RPC I, 5414

 

Image of specimen #9

 

Coin type
Volume I
Number 5414
Province Uncertain
Region Uncertain
City Uncertain
Reign Augustus
Magistrate Titus Vomanius (duovir quinquennalis for the second time) ; Marcus Memmius Flaminius (duovir quinquennalis for the second time)
Issue COS VIII
Dating 26 BC
Obverse inscription T VOMANIVS IIVIR QVINQ
Obverse design head of Hercules, right; club behind neck
Reverse inscription M MEMMIV FLAM QVINQ ITER
Reverse design bust of Mercury, right, with caduceus
Metal copper-based alloy
Average diameter 16 mm
Axis 6, 7, 12
Reference FITA 254–5
Specimens 10 (2 in the core collections)
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 Only 5413 and 5414 have been published before; series 5412 is unpublished.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.

Specimens of this coin type

Number Number Museum Bibliography
1 1     P FITA, pl. IX, 3
2 2     Mu
3 3     RBW, ex PV coll.
4 4     Jacquier Münzliste 17, Herbst '95, lot 389
5 5     RBW = Gorny & Mosch 126, 14 Oct. 2003, lot 1602
6 6     RBW
7 7     RBW
8 8     CGT coll.
9 9     ✸ Naumann 85, 5 Jan. 2020, lot 204
10 10     Damaris Numismatics Biweekly Auction 1, 4 June 2022, lot 439