Welcome to the latest edition of T-Bone Tuesday, where we celebrate the coinage of Trebonianus (T-Bone) Gallus and/or his son and co-emperor, Volusian! I'm not going to rehash the myth of the Gigantomachy because both @TIF and @Jochen1 have written threads about it, here and here, respectively. Briefly, however, the Gigantomachy was a battle between the Giants (Gigantes), sons of Gaea and Uranus, and the Olympian gods who were trying to overthrow the old religion and establish themselves as the new rulers of the cosmos. the Olympian gods won. Many ancient sources tell of the Gigantomachy: Pseudo-Apollodorus, Pindar, Diodorus Siculus, and Ovid, to name a few. In the most detailed account, that of Pseudo-Apollodorus, each Giant engages in combat with an Olympian god(dess). This coin depicts Athena battling one of the giants, whom I believe to be Enceladus. Volusian, AD 251-253. Roman provincial Æ 29.1 mm, 11.2 g, 6 h. Cilicia, Seleucia ad Calycadnum, AD 251-253. Obv: ΑV Κ ΓΑ ΟVΙΒ ϹΑΒΙΝ ΓΑΛΛΟϹ, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right. Rev: ϹЄΛЄΥΚЄ-ΩΝ ΤΩ Π|ΡΟϹ Κ-ΑΛV|ΔΝ, Athena advancing right, brandishing spear, holding shield, attacking serpent-footed giant hurling stone with right hand. Refs: RPC IX, 1336; BMC 21.141,54; SNG von Aulock 5851; RG 4480 (SNG France 1055); SNG Levante 780. Notes: Double die match to SNG Levante 780 and RG 4480=SNG France 1055 (BnF); obverse die match to BMC 54. Coins depicting the Gigantomachy were struck in Seleucia ad Calycadnum during the reign of several emperors from Hadrian (BMC 17; RPC III 3234) through Gallienus (BMC 58; see @Jochen1's coin). Three scenes are depicted on various coins (Hill, BMC 21, p. lxv): Athena on foot, with spear and shield, striking down a single giant (i.e. my coin). Athena on foot, with aegis and thunderbolt, and a single giant (Mionnet iii, p. 604, no. 313; RPC VII.2 unassigned, ID 2056). Athena in a facing quadriga, with two giants (BMC 26, pl. xxiii.10; CNG 88, lot 90). Although CNG identifies the reverse figure in a die-matched example as Porphyrion, one of the giants involved in the mythological tale, I disagree. I think it's more likely Enceladus, Athena's opponent in the Gigantomachy, not just in Pseudo-Apollodorus' written narrative, but also in art. Here is Enceladus explicitly identified on this Attic red-figure dish in the Louvre. The scene bears a striking resemblance to the reverse of the coins of Seleucia ad Calycadnum. The notion of the Gigantes being anguipedal (serpent-footed) seems to be a later tradition. Ovid writes of them in Metamorphoses (1.184), "serpent-footed giants," using the Latin anguipedum. Here's a scene from the Gigantomachy frieze in the agora of Aphrodesias, dating to the 1st century AD, which depicts Athena attacking a couple of anguipedal giants (not named). Post your coins of the Gigantomachy, of Athena in battle, of Seleucia ad Calycadnum, or anything you feel is relevant!
Great coin and write-up, RC! A nice Gigantomachy bronze is very high on my list, such a cool type. I recently added this big bronze of T-Bone from Seleucia ad Calycadnum with an Apollo and Artemis-Tyche reverse. A little bit of wear and tear, but I always enjoy these big provincials. Trebonianus Gallus, Cilicia, Seleucia ad Calycadnum, 251-253 AD (AE, 32.5mm., 15.99g.), Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust r./ Rev. Busts of Apollo and Artemis-Tyche facing each other; between them, barch.
