Emperor Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius
Obverse design
laureate head of Antoninus Pius, right
Reverse inscription
L Η
Edition
(ἔτους) ηʹ
Translation
of year 8
Reverse design
to left, Apollo seated on rocks, right, playing lyre; to right, Marsyas hanging from tree; between, at feet, figure kneeling, left (or right), sharpening knife (?); at base of tree, tripod(?)
Metal
copper-based alloy
Average diameter
35 mm
Average weight
24.81 g
Axis
12
Specimens
4 (1 in the core collections)
Die-links
3: same obv. die as 839/10, 843/6, 863/9. 4: same obv. die as 753/6, 863/7.
Note
Some V forms. Milne read the date from the specimen he published in JEA 36 (1950), pp. 83–5. The date is not clear from the published image but the obverse die-links, also noted by Milne, confirm it. Milne notes the previous publication of a specimen in Florence by Zoëga (p. 166 no. 36) and another specimen by Mionnet: VI, 283/I948 and pl. opp. IX, 24.
Forgery? The fabric is suspicious, as the edge is not bevelled. The reverse is very close to that of P 2404 (SNG 2326) but with differences, for example in the treatment of Apollo's leg. The missing feet of Marsyas oddly recall the broken statue of Marsyas in Istanbul with missing lower legs. The obverse 'die' is shared with other apparently genuine struck coins. Possibly cast from genuine coins and then tooled.
