RPC X, — (unassigned; ID 63434)

 

Image of specimen #—

 

Coin type
Volume X
Number — (unassigned; ID 63434)
Province Lycia-Pamphylia
Region Pisidia
City Cremna
Reign Aurelian
Person (obv.) Aurelian (Augustus)
Obverse inscription IMP CS L DOM AVRELIANO
Obverse design laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Aurelian, right, seen from rear
Reverse inscription DONATIO COL CREMN(E)
Reverse design Female standing facing head left resting each hand on large container with palm branch
Metal copper-based alloy
Average diameter 31 mm
Axis 7, 12
Reference vA Pisid. II, 1586–99
Specimens 21 (4 in the core collections)
Note  On this coin Wroth NC 1902, 340-1 no. 37, said, “The word donatio . . . seems to have here nearly the meaning of largitio (cp. donativum, the imperial largess to the soldiery, congiarium, the largess to the populace). I am not aware that it is found on other coins. The inscription apparently here records a gift of the Emperor Aurelian to Colonia Cremna. The coin published by Imhoof may be illustrated by the coin of Side with the word ΔΩΡƐΑ inscribed near a table which supports two purses and a prize-urn with palm-branches. Our coin (No. 37) seems to record a largess of corn, or, at any rate, a money gift which had been placed at the disposal of the magistrates ( σιτῶναι or άγορανόμοι) charged with the provisioning of the town. Good parallels are furnished by inscriptions on coins of Tarsus:--ΔΩΡƐΑ ϹΙΤΟΥ ΑΠΟ ƐΓΥ ΤΑΡϹΩ (Egyptian corn presented to Tarsus by the Emperor Caracalla); ΔΩΡƐΑ ΑΛƐΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ (i.e., Severus Alexander). Compare also AETERNVM BENEFICIVM accompanying a modius with corn on imperial coins of Sidon and Laodicea in Syria.” Cf. also Hill in Anatolian Studies, Festschrift Ramsay (1923), π. 219.  Nοllé contra Ziegler says that the objects are shields rather than modii ( J. Nollé, “Kaiserliche Privilegien für Gladiatoremunera und Tierhetzen: Unbekannte und ungedeutete Zeugnisse auf städtischen Münzen des griechischen Ostens,” JNG 42/43 (1992/3) 49-82), but cf. the same problem at Synnada: https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/type/63277.
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Specimens of this coin type

Number Number Museum Bibliography
— —     L: 1901,0704.18 vA Pisid. II, 1589
— —     P: 385 vA Pisid. II, 1590 = SNG 1525
— —     Cop SNG 145 = vA Pisid. II, 1596
— —     NY: 1966.288.20 vA Pisid. II, 1592
— —     Boston: 63.895 vA Pisid. II, 1599
— —     CGT coll. = Naville Auction 24, 17 July 2016, lot 362
— —     CGT coll. = Naville Numismatics 59, 26 July 2020, lot 255 ex E.E. Clain-Stefanelli coll.
— —     CGT coll. ex Arkeo95 - delcampe ex cgb.fr 24, 24 June 2005, lot 622
— —     ✸ Elsen 108, 12 Mar. 2011, 511 = Elsen 120, 15 Mar. 2014, lot 389
— —     Elsen 114, 15 Sept. 2012, lot 394
— —     Gorny & Mosch 160, 9 Oct. 2007, lot 1957
— —     Lindgren I, 1310
— —     vA 5120 = vA Pisid. II, 1586
— —     vA Pisid. II, 1587-88, 1591, 1593-5
— —     vA Pisid. II, 1597-8