Supplement to the Text and Commentary
Supplement No. 1
9
Supplement to Chapter II Page 40, The Civic Coins of the Imperial Period
The identification of two new varieties of the chalkous (nos. 122A and 612A) demonstrates that the smallest denomination of the Antiochene coinage was struck regularly during the imperial period for almost two centuries, both as a civic coin and as an S.C coin. The chalkous was struck during the time of Augustus (nos. 93-94 and 97), Nero (no. 111), Nerva (no. 122A, this supplement), Trajan (nos. 525-528A), Hadrian (no. 543), Antoninus Pius (no. 159), and Marcus Aurelius/Lucius Verus (no. 612A, this supplement).
Page 50, The Post-Reform Coins of the Third Century
Denarii were struck in large numbers at one or more eastern mints, one of which was certainly Antioch, during the last decade of the second century and the early part of the third century. Double denarii (antoniniani) were also struck at Antioch commencing with the reign of Gordian III, and Syrian tetradrachms tariffed at four denarii were produced during this period. Since there were sixteen asses/assaria to the denarius, the reformed aes coins valued at eight assaria and four assaria were equivalent to one-half denarius and one-quarter denarius, respectively. The reformed aes coins and the silver together provided a range of denominations equal to one-quarter denarius, one-half denarius, one denarius, two denarii, and four denarii.
Supplement to the Commentary on the Coins Pages 160-161, Vespasian, The Orichalcum Coinage
The newly revised second edition of RIC 2 separates the dupondii of Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian with reverse crossed cornucopiae and winged caduceus from the smaller orichalcum denominations struck at Rome for use in Syria because its authors believe that the dupondii circulated primarily in the west rather than the east.1 However, these dupondii are not infrequently seen in trade in the Near East, and David Hendin (personal communication) reports encountering them in Israel over a period of many years. The example of no. 369 (RIC 22 757) shown in this supplement appeared in an auction in Israel and has a countermark of Legion X Fretensis (Howgego, GIC 729). The legion was stationed in Judaea during the Flavian period and the following century, and according to Howgego this countermark appears almost exclusively on Antiochene S.C coins and Tiberian “Commagene” dupondii. At least one other eastern legionary countermark appears on no. 369: a thunderbolt, which almost certainly represents Legion XII Fulminata.2 All of this demonstrates that some of these dupondii did in fact circulate in the east.
Pages 187-191, Trajan, The Silver Coinage
The commentary and the catalogue identified the bearded figure on the reverse of nos. 477-477A as BaalZeus and the female figure on the reverse of nos. 481-483 as Baalat-Hera, that is, as amalgamations of Zeus and Hera with their corresponding Phoenician deities. In a recent article, Kevin Butcher instead interpreted them as Hadad and Atargatis, the Syrian gods of Hierapolis.3 Butcher noted that the coins, which were probably made at Rome for issue in Syria and circulated widely in that province, represented Zeus and Hera in a generic sense and the Syrian deities in a more specific way, concluding: “Like other contemporary Syrian silver depicting familiar ‘icons’ like Tyrian Melqart or the Tyche of Antioch, the images of the two Hierapolitan deities formed part of a religious iconographic tradition which could be recognized by contemporaries as ‘Syrian’.”4
Pages 192-193, Trajan, The Orichalcum Aes of A.D. 98-99
In a recent article, Asolati, et al. published a hoard of aes coins found in 1934 in the Agora of Cyrene which contained 238 examples of the orichalcum dupondius with Greek legend in wreath (nos. 498-498A, this catalogue) and 54 examples of the corresponding orichalcum as (nos. 499-499A, this catalogue), as well as 89 sestertii with reverse Zeus Ammon and 205 dupondii and asses with reverse Zeus Ammon. The hoard demonstrates that nos. 498499A circulated in the province of Cyrene as well as in the province of Syria. Asolati, et al. noted the same die links previously published in this catalogue between a dupondius (no. 498A) and a Syrian tetradrachm (no. 434) and RIC 22, pp. 47-48 and cat. nos. 756-764. Howgego, GIC 472. All of the examples listed by Howgego are Antiochene S.C coins. The example of no. 369 with this countermark is shown in the “Museum of Countermarks on Roman Coins” at The Roman Numismatic Gallery, http://romancoins.info/ CMK-legionary-East.htm. 3 K. Butcher, “Two Syrian Deities,” Syria 84 (2007), pp. 277-286. 4 Id., p. 282. 1 2