Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GinoLR, post: 24574000, member: 128351&quot;][ATTACH=full]1558836[/ATTACH] </p><p>Philip I (244-249), 8 assaria coin, Samosata.</p><p>Obv.: ΑΥΤΟΚ Κ Μ ΙΟΥΛΙ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΣ CЄΒ, laureate draped and cuirassed bust r.</p><p>Rev.:&nbsp; ΦΛ CΑΜΟΣΑΤΕWΝ ΜΗΤΡΟΠ ΚΟΜ (&quot;<i>(coin of the citizens of) Flavia Samosata, capital of Commagene</i>&quot;), Tyche seated left on rock holding eagle, Pegasus jumping left at her feet. Pegasus was the emblem of the XVIth Legion Flavia Firma.</p><p><br /></p><p>Samosata, on the Euphrates, the home city of the famous Greek author Lucian (who claimed he was an Assyrian), was in the 2nd and 3rd c. one of the most important legionary bases in the East, facing the Parthian and later Persian Empire. The city was built at the foot of an acropolis overlooking the Euphrates which could be crossed at this point. The acropolis had been settled since the neolithic times, became a neo-Hittite fortress-city and, in the 3rd c. BC, was refounded as <i>Samosata</i>, &quot;the delight&quot; in old Persian, by the Iranian kings of Commagene who made it their capital. In 73 AD Commagene was annexed by the Roman Empire. Hadrian in 117 settled in Samosata the 16th Legion Flavia Firma, guarding the the Euphrates crossing. </p><p><br /></p><p>Samosata remained a legionary base facing the Parthians and the Persians for more than a century. In 256 the city was taken and and plundered by Shapur I (at least he claims he did) but soon retaken by The Romans under Valerian. It is possible that following the interruption of the Antioch mint, after Antioch too had been destroyed by the Persians, Samosata became the rear base of Valerian&#039;s forces and the place where antoniniani were minted to pay the troops. The city was involved in subsequent Romano-Persian wars. It had a long history in the Byzantine, medieval, ottoman period, but in the 20th Century <i>Samsat</i>, as it was now called in Turkish, had lost any political, economic or military importance, and was not more than a village. Today it is nothing at all : the whole place was flooded in 1990 behind the gigantic Atatürk barrage. The extensive Roman city was never explored or excavated. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1558839[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><font size="3">Aerial photo of Samsat taken in 1969. Today it is in the bottom of the Atatürk lake.</font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in