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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;zumbly, post: 2211125, member: 57495&quot;]For me one of the main draws of Roman provincials are their often fascinating reverse types.&nbsp; This one from Apameia shows the satyr Marsyas reclining in a cavern, holding in one hand his infamous aulos (double flute); five chests are arranged around his head, and water flows from an inverted vase below him.&nbsp; So what exactly is all that about?</p><p><br /></p><p>The mythical Marsyas was a satyr who played his aulos in a musical contest against Apollo, following which he lost both the contest as well as his skin for his hubris in challenging a god.&nbsp; Apollo hung the skin up in a cave from which a river flowed (Marsyas&#039;s blood being its source), and the river was thereafter named after the unfortunate satyr.&nbsp; Located near the source of the River Marsyas, the city of Apameia was named by the Seleukid king Antiochos I after his mother, Apama.&nbsp; Apameia was also known by the sobriquet Kibotos, or The Chest, alluding to either its great wealth as a trade emporium, or perhaps more likely, for the ubiquitous wooden packing crates that were used by the city&#039;s trade middlemen to re-pack goods bound from Egypt and Asia to Greece and later, the Roman Empire.</p><p><br /></p><p>The story of the city is essentially imagined in a mythopoeic scene and used as the design of this coin.&nbsp; The reverse legend names the elements - AΠAMЄΩN (Apameia) MAPCVAC (Marsyas) KIBΩTOIA (<i>kibotoi</i>, or chests).</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]431995[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>HADRIAN</b></p><p>AE22</p><p>4.10g, 22mm</p><p>PHRYGIA, Apameia, AD 117-138</p><p>SNG Cop 211; BMC 155</p><p>O: AΔPIANOC KAI CЄB, laureate head right, with slight drapery.</p><p>R: AΠAMЄΩN MAPCVAC [KIBΩTOI], Marsyas reclining within a rocky cave, holding cornucopia and double flute; above, five chests; beneath, inverted vase from which water.</p><p><br /></p><p>The most famous of the coins of Apameia are from a rare series struck in the 3rd century AD that show the biblical Noah and his Ark.&nbsp; It is understood that the Jewish community in Apameia claimed to be descendants of Noah.&nbsp; By the 3rd century AD, their members had gained such influence and high offices that they were able to pay tribute to their heritage on the coinage of the city.&nbsp; It&#039;s interesting to note that the Ark shown on these coins would appear to resemble an Apameian wooden packing crate.&nbsp; Intriguingly, the word <i>kibotos </i>was used to describe both Noah&#039;s Ark as well as the Ark of the Covenant in ancient Greek texts.</p><p><br /></p><p>The <a href="http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=910868" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=910868" rel="nofollow">example here</a> is not mine, but I&#039;d take it in a pinch <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]431997[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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