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<p>[QUOTE="Jochen1, post: 3496078, member: 103829"]Dear Friends of ancient mythology!</p><p><br /></p><p>Here I want to present an interesting interpretation of this coin:</p><p><br /></p><p><b>The Coin:</b></p><p>Arabia, Philippopolis, Philipp I., AD 244-249</p><p>AE 30, 17.30g, 30°</p><p>obv. AVTOK K M IOVΛI ΦIΛIΠΠOC CEB</p><p>Bust, draped and cuirassed, laureate, r.</p><p>rev. ΦIΛIΠΠOΛITΩN - KOΛΩNIAC</p><p>Roma(?), in long clothes, helmeted, std. l., holding spear in l. hand and eagle</p><p>with two small figures in outstretched r. hand; shield aside</p><p>in field l. and r. S - C</p><p>ref. Spijkerman 3</p><p>rare, EF</p><p>Pedigree: ex David Hendin</p><p>[ATTACH=full]926129[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Note:</b></p><p>The meaning of the two figures is unknown. Because it seems to be a dynastic issue it could be Philip's father and Philip himself(?).</p><p><br /></p><p><b>About this coin:</b></p><p>In addition to promoting his immediate family, Philip I also lavished honours upon his deceased father, Julius Marinus, whom he deified. Philips family hailed from a somewhat obscure town in Arabia Trachonitis (the modern village of Shahba, Syria) situated about 60 miles east of the Sea of Galilee and 25 miles north of Bostra, the capital of Roman Arabia. Philip took full advantage of his new position as emperor to honour his hometown, which he elevated to a Roman colonia, and renamed it Philippopolis.</p><p><br /></p><p>Beyond these honorary upgrades, Philip made capital improvements in his hometown. He built a temple for the worship of his now-deified father, and had numerous mosaics, a theatre, baths and temples constructed. The ruins of these survive today, and it is likely that most – if not all – were completed under Philip's watch. Since the town was not on a major road or trade route, its prosperity and fame eventually faded.</p><p>The coinage of Philippopolis was an isolated event, as no coins had been struck there before Philip's reign, and none were produced afterward. Since no die links between this city coinage and any other was documented in Konrad Krafts monumental 1972 study of provincial die links, it is possible the coins were actually produced in Philippopolis, rather than at a larger regional mint. A further peculiarity is that even though Philippopolis was a Roman colonia, its coin inscriptions (except the formulaic SC) are rendered in Greek</p><p><br /></p><p>The reverse of this type is known with a seated goddess and a standing goddess. Though the standing goddess still merits her identification as Roma, the seated goddess is perhaps better identified as Allat based upon her similarity to statues found at Palmyra and Suweida. Allat was a remarkably old fertility/mother goddess representing the earth. Her worship was important to agriculture, and she belonged to the trinity of desert goddesses, the other two being al-Uzza, the morning-star goddess, and Manat, the goddess of fate and time (from Numismatica Ars Classica).</p><p>Allat was equated to Athena and worshipped especially by the military personnel. So evidence suggests that the figure on the reverse is rather Athena/Allat than Roma. This would match the fact that in the temple of Allat at Palmyra a statue of Athena has been found.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]926130[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Al-Lat:</b></p><p>Al-Lat was a pre-Islamic Arabian goddess who was one of the three chief goddesses of Mecca. She is one of three goddesses that the pre-Islamic Meccans referred to as "<i>The Daughters of God</i>".</p><p><br /></p><p>In the Koran, she is mentioned along with al-Uzza and Manat in Sura 53:19-23.</p><p>According to Bob Trubshaw, Allat was a triple goddess of the moon, similar to Demeter. She had three aspects, each corresponding to a different phase of the moon: Kore, the crescent or maiden; al-Uzza, the full moon or mother; and Manat, the waning moon or wise woman. The phase of al-Uzza was worshipped at the Kaaba and served by seven priests called '<i>Beni Shaybah</i>' (sons of the Old Woman). Worshippers circled the stone seven times, once for each of the ancient seven planets, or like Ishtar who travelled through seven gates of the underworld. to get to her sister Ereshkigal, named Allatu too. Allatu is suggested an older name of Allat.</p><p><br /></p><p>Her name occurs in early Safaitic graffiti (Safaitic <i>han-'Ilat </i>"the Goddess") and she was worshipped by the Nabateans of Petra and the people of Hatra, who equated her with the Greek Athena and the Roman Minerva. According to Wellhausen, the famous Islamist, they believed that Allat was the mother of Hubal (and hence the mother-in-law of Manat).</p><p><br /></p><p>The Greek historian Herodotus, writing in the 5th century BC, considers her the equivalent of Aphrodite:"The Assyrians call Aphrodite Mylitta, the Arabians Alilat, and the Persians Mitra" (Histories I:131). According to Herodotus, the ancient Arabians believed in only two gods: "They believe in no other gods except Dionysos and the Heavenly Aphrodite; and they say that they wear their hair as Dionysus does his, cutting it round the head and shaving the temples. They call Dionysos, Orotalt; and Aphrodite, Alilat." (Histories III:38).</p><p><br /></p><p>Acoording to Wellhausen, names containing Allat were frequently met in the Palmyrian region, where e.g. the son of Odenathus and Zenobia was Vab-allatus. Comparison of names results in hints that in later times (but pre-Islamic too) the name al-Lat merged in Allah. In contradiction to the theory of merging the contemporary discussion about the early times of Islam debates wether al-Lat could be one of the daughters of Allah. But this contradicts the monotheism of the Islam. Remarkable nevertheless is the spelling of both names. By the lonely addition of two dots over the last letter of '<i>Allah</i>' the <i>'h</i>' becomes a '<i>t</i>', and we have '<i>Allat</i>'.</p><p><br /></p><p>According to the 'Book of Idols (<i>Kitab al-Asnam</i>)' by Hisham Ibn al-Kalbi, the pre-Islamic Arabs believed that Allat resided in the Kaaba and also had an idol inside the sanctuary: Her custody was in the hands of the Banu-Attab ibn-Malik of the Thaqif, who had built an edifice over her. The Quraysh, as well as all the Arabs, were used to worship Allat. They also used to name their children after her, calling them Zayd-Allat and Taym-Allat. Allat continued to be venerated until the Thaqif embraced Islam, when the Apostle of God dispatched al-Mughirah ibn-Shubah, who destroyed her and burnt her temple to the ground.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Quraysh was the dominant tribe of Mecca upon the appearance of the religion of Islam. It was the tribe to which the Prophet Mohammed belonged, as well as the tribe that led the initial opposition to his message.</p><p><br /></p><p>Originally we have some different version of the Koran, as we have from the Gospels</p><p>as well. The definite version was compiled by the Caliph Osman in the 7th century AD. Is it possible that the original Koran contained verses which were eliminated because they were against the orthodox belief? We know of the famous folk memory that not only the Archangel Gabriel but Satan too has supplied the Prophet with some verses. By these verses the three pagan goddesses al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat were called '<i>high-flying cranes</i>', and seen as a kind of mediators between men and God. Because these local deities of Mecca in the first time were tolerated by the Prophet, the people of Mecca followed his appeal to prostrate before God.</p><p><br /></p><p>When later the Archangel Gabriel informed the Prophet that these verses came from Satan they were eliminated. The legend of these verses - being the background of Salman Rushdies disputed novel of AD 1988 - is dicussed controversially until today. Most of the Muslim scholars deny this story as being fictional. But some western Islamists tend to accept it as true. It would be the evidence that Mohammed has convinced the people of Mecca of the magnanimity of Allah by flatteries for their three goddesses (from 'Der Spiegel', Nr.52, 22.12.07, 'Der Koran')</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I have added the pic of the statue of Athena from the temple of Allat at Palmyra, and the pic of a plate showing Allat sitting on a camel.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]926131[/ATTACH]</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Literature:</b></p><p>(1) 'Der Koran', in ''Der Spiegel', Nr.52, 22.12.07</p><p>(2) Wellhausen, Julius: Reste arabischen Heidentums, DeGruyter Verlag. Berlin,</p><p>Leipzig. 2. Ausgabe 1927.</p><p>(2) Salman Rushdie, Die Satanischen Verse</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Online Sources:</b></p><p>(3) <a href="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altarabische_Gottheiten" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altarabische_Gottheiten" rel="nofollow">http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altarabische_Gottheiten</a></p><p>(4) <a href="http://www.indigogroup.co.uk/edge/blston2.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.indigogroup.co.uk/edge/blston2.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.indigogroup.co.uk/edge/blston2.htm</a></p><p>(5) <a href="http://hindustan.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-2955.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://hindustan.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-2955.html" rel="nofollow">http://hindustan.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-2955.html</a></p><p>(6) <a href="http://www.nabataea.net/gods.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.nabataea.net/gods.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.nabataea.net/gods.html</a> (The Nabatean Pantheon)</p><p>(7) <a href="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Lat" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Lat" rel="nofollow">http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Lat</a></p><p>(8) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allat" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allat" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allat</a></p><p>(9) <a href="http://www.muslim.org/islam/allah.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.muslim.org/islam/allah.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.muslim.org/islam/allah.htm</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Best regards[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Jochen1, post: 3496078, member: 103829"]Dear Friends of ancient mythology! Here I want to present an interesting interpretation of this coin: [B]The Coin:[/B] Arabia, Philippopolis, Philipp I., AD 244-249 AE 30, 17.30g, 30° obv. AVTOK K M IOVΛI ΦIΛIΠΠOC CEB Bust, draped and cuirassed, laureate, r. rev. ΦIΛIΠΠOΛITΩN - KOΛΩNIAC Roma(?), in long clothes, helmeted, std. l., holding spear in l. hand and eagle with two small figures in outstretched r. hand; shield aside in field l. and r. S - C ref. Spijkerman 3 rare, EF Pedigree: ex David Hendin [ATTACH=full]926129[/ATTACH] [B]Note:[/B] The meaning of the two figures is unknown. Because it seems to be a dynastic issue it could be Philip's father and Philip himself(?). [B]About this coin:[/B] In addition to promoting his immediate family, Philip I also lavished honours upon his deceased father, Julius Marinus, whom he deified. Philips family hailed from a somewhat obscure town in Arabia Trachonitis (the modern village of Shahba, Syria) situated about 60 miles east of the Sea of Galilee and 25 miles north of Bostra, the capital of Roman Arabia. Philip took full advantage of his new position as emperor to honour his hometown, which he elevated to a Roman colonia, and renamed it Philippopolis. Beyond these honorary upgrades, Philip made capital improvements in his hometown. He built a temple for the worship of his now-deified father, and had numerous mosaics, a theatre, baths and temples constructed. The ruins of these survive today, and it is likely that most – if not all – were completed under Philip's watch. Since the town was not on a major road or trade route, its prosperity and fame eventually faded. The coinage of Philippopolis was an isolated event, as no coins had been struck there before Philip's reign, and none were produced afterward. Since no die links between this city coinage and any other was documented in Konrad Krafts monumental 1972 study of provincial die links, it is possible the coins were actually produced in Philippopolis, rather than at a larger regional mint. A further peculiarity is that even though Philippopolis was a Roman colonia, its coin inscriptions (except the formulaic SC) are rendered in Greek The reverse of this type is known with a seated goddess and a standing goddess. Though the standing goddess still merits her identification as Roma, the seated goddess is perhaps better identified as Allat based upon her similarity to statues found at Palmyra and Suweida. Allat was a remarkably old fertility/mother goddess representing the earth. Her worship was important to agriculture, and she belonged to the trinity of desert goddesses, the other two being al-Uzza, the morning-star goddess, and Manat, the goddess of fate and time (from Numismatica Ars Classica). Allat was equated to Athena and worshipped especially by the military personnel. So evidence suggests that the figure on the reverse is rather Athena/Allat than Roma. This would match the fact that in the temple of Allat at Palmyra a statue of Athena has been found. [ATTACH=full]926130[/ATTACH] [B]Al-Lat:[/B] Al-Lat was a pre-Islamic Arabian goddess who was one of the three chief goddesses of Mecca. She is one of three goddesses that the pre-Islamic Meccans referred to as "[I]The Daughters of God[/I]". In the Koran, she is mentioned along with al-Uzza and Manat in Sura 53:19-23. According to Bob Trubshaw, Allat was a triple goddess of the moon, similar to Demeter. She had three aspects, each corresponding to a different phase of the moon: Kore, the crescent or maiden; al-Uzza, the full moon or mother; and Manat, the waning moon or wise woman. The phase of al-Uzza was worshipped at the Kaaba and served by seven priests called '[I]Beni Shaybah[/I]' (sons of the Old Woman). Worshippers circled the stone seven times, once for each of the ancient seven planets, or like Ishtar who travelled through seven gates of the underworld. to get to her sister Ereshkigal, named Allatu too. Allatu is suggested an older name of Allat. Her name occurs in early Safaitic graffiti (Safaitic [I]han-'Ilat [/I]"the Goddess") and she was worshipped by the Nabateans of Petra and the people of Hatra, who equated her with the Greek Athena and the Roman Minerva. According to Wellhausen, the famous Islamist, they believed that Allat was the mother of Hubal (and hence the mother-in-law of Manat). The Greek historian Herodotus, writing in the 5th century BC, considers her the equivalent of Aphrodite:"The Assyrians call Aphrodite Mylitta, the Arabians Alilat, and the Persians Mitra" (Histories I:131). According to Herodotus, the ancient Arabians believed in only two gods: "They believe in no other gods except Dionysos and the Heavenly Aphrodite; and they say that they wear their hair as Dionysus does his, cutting it round the head and shaving the temples. They call Dionysos, Orotalt; and Aphrodite, Alilat." (Histories III:38). Acoording to Wellhausen, names containing Allat were frequently met in the Palmyrian region, where e.g. the son of Odenathus and Zenobia was Vab-allatus. Comparison of names results in hints that in later times (but pre-Islamic too) the name al-Lat merged in Allah. In contradiction to the theory of merging the contemporary discussion about the early times of Islam debates wether al-Lat could be one of the daughters of Allah. But this contradicts the monotheism of the Islam. Remarkable nevertheless is the spelling of both names. By the lonely addition of two dots over the last letter of '[I]Allah[/I]' the [I]'h[/I]' becomes a '[I]t[/I]', and we have '[I]Allat[/I]'. According to the 'Book of Idols ([I]Kitab al-Asnam[/I])' by Hisham Ibn al-Kalbi, the pre-Islamic Arabs believed that Allat resided in the Kaaba and also had an idol inside the sanctuary: Her custody was in the hands of the Banu-Attab ibn-Malik of the Thaqif, who had built an edifice over her. The Quraysh, as well as all the Arabs, were used to worship Allat. They also used to name their children after her, calling them Zayd-Allat and Taym-Allat. Allat continued to be venerated until the Thaqif embraced Islam, when the Apostle of God dispatched al-Mughirah ibn-Shubah, who destroyed her and burnt her temple to the ground. The Quraysh was the dominant tribe of Mecca upon the appearance of the religion of Islam. It was the tribe to which the Prophet Mohammed belonged, as well as the tribe that led the initial opposition to his message. Originally we have some different version of the Koran, as we have from the Gospels as well. The definite version was compiled by the Caliph Osman in the 7th century AD. Is it possible that the original Koran contained verses which were eliminated because they were against the orthodox belief? We know of the famous folk memory that not only the Archangel Gabriel but Satan too has supplied the Prophet with some verses. By these verses the three pagan goddesses al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat were called '[I]high-flying cranes[/I]', and seen as a kind of mediators between men and God. Because these local deities of Mecca in the first time were tolerated by the Prophet, the people of Mecca followed his appeal to prostrate before God. When later the Archangel Gabriel informed the Prophet that these verses came from Satan they were eliminated. The legend of these verses - being the background of Salman Rushdies disputed novel of AD 1988 - is dicussed controversially until today. Most of the Muslim scholars deny this story as being fictional. But some western Islamists tend to accept it as true. It would be the evidence that Mohammed has convinced the people of Mecca of the magnanimity of Allah by flatteries for their three goddesses (from 'Der Spiegel', Nr.52, 22.12.07, 'Der Koran') I have added the pic of the statue of Athena from the temple of Allat at Palmyra, and the pic of a plate showing Allat sitting on a camel. [ATTACH=full]926131[/ATTACH] [B] Literature:[/B] (1) 'Der Koran', in ''Der Spiegel', Nr.52, 22.12.07 (2) Wellhausen, Julius: Reste arabischen Heidentums, DeGruyter Verlag. Berlin, Leipzig. 2. Ausgabe 1927. (2) Salman Rushdie, Die Satanischen Verse [B]Online Sources:[/B] (3) [url]http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altarabische_Gottheiten[/url] (4) [url]http://www.indigogroup.co.uk/edge/blston2.htm[/url] (5) [url]http://hindustan.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-2955.html[/url] (6) [url]http://www.nabataea.net/gods.html[/url] (The Nabatean Pantheon) (7) [url]http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Lat[/url] (8) [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allat[/url] (9) [url]http://www.muslim.org/islam/allah.htm[/url] Best regards[/QUOTE]
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