RPC II, 1078

 

Image of specimen #1

 

Coin type
Volume II
Number 1078
Province Asia
Subprovince Conventus of Ephesus
Region Ionia
City Ephesus
Reign Domitian
Person (obv.) Domitian (Augustus)
Magistrate Maecius Rufus
Obverse inscription ΔΟΜΙΤΙΑΝΟϹ ΚΑΙϹΑΡ ϹΕΒΑϹΤΟϹ ΓΕΡΜΑΝΙΚΟϹ
Obverse design laureate head of Domitian, right, with aegis
Reverse inscription ΕΦΕϹΙΩΝ ΕΠΙ ΜΑΙΚΙΟΥ ΡΟΥΦΟΥ
Reverse design cult statue of Artemis (with supports)
Metal copper-based alloy
Average diameter 30 mm
Axis 7, 12
Reference Stumpf 425; Karwiese 100
Specimens 3 (1 in the core collections)
Note Rev. of coin 1 and 2 certainly reads ƐΦƐϹΙΩΝ across the field; on 1 the legend around has been read as ΡΟΥΦΟΥ [ΑΝΘΥΠΑ]ΤΟΥ (so Stumpf no. 425 following B. Kreiler), although Münsterberg, Beamtennamen read it as ἀνθυ Φοθ ... ΙΟΥ. The more recently discovered 2 certainly reads ΟΥ ΡΟΥΦΟΥ from nine to twelve o'clock with clearly nothing before; from twelve to three o'clock there are other letters which Weiser (EA 20, 1992, p. 123) has read ΕΠΙ ΜΑΙΚΙ; this is probably correct, though not certain (pace Weiser's 'zweifelsfrei'). Another specimen is reported from Turin (Stumpf; W.H. Waddington, Fastes des provinces asiatiques de l'Empire Romain (Paris, 1872), no. 108, reading ...ΡΟΥΦΟΥ ... ΙΟΥ). Obv. and rev. designs are the same as 1071. Weiser identifies Maecius Rufus with the proconsul of the same name who appears as proconsul of Pontus and Bithynia on coins of the reign of Vespasian (RPC II, 601-10). This is possible, although the absence of the title proconsul and the residual doubts about the reading mean that this should not regarded as certain.
Correction Corrected coin-type (post publication)

Specimens of this coin type

Number Number Museum Bibliography
1 1     ✸ V: GR 17152
2 2     MünzZentrum 47, Nov. 1982, lot 134
3 3     CGT coll. (ex Naville 14, 12 Apr. 15, lot 232)