The Big So-and-so-opolis Thread

This is a really great idea for a thread. I'll add a few more coins of my man Seleukos I Nikator. He founded four cities in Syria as a means of reinforcing his vulnerable western borders after the battle of Ipsus.
Antioch: Named after his father Antiochus.


Seleucia in Pieria: named after himself.


Laodiceia ad mare: named after his mother.


Apameia: named after his Iranian wife Apama.

 

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Philip I, the Arab, 244-249, at Philippopolis, 247-249.


19 mm. 4.93 grams.
AVTOK K M IOVΛI ΦIΛIΠΠOC CEB
Marcus Julius Philippus
Laureate head right.
Head of Roma right in crested helmet, S C either side, wreath around.

Butcher, "Philippopolis and Samosata" IJN 1987, p. 73-84, plates 24-29 coin 5, plate 24. "Presumably the birthplace of the emperor Philip. It is significant that the coinage issued for the city belongs to his reign only."

 

Makedon
Alexander III Lifetime Tet
Myriandrus mint-Alexandria near Issus

 

This silver Tet was struck at Ake-Ptolemais Phoenicia under Ptolemy III. It shows Ptolemy I on obverse.

 

Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (modern Cologne, Germany), was named after Agrippina the Younger:


Claudius, AD 41-54 and Agrippina II, AD 50-59.
Roman provincial Æ 20.2 mm, 5.81 g, 10 h.
Lydia, Thyatira, AD 50-54.
Obv: ΤΙ ΚΛΑYΔΙΟC CЄΒΑCΤΟC, bare head of Claudius right.
Rev: ΑΓΡΙΠΠΙΝΑΝ CЄΒΑCΤΗΝ ΘΥΑΤΙΡΗΝΟΙ, draped bust of Agrippina right.
Refs: Sear 507; RPC I 2380; BMC 22. 301, 57; SNG München 611; SNG von Aulock --; SNG Copenhagen --; Mionnet --; Wiczay --.

 

Here is one from Hadriani ad Olympum, Asia, Conventus of Adramyteum. (The present Orhaneli, about 45 miles straight south of Istanbul, on the Asia side.



RPC III on-line, unique, this coin. 26-24 mm (not 23 mm, contra RPC)
https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/search/...ight_max=&diameter_min=&diameter_max=&format=

Volume: III №: 1612
Reign: Hadrian Persons: Hadrian (Augustus) Magistrate: Diodoros (epimelo(umenos))
City: Hadriani ad Olympum Region: Mysia Province: Asia (conventus of Adramyteum)
Denomination: AE (23 mm) Average weight: 10.51 g.
Obverse: [ ] ΚΑΙϹ ΤΡΑ ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟΝ; laureate and cuirassed bust of Hadrian, with paludamentum, seen from rear, r.
Reverse: ΕΠΙΜΕΛΟ ΔΙΟΔΩΡ [ ] (in field, l. and r.) ΑΔΡΙΑ-ΝΩΝ; Athena standing r., holding spear in r. hand, shield on l. arm
Specimens: 1

The paper volume of RPC III says "Lawrence collection," (otherwise unidentified. I wish I knew more) but it is in my collection now.

 

Wow! I love a unique provincial!

 

Our Flavian fanatics, such as @David Atherton , should enjoy this one. The city of Flaviopolis in Cilicia was founded by Vespasian as part of an imperial program for the urbanization of the Cilician Plain.


Faustina I, AD 138-140.
Roman provincial Æ 19.0 mm, 4.90 g, 1 h.
Cilicia, Flaviopolis, CY 94 = AD 166/7.
Obv: ΦΑΥСΤЄΙΝΑ CЄBACTH, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: ΦΛΑOΥΙΟ-ΠOΛЄΙΤΩΝ ЄΤOYC / Ϟ - Δ, Dionysos standing front, head to left, holding kantharos over panther in his right hand and thyrsos in his left.
Refs: RPC IV.3 online 10281 (temp); SNG Levante 1541 v. (year); Ziegler 1246-7; BMC --; SNG Paris --.
Notes: Double die-match to the specimen in the Ashmolean Museum (RPC example).

 

Here's a two-fer!

Parium, Mysia, located on the Propontis, was built by the Parians but was awarded Roman colonial status by Julius Caesar, and given the name Julia. During the first century, the initials C.G.I.P. appear on its coins, short for Colonia Gemella Julia Pariana. When Hadrian became a benefactor and embellisher of the colony, the letter H was added, and following his reign, the coins read C.G.I.H.P. for Colonia Gemella Julia Hadriana Pariana.


Cornelia Supera, wife of Aemelian, Augusta, 253 CE.
Roman provincial Æ 20.5mm, 3.78 g, 7 h.
Mysia, Parium, AD 253.
Obv: G CORN SUPERA AVG, diademed and draped bust right.
Rev: C. G. I. H. P., Capricorn right, cornucopiae on back; globe between legs.
Refs: RPC IX, 382; SNG von Aulock 7448; SGI 4408 (star instead of globe).
Notes: RPC online illustrates 11 examples of this coin, all struck with the same pair of dies; it seems that what Sear describes as a "star" between the capricorn's legs is that the globe is depicted with crossing bands -- the intersection of the ecliptic and the celestial equator -- and that Sear has mistaken these bands for a star.

 

Vespasian, a Flavian emperor, founded Flaviapolis in Cilicia Pedias (the eastern part of Cilicia, and inland), according to A.H.M. Jones in The Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces. RPC II (p. 256) says it was founded in 72/3 "probably as a means of extending Roman influence in this region." "In year 17 it struck an issue with 5 denominations." This is only issue under the Flavians and this example is of the largest denomination of that issue:



Domitian. 26 mm. 16.48 grams.
His bust right
Busts of laureate Dioscuri facing each other
The obverse legend is on the flan: ΔOMETIANOC KAICAP
The flan is 2 mm smaller than 28 mm PRC describes. That crowds much of the long reverse legend which is supposed to be:
ΦΛAYIOΠOΛEITWN ETOYC ZI
The "ZI" is 17 in Greek, for year 17 = 89/90.

 

Lysimachia , founded by King Lysimachos as his new Capital of Thrace:

 

Not a city but a province....
Diocletians' daughter and wife of Galerius.....'Galeria Valeria'.
Galerius renamed the province of Upper Pannonia after his wife..
Pannonia Valeria..