Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Auction 99 13 May 2015
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PAPHLAGONIA, Abonuteichus. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ (29mm, 16.89 g, 6h). Bare head right / ΓΛVΚΩΝ ΑΒΩΝΟΤΕΙΧΕΙΤΩΝ, coiled serpent with long hair (Glycon) to right. RG 8; BMC 1. VF, dark green and brown patina, areas of roughness, smoothing in fields. Extremely rare.
This highly interesting coin features a very rare depiction of the deity Glycon, whose cult was the subject of Lucian of Samosata's Alexander the False Prophet. Lucian (ca. AD 125-after 180) describes the cult as a fraud created by a swindler named Alexander. According to the author, Alexander was a traveling medicine man who decided there was a fortune to be made divining the future, so he hatched a plan: the charlatan planted a snake within the foundations of a new temple to Asclepius in Abonuteichus, and convinced the superstitious residents that its appearance fulfilled a prophecy that Asclepius would come to earth in the form of a serpent that was to be called Glycon. Alexander is said to have outfitted the large serpent with a puppet head – the mouth of which he could move by pulling strings – that was topped with a long, blonde wig, a description that fits well with the tressed snake seen on our coin. We are told that worshippers of Glycon could visit the serpent and have their fortunes read...for a hefty sum paid to the puppet-master Alexander.
Of course, Lucian's entire account has to be taken with a grain of salt, and the fact that Abonuteichus placed Glycon on its rare coins demonstrates that the cult was not only thriving during the Antonine period, but was also a major part of the town's civic identity.
This highly interesting coin features a very rare depiction of the deity Glycon, whose cult was the subject of Lucian of Samosata's Alexander the False Prophet. Lucian (ca. AD 125-after 180) describes the cult as a fraud created by a swindler named Alexander. According to the author, Alexander was a traveling medicine man who decided there was a fortune to be made divining the future, so he hatched a plan: the charlatan planted a snake within the foundations of a new temple to Asclepius in Abonuteichus, and convinced the superstitious residents that its appearance fulfilled a prophecy that Asclepius would come to earth in the form of a serpent that was to be called Glycon. Alexander is said to have outfitted the large serpent with a puppet head – the mouth of which he could move by pulling strings – that was topped with a long, blonde wig, a description that fits well with the tressed snake seen on our coin. We are told that worshippers of Glycon could visit the serpent and have their fortunes read...for a hefty sum paid to the puppet-master Alexander.
Of course, Lucian's entire account has to be taken with a grain of salt, and the fact that Abonuteichus placed Glycon on its rare coins demonstrates that the cult was not only thriving during the Antonine period, but was also a major part of the town's civic identity.