Aureo di Elagabalo

[apollonia]

Salve.

Navigando tra le imitazioni, ne ho trovata una di un aureo di Elagabalo che sarà presentata alla Gadoury di Monaco del 16 novembre prossimo.

Elagabalus 218-222 
Imitation de Aureus de Elagabalus, Inde?, AU 6.60 g.
Avers : Buste drapé et lauré à droite /Revers : Mars debout tenant une lance
Ref : - Conservation : NGC XF 5/5 - 3/5

 

Al rovescio non vedo proprio il dio della guerra con una lancia ma qualcuno con la patera nella mano destra in atto sacrificale, probabilmente l’imperatore stesso.

 

[apollonia]

Possibile imitazione di un aureo di Elagabalo per la somiglianza del diritto (CNG 161).

Indian Imitation. Circa 2nd-3rd century AD. AV Aureus (19mm, 4.58 g). Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / Virtus or Mars standing facing, holding spear and shield. RIC-. Fair.

The prototype for this imitative aureus could be just about anything, but the portrait most resembles that of Elagabalus.

 

[apollonia]

Il possibile prototipo dell’imitazione con cui ho aperto la discussione è l’esemplare che, dopo il passaggio dalla NAC 31 nel 2005 e dalla NAC 54 nel 2010, è arrivato alla Roma Numismatics IV nel 2012 dove è stato aggiudicato a un hammer di 38'000 GBP. Mamma mia!

Elagabalus AV Aureus.
Elagabalus AV Aureus. Rome, AD 220-22. IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate and draped bust right, with ‘horn’ / INVICTVS SACERDOS AVG, Elagabalus standing left, in long robe to feet and doubly girt at waist, sacrificing out of patera over altar and holding branch in left hand; star in left field. BMC p. 562, 209 note; RIC 86b; Calicó 2997. 6.45g, 21mm, 6h. 

Fleur De Coin. Extremely Rare, and possibly the finest of the few specimens known. 
Ex NAC 54, 24 March 2010, lot 514; 
Ex NAC 31, 26 October 2005, lot 80.

In contrast to the previous lot, struck early in his reign and before he had shown his true colours, this stunning aureus displays all the eastern religious imagery which came to prominence on the coinage of his later years. His religious zeal and wanton disregard for the ancient customs and traditions of Rome has come to characterise his reign and led eventually to his demise at the hands of the Praetorian Guard after his grandmother Julia Maesa diverted their support to his cousin Severus Alexander. 

Elagabalus was the hereditary High Priest of the Sun God El-Gabal, a role which he brought with him to Rome from his hometown of Emesa in Syria, and which he appears to have taken far more seriously than his position as emperor. Many types of Elagabalus show the Black Stone of Emesa being carried into Rome, and legends include the title ELAGABAL, the Romanised name for the Sun God and from where we draw the name Elagabalus. 

The reverse of this coin shows the Emperor sacrificing at an altar and with a star in the left field, representing Elagabal as Deus Sol Invictus, while the obverse features a portrait of the emperor laureate and with a ‘horn’ protruding from his forehead. Mattingly and Sydenham suggested that the horn represents rays of sun emanating from the Emperor’s head, thus showing his divine patronage, and liken its use to other instances in history, such as the horn of Ammon that is present on the coinage of Alexander the Great and his successors. However, more recent scholarship has suggested that the ‘horn’ in question is in fact symbolic of his depraved religious practices, and perhaps deliberately intended to antagonise Roman sensibilities. 

 

[Poemenius]

Potrebbe essere una patera ma a me sembra una vittoria con ali e ghirlanda 

[apollonia]

@Poemenius

Qualcosa del genere

Sono d’accordo: la posizione è più di una ghirlanda che di una patera.

I ‘romani’ dovrebbero riconoscere il denario da cui ho tratto il rovescio.