| Note |
5412-4: The above issue, struck in three denominations, has raised problems of interpretation and mint. Only 5413 and 5414 have been published before; series 5412 is unpublished. [..., see RPC I, p. 716 for full comment]. This attribution [to Heraclea] is no longer possible, now that we know that the issue was struck in 26 BC. But the problem remains insoluble: the issue was struck by a colony that had existed at least ten years in 26 BC and had been founded during the Triumvirate. All the new specimens that have turned up recently are from Turkey, though unfortunately without an exact provenance; Cilicia seems to be the only area that can be ruled out (according to E. Levante). The humped bull on 5412 might suggest that it was struck in southeastern Anatolia, and the same goes for the twin goddesses on series 5413, where the closest parallel is indeed Comama or, slightly less likely, Aspendos (see L. Robert, Hellenica XI-XII (1960), pp. 176–88). The colonies of Antioch, Olbasa, Comama, Cremna, Parlais or Lystra are among the possibilities, except that they are all thought to have been founded by Augustus. This issue would therefore indicate that one of them was in fact founded earlier or that there was another colony, hitherto unknown.
|