This article is dedicated to Pat Lawrence who has teached me so much. Dear friends of ancient mythology! I want to confess at the beginning: I too can't say with certainty who is the small boy. But I want to recapitulate which explanations have been found and why they were rejected at last. The first time I took notice of this problem it was a thread of Pat Lawrence about Apollo Iatros on the FORVM. And then I was confronted again with this problem when I got my own coin (no.3). That was the cause to engage myself more intensively with this matter. But first the coins: 1st Coin: Nicopolis ad Istrum, Caracalla, AD 198-217 AE 16, 2.82g, 16.6mm, 90° Obv.: AV K M AVPH - ANTΩNINOC Laureate head r. Rev.: NIKOΠOΛITΩN ΠPOC I Telesphoros, clad in hooded mantle, stg. frontal Ref.: a) AMNG I/1, 1593 (1 ex., Vienna; Eckhel, Mionnet, Arneth under Elagabal in error) b) Varbanov 2991 c) Hristova/Hoeft/Jekov (2021) No. 8.18.21.4 (this coin) Pick: This coin - in a better state - certainly belongs to Caracalla. 2nd Coin: Nicopolis ad Istrum, Caracalla, AD 198-217 AE 27, 10.32g struck under governor Aurelius Gallus Obv.: AV K M AVP - ANTΩNINOC Bust, draped and cuirassed, laureate, r. Rev.: VΠ AVP ΓAΛΛOV NIKOΠOΛIT / ΠPOC IC. Asklepiad Triad: Hygieia in long garment and mantle, stg. r., feeding snake in r. arm from patera in l. hand, and Asklepios in himation, stg. l., l. hand akimbo, resting with r. hand on snake-staff; between them a small boy in hooded cloak stg. facing, arms hidden Ref.: a) AMNG I/1, 1559, pl.XVII, 9 (rev. same die) b) not in Varbanov c) Hristova/Hoeft/Jekov (2021) No. 8.18.21.1 very rare, yellow-brown patina, VF ex Numismatik Lanz auction 120, 18.5.2004, lot 415 3rd Coin: Nicopolis ad Istrum, Caracalla, AD 198-217 AE 27(?), 10.7g struck under governor Aurelius Gallus Obv.: AV K.M.AVP. - ANTΩNEINO - C (NE ligate) Laureate head r. Rev.: VΠA AVP ΓAΛΛOV NIKOΠOΛITΩN / ΠPOC ICTP Asklepiad Triad: Hygieia in long garment and mantle, stg. r., feeding snake in r. arm from patera in l. hand, and Asklepios in himation, stg. l., l. hand akimbo, resting with r. hand on snake-staff; between them a small boy, in short girded chiton, and bare arms, stg. frontal, head r. Ref.: a) not in AMNG: rev. AMNG I/1, 1549 var. (legend, but has ICTRO) AMNG I/1, 1550 var. (depiction, pl. XVII, 9) obv. AMNG I/1, 1551 b) Varbanov (engl.) 3087 c) Hristova/Hoeft/Jekov No. 8.18.21.3 rare, about VF, slightly rough 4th Coin: Serdika, Caracalla, AD 198-217 AE 31, 15.27g Obv.: AVT K M [AVP CEV] - ANTΩNEINOC Heroic bust, laureate, l., with sword belt and decorated aegis over l. shoulder, seen from behind Rev.: OVΛΠIAC - CEPΔIKHC Apollo Iatros, nude, stg. l., l. hand akimbo, resting with l. hand on snake staff; right beside him a small boy, nude, stg. facing, looking up to him and stretching r. hand to him. Ref. a) rev. Ruzicka 173 (this coin in Ruzicka online) obv. not in Ruzicka b) not in Varbanov (engl.) c) Hristova/Jekov No. 12.18.7.17 (this coin) very rare, VF, green-brown patina, slightly smoothed in fields Pedigree: ex Numismatik Lanz auction 120, May 2004, lot 419 The subject of this article is the small boy, found on all of these coins. Looking a bit closer we can differentiate between three different types: (1) Boy wearing hooded cloak, arms hidden (2) Boy in short chiton, arms free (3) Boy nude, sometimes with chlamys over back (only from Serdika) I think we should well distinguish these three types. Antiquity was not a time of arbitrary interchangeability as we can find it in many cases today. Here we have the list of deities which have been suggested as an explanation: (1) Telesphoros: This is the most usual interpretation. Our first coin, anassarion from Nikopolis, shows on its rev. Telesphoros as we know him: A small child in hooded cloak, his arms hidden below. Now after extensive studies about Phrygean steles by the University of Ankara it becomes clear, that Telesphoros was clad in a garment wich in ancient times has been worn in Central Anatolia by peasants and shepherds and especially by children. So the Celtic origin of Telesphoros - prevalent until today - could now be suggested as rather unprobable. The Celtic origin of Telesphoros comes from R. Egger, Genius cucullatus, who refers to a votiv inscription found in AD 1930 near Wabelsdorf in Carinthia/Austria. But it is well possible that Telesphoros has come to the Celts by the Etruscans who had a similar deity. That would match the suggested origin of the Etruscans from Asia Minor. The first time Telesphoros appeared on coins was in the time of Hadrian in Pergamon. A different opinion was represented by Hug: He suggested that Telesphoros arose from the Egyptian Harpokrates. He mentioned a coin from Pergamon where together with Asklepios the small Harpokrates occurs (Numismata moduli max. e cimeliarch. Eleutherop. 1704, pl. XII). A misinterpretation? Some coins of Nikopolis ad Istrum depicts Asklepios and Hygieia. On some of them a small boy is standing between the two. This group is called Asklepiad Triad. The small boy usually is called Telesphoros (Pick, Hristova/Jekov and others). The Asklepiad Triad with Telesphoros in the middle we can see on the 2nd coin. But then a problem emerges: We know Telesphoros explicitly with a hooded cloak and with hidden arms. Telesphoros was indeed the mysterious daemon who brought healing hidden by visiting the sick people when they sleep. Without hood no Telesphoros. But on the 3rd coin we have a boy without a hooded cloak but with a short chiton and free arms! Pick writes in a note to this coin: The boy in the middle is by position and garment very different from the usual Telesphoros occuring between Asklepios and Hygieia. He can't be named for sure but it should be mentioned that on coins from Pergamon sometimes instead of Telesphoros another boyish figure appears but nude, either as autonomous type (BMC Mysia 136, 227, 230, XXVIII), or beside Asklepios (ibidem 148, 292, XXIX, 7). Pat Lawrence (in an article in FAC) considers that this figure in short chiton is Telesphoros too but here clad in Epidaurean style. In Epidauros - together with Pergamon the biggest Asklepios sanctuary in antiquity - Telesphoros was worshipped beside Asklepios too. Here he should have worn not his typical hooded mantle, but his head was still hooded. The hooded head should be seen on the 3rd coin if one look more closely. But I'm not sure. And about the garment of Telesphoros in Epidauros I unfortunately haven't found anything (2) Euamerion: Pick writes further: "Panofka wanted to see in this figure Euamerion, which was with reason declared by Wroth (Num. Chron. 1882, 38ff.) as unprobable." Euamerion, a daemon of well-being, was hold as son of Asklepios and was worshipped in Titane in the region of Sikyon. Previously it was suggested that his name was composed of Greek 'eu' (= good) and 'hemera' (= day). Today his name is rather led back to Greek 'hameros' (= clement). Pausanias, II, 189 (Titane) writes about him: " Alexanor and Euamerion too have ornamented columns here; and for Alexanor as a hero one brings after sunset offerings to the dead, but for Euamerion is made a sacrifice as a god. If I suggest correctly the Pergameneans calls this Euamerion Telesphoros according to an oracle, the Epidaureans however Akesis". Here we see that Euamerion very early was merged with Telespohoros. And he was depicted very similarly: Boyish and clad with mantle and hood against the influence of the weather. On a coin of Lucius Verus from Pergamon with Asklepios and a small nude figure Pinofka had recognized Euamerion with a torch in his hand which would well match the daemon of the morning. Between them he saw a pig. But this pig is actually a rat, and a rat never was an attribute of Asklepios, but above all of Apollo Smintheus in Troy, and often he is depicted on coins with a rat. The famous statue of Skopas depicts Apollo with one foot on a rat. We know that there was a close connection between Asklepios and Apollo Smintheus in Pergamon, almost equal to an assimilation, and therefore this depiction is a hint to this relation. Wroth writes: "Who is the small nude figure beside the god of healing on the coin of Lucius Verus I can't explain. But he has no visible torch. I can't help it but I suppose that the whole scene has a relation to any mystic rites of initiation or divination." And the rat is known not only as bringer of plagues but as symbol of divination too. On a vase painting - he writes - it is said that a scene have been found of an initiation with connection to Apollo Smintheus: A female figure, probably Telete (initiation) receives a boy kneeling before her to mystic rites. He is unclothed and between him and the wife there is a rat. (3) Akesis: Above we have read that Pausanias mentions Akesis. Akesis is an Epidaurean deity of healing and is equated to the Sikyonean Euamerion and the Pergamenean Telesphoros. His name means 'healing'. He was hold for a son of Asklepios. More I have not found. But we see that there were gods - or rather daemons - of healing at several different locations which later came into the ambit of Asklepios. (4) Ianiskos: Ianiskos (not to be confused with the mythological king of Sikyon) was one of the lesser known sons of Asklepios. His name could be come from Greek 'iao' (to heal) but I'm not sure for that. In Schol. laudatus (I.c) I have found a text about his origin: Asklepios was married with Koronis, Epione, Hygieia, Lampetia or Arsinoe. These goddesses often were called his daughters too. And there are more: Aegle, Iaso and Panakeia. As sons were named especially Machaon and Podaleirios, which were mentioned already by Homer and have helped the Greek as physicians at Troy. They became the ancestors of the Messenean family of Asklepiades. Later the Pergamenean Telesphoros, the mythical Ianiskos and the historical Aratos joined the family. Originally Asklepios came from Thessalia from where his cult spread to Boeotia, to the Attic Eleusis and to the Peleponnesos, where especially Epidauros became an important centre. From there the cult of Asklepios came to Kos and finally to Pergamon. Like his brothers Machaon and Podaleirios Ianiskos too should stem from Perrhaibia in the northern Thessalia. So a version of a Greek myth led Ianus, like Euander, Aeneas and Saturn, immigrate from Perrhaibia. But this strange derivation seems to be a confusion with Ianiskos (Roscher). It is said that Ianiskos together with Asklepios was worshipped in Pergamon, one of the centres of the Asklepios cult. Svoronos describes in AD 19111 some coins of Pergamon depicting a nude child holding a goose in his outstretched r. hand. Svoronos points out that there are many statues of children where the children have geese in their hands. And the goose was sacred to Asklepios. Because of that Svoronos ascribes this depictions to Ianiskos, the somewhat obscure son of Asklepios who in fine arts often is represented by a bird, living in fever contaminated swamps. A temple of Asklepios and Ianiskos was found at excavations in Sounion, the most south point of Attica which actually is famous for its important temple of Poseidon. In a report about these excavations Ianiskos is called 'God of Malaria', a name which could be ascribed to the nearby swamps. Now there are strong objections against Svoronos's Ianiskos theory. A.W.Lawrence writes in an article about a statue from Mesopotamia that the above mentioned statues of children not only are holding geese but equally frequent doves and ducks. So it is more probable that these animals are not the attribute of the god but rather pets used for playing with. So an important argument of Svorons is fallen. The small Terracotta statues are probably votiv gifts for the birth of a son. Another theory for the meaning of the geese represents Ridgway in his article: "The Boy who strangled a Goose", 2006: The goose came from the Egyptean mythology and is the symbol for evil forces and the boy as Harpokrates/Dionysos overcomes the evil. But this too has no relation to Asklepios or Ianiskos. (5)The infant Asklepios: Now we came to our last coin , from Serdika. On the coins with Apollo Iatros from Serdica we find another, a bit different depiction of the small boy. Here he is nude or sometimes with a chlamys over his back. Sometimes he stretches out his arm to Apollo with an unknown object in his hand. This boy usually is called the infant Asklepios, an explanation which is based on the fact that mythologically Asklepios was the son of Apollo. Pat Lawrence however is not convinced of that: If he actually would be the infant Asklepios then any attributes should be find as hint. And it would be interesting what object the boy holds in his hand. If it is not the infant Asklepios then one could point to the suggestion of Wroth that there is a connection to mystic rites of initiation. (6) The Asklepiades: A last word about the Asklepiades. These were a group of families and persons who led back their origin to Asklepios or his son Podaleirios. Their main places of activity were Trikka in Thessalia, Epidauros, Rhodos and Kos, and the facing Knidos. Belonging to this group were Machaon in Geronia/Lakonia too and his sons Sphyros and Alexanor in Pharai/Messenia. To the ambit of the Asklepiades belong too the Pergamenean Telesphoros and the Sikyonean Euamerion. The latter originally could have been daemons of healing later incorporated in the ambit of Asklepios. This too is true for some epitheta of Asklepios which originally stood for autonomous entities. The temple service was done in the first time by the Asklepiades themselves as an own guild of priests and physicians where medical knowledge was bequeathed from father to son. At least until Hippokrates it was forbidden to communicate something to strangers. They seem to have cured sick people outside the temple too, and probably the physicians which - according to Lykurgos (886 BC) - have accompanied the Spartan army were Asklepiades. It is sure that their temple service was of great importance for the empirical medical science. By the efforts of Hippokrates of Kos, the most famous of the Aklepiades, the knowledge of the Asklepiades no more stayed the secret of priests. And it was necessary already in the 4th century to accept strangers in their guilds. The priests of Asklepios were named Asklepiades until later times and it is known that they, without medical knowledge, were busy to obtain their priestly influence on the people by all avaible means which provide superstition. The fact that among them were many swindlers proves Lukian in his 'Pseudomantis'. Recapitulating we can say that the little boy surely comes out of the ambit of the Asklepiades. The small boy with the hooded mantle naturally is Telesphoros. Sadly we don't know who are the other two figures exactly. The nude figure from Serdika could be the infant Asklepios or an adept of mystic rites. So only the boy with the short chiton is left. But he could be, because of his hidden head(?) , the Epidaurean Telesphoros (Pat Lawrence). It is interesting that all coins we have seen here are coins of Caracalla. That is not by chance! Caracalla was a psychic sick human. Tortured by the awful spirit of his father and his murdered brother, who in the night stands before him, the emperor sought refuge in strange rites and evocations of dead, and at last he tuurned to the great god of healing (Wroth). We are situated in the 2nd century AD, in a time where the old gods were no more sufficient to satisfy the need of the people for irrationality. The old gods have lost their mystery, they have become too rational. The people evaded to the secret knowledge of the Celts and especially the deep wisdom of the East, murmured in unintelligible words. On our coins it is obviously depicted how the mysterious powers of the East, here in the shape of a small boy, have barged between the old deities, until they superseded them in the form of Christianism. All coins which make trouble have been struck in Thrace or Northern Greece. Wether this plays a role or not I don't know. I have added a depiction of the great temple of Asklepios in Epidauros how it could be seen after a recostruction (Source: www) Sources: - Pausanias, Periegesis Literature: (1) Umberto Eco, Das Irrationale gestern und heute, Vortrag zur Eröffnung der Frankfurter Buchmesse 1987, aus Umberto Eco, Über Spiegel und andere Phänomene, dtv 1991 (2) Kay Ehling, Ein reitender Telesphoros, Epigraphica Anatolica 38 (2005), 159-164 (online) (3) Eduard Gerhard, Griechische Mythologie, Berlin 1854 (online) (4) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon, Leipzig 1770 (online) (5) Johann Leonhard Hug, Untersuchungen über den Mythos der berühmten Völker der alten Welt, 1812 (6) A.W.Lawrence, A Crowned Head and a Statue of a Child from Mesopotamia, in The Annual of the British School at Athens, Vol.27, (1925/1926) (7) Pat Lawrence, Cult OTD: Apollo Iatros (online under https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=51500.msg321308#msg321308 ) (8) Brunhilde S. Ridgway, The Boy Strangling a Goose: Genre Figure or Mythological Symbol?, in AJA 110, No.4, 2006 (online) (9) Theodor Sigismund Panofka, Asklepios und die Asklepiaden, Berlin 1845 (online) (10) Berendt Pick, AMNG I/1, 1898 (online) (11) Wilhelm.Heinrich Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon der Griechischen und Römischen Literatur, Leipzig, 1884 (online) (12) Joannes.N. Svoronos, Das Kind Ianiskos und Asklepios in Pergamon in Mysien, in Nikopolis in Moesien und Serdika in Thrakien, JIAN 13 (1911), S.113-120 (online) (13) Warwick Wroth, Asklepios and the Coins of Pergamon, Num. Chron. 1882, pp.1-51 (online) Best regards Jochen
Another great write up and a very interesting debate. I would assume they are different kids. I've always identified the hooded little creeper as Telesphoros. But who the others are I'm as in the dark as a kid with a hood over his head:
Thank you for yet another informative post, @Jochen1 I have only one coin showing Telesphorus (at least I assume so, based on the pointy head/hood), but it is not a provincial, rather an imperial Rome mint sestertius for Caracalla. I wonder if any other imperial issues depicted this mysterious child? A useful note from @Julius Germanicus is part of my attribution, giving a reason for this issue: Caracalla Æ Sestertius (215 A.D.) Rome Mint [M AVRE]L ANTONINVS PIVS AVG GERM, laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right / [P M TR P] XVIII IMP III [COS IIII PP] SC Asclepius standing facing, resting on serpent-entwined staff, Telesphorus standing left, globe on ground to right. RIC 538a. (23.61 grams / 31 x 29 mm) eBay Mar. 2021 Note: "Before establishing his military headquarters at the Syrian capital of Antiochia in 215, Caracalla...found time to visit the shrine of Asklepios in Pergamum...This visit was of such importance to Caracalla that it was commemorated by a special emission of coins in all three metals from the Rome mint in 215..." @Julius Germanicus Coin Talk, Sep. 2017
