interpreted as the Dioscuri. Do you have a citation for that theory? Here&#039;s my example:</p><p><br /></p><p>Thrace, Istros. 400-350 BCE. AR Drachm. Obv. Two facing male heads, left head inverted / Rev: Sea eagle on dolphin, ISTRIH [<i>partially off flan</i>] above eagle, globule under eagle’s tail; letter “A” ligatured with [archaic Π with shortened right stem, or sideways Γ ?] beneath dolphin.&nbsp; SNG.BM.249 [<i>Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Great Britain, Volume IX, British Museum, Part 1: The Black Sea</i> (London, 1993)] [online ID <a href="http://www.s391106508.websitehome.co.uk/PHP/SNG_PHP/04_03_Reply.php?Series=SNGuk&amp;AccessionNo=0901_0249" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.s391106508.websitehome.co.uk/PHP/SNG_PHP/04_03_Reply.php?Series=SNGuk&amp;AccessionNo=0901_0249" rel="nofollow"><b>SNGuk_0901_0249</b></a> with Rev. Monogram No. 49]; AMNG I/I No. 417 <i>var.</i> [no globule], see also No. 422 [Pick, Behrendt, <i>Die antiken Münzen von Dacien und Moesien, Die antiken Münzen Nord-Griechenlands Vol. I/I </i> (Berlin, 1898) at pp. 161-162]; BMC 3 Thrace No. 6 <i>var. </i>[no globule] [Poole, R.S., ed. <i>A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, The Tauric Chersonese, Sarmatia, Dacia, Moesia, Thrace, etc., Vol. 3</i> (London, 1877) at p. 25]; Seaby 1669 <i>var.</i> [Sear, David, <i>Greek Coins &amp; their Values, Vol.</i> <i>I: Europe</i> (Seaby 1978)]. 19 mm., 5.36 g.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1436446[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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