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The plummed apple: When the seller (or MAJOR auction house) doesn't get it right
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<p>[QUOTE="GinoLR, post: 8171514, member: 128351"]This is a classic mistake dating back to late Antiquity.</p><p> </p><p>For the Romans, the symbol of Arabia was the camel (generally the one-humped dromedary, but sometimes the two-humped Bactrian species). It began with the M. Aemilius Scaurus denarii showing Aretas III, king of the Nabataean Arabs, kneeling in submission, and when in 111 Trajan celebrated the annexation of Arabia, the official allegory of the new province had a small camel protome at her feet, the posterior half of the animal being hidden behind the allegory's legs. This camel is still depicted on Hadrianic coins, and also (w/o the allegory) on some civic coins of Bostra, capital of the province. </p><p><br /></p><p>Because the camel was only partially represented, it is obvious that several celators took it for an ostrich, especially if they carved their dies by copying a coin and not a detailed picture. But it was always supposed to be a camel ! </p><p><br /></p><p>Modern numismatists sometimes make the same mistake. For ex. this lot in a Savoca auction:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1427557[/ATTACH] </p><p>or even this entry in the OCRE database !!! <a href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2.tr.244" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2.tr.244" rel="nofollow">http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2.tr.244</a></p><p><br /></p><p>But the error may date back to late Antiquity or early Middle Ages. All manuscripts of the <i>Notitia Dignitatum</i> depend on one now lost archetype of Carolingian date. The plate depicting the sector of the <i>Dux Arabiae</i> represents military garrisons of the Arabia province (in its much reduced extent of the 4th-5th c.). Between the walled cities we can see snakes and two ostriches.</p><p><br /></p><p>This plate from the Munich manuscript is the most accurate copy of the Carolingian lost original :</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1427558[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>other 15th or 16th c. manuscripts show it in different styles:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1427559[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1427560[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>The snakes cannot be explained otherwise than ill-interpreted <i>dracones </i>: on the original plates of late Antiquity, there must have been draco-standards floating above the fortresses of Betthorus (Lejjun), Mefa (Umm ar-Resas) and Gadda (near Zarqa), all now in Jordan. A copyist has not noticed there were standards and only reproduced the <i>draco </i>w/o the pole, and all subsequent copies reproduced this mistake.</p><p><br /></p><p>For the ostriches we must also make the same hypothesis: there are no texts stating that the ostrich is a typical bird of Arabia, and the traditional Roman symbol of Arabia is the camel. These two ostriches to characterize Arabia were very probably camels in the late antique manuscript, but when it was copied it was in bad condition and the copyist took them for ostriches.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="GinoLR, post: 8171514, member: 128351"]This is a classic mistake dating back to late Antiquity. For the Romans, the symbol of Arabia was the camel (generally the one-humped dromedary, but sometimes the two-humped Bactrian species). It began with the M. Aemilius Scaurus denarii showing Aretas III, king of the Nabataean Arabs, kneeling in submission, and when in 111 Trajan celebrated the annexation of Arabia, the official allegory of the new province had a small camel protome at her feet, the posterior half of the animal being hidden behind the allegory's legs. This camel is still depicted on Hadrianic coins, and also (w/o the allegory) on some civic coins of Bostra, capital of the province. Because the camel was only partially represented, it is obvious that several celators took it for an ostrich, especially if they carved their dies by copying a coin and not a detailed picture. But it was always supposed to be a camel ! Modern numismatists sometimes make the same mistake. For ex. this lot in a Savoca auction: [ATTACH=full]1427557[/ATTACH] or even this entry in the OCRE database !!! [URL]http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2.tr.244[/URL] But the error may date back to late Antiquity or early Middle Ages. All manuscripts of the [I]Notitia Dignitatum[/I] depend on one now lost archetype of Carolingian date. The plate depicting the sector of the [I]Dux Arabiae[/I] represents military garrisons of the Arabia province (in its much reduced extent of the 4th-5th c.). Between the walled cities we can see snakes and two ostriches. This plate from the Munich manuscript is the most accurate copy of the Carolingian lost original : [ATTACH=full]1427558[/ATTACH] other 15th or 16th c. manuscripts show it in different styles: [ATTACH=full]1427559[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1427560[/ATTACH] The snakes cannot be explained otherwise than ill-interpreted [I]dracones [/I]: on the original plates of late Antiquity, there must have been draco-standards floating above the fortresses of Betthorus (Lejjun), Mefa (Umm ar-Resas) and Gadda (near Zarqa), all now in Jordan. A copyist has not noticed there were standards and only reproduced the [I]draco [/I]w/o the pole, and all subsequent copies reproduced this mistake. For the ostriches we must also make the same hypothesis: there are no texts stating that the ostrich is a typical bird of Arabia, and the traditional Roman symbol of Arabia is the camel. These two ostriches to characterize Arabia were very probably camels in the late antique manuscript, but when it was copied it was in bad condition and the copyist took them for ostriches.[/QUOTE]
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The plummed apple: When the seller (or MAJOR auction house) doesn't get it right
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