Leu Numismatik AG
Auction 3 27 Oct 2018
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LYDIA. Philadelphia. Caracalla, 198-217. Medallion (Bronze, 41 mm, 35.39 g, 6 h), Klaudios Kapitonos, archon for the first time, late 214-217. AYT•K•M•AYP•CЄYH ANTΩNЄINOC Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Caracalla to right, seen from behind. Rev. ЄΠI ΚΛ ΚAΠITΩNOC APX A - ΦΛ ΦΙΛΑΔЄΛΦЄΩΝ / NЄΩKOPΩN Caracalla, radiate and in the guise of Helios, standing heroically nude in a facing quadriga, his head turned to left and raising his right hand in salute. BMC -. Burstein Collection 718 (same dies). Imhoof-Blumer, KM -. Imhoof-Blumer, Lydische Stadtmünzen -. SNG Copenhagen -. SNG Leypold -. SNG München -. SNG Righetti -. SNG Tübingen -. SNG von Aulock -. Of the highest rarity and of great historical interest. An impressive medallion with a very interesting reverse and a lovely grayish patina. Holed three times and with fixation drilling on the reverse, otherwise, very fine.
We are unusually fortunate in that a letter written by Caracalla to Philadelphia has survived in the form of a monumental inscription, which tells us exactly when the city received its first Neokoria: the imperial decree was read aloud in the city's theater on 18 or 19 November 214, informing the people of Philadelphia that the emperor had approved of a request by a certain Julianos - which was delivered to Caracalla by his 'most honored and beloved' friend Aurelios M. - for his home town to become neocorate for the first time. Unfortunately, no historical records tell us who Julianos and Aurelios M. were, but the sequence of events sheds a brief light on how the imperial chancery usually operated: the administration was, as it is typical for premodern societies, predominantly reactive, and requests by local officials were heavily dependent on the support of high-ranking patrons at the imperial court, who advanced them to the chancery or to the emperor himself on behalf of their clientes. In a reaction to the imperial decree, the Philadelpheans hailed Caracalla as their benefactor: the stele with the imperial letter was surtitled with 'Αντωεἰνoς σε κτἰζει ('Antoninus founds you'), indicating that the emperor was worshipped as the new city founder, and local bronze coins such as ours equated him with the sun-god Helios, of whom a sanctuary existed in the city. There can be little doubt that the great honor granted to the polis was the topic of the day at the time, and it is very probable that any Philadelphean with one of these commemorative medallions in hand will have connected the rendering of the emperor as a greeting Helios to the imperial letter publicly displaced in the polis. The three holes and the central fixation drilling on the reverse of our medallion clearly show that it was used as a decorative mount in some way to show the imperial portrait, and it is not hard to imagine how it was proudly shown off by a local citizen on the bridle of his horse.
We are unusually fortunate in that a letter written by Caracalla to Philadelphia has survived in the form of a monumental inscription, which tells us exactly when the city received its first Neokoria: the imperial decree was read aloud in the city's theater on 18 or 19 November 214, informing the people of Philadelphia that the emperor had approved of a request by a certain Julianos - which was delivered to Caracalla by his 'most honored and beloved' friend Aurelios M. - for his home town to become neocorate for the first time. Unfortunately, no historical records tell us who Julianos and Aurelios M. were, but the sequence of events sheds a brief light on how the imperial chancery usually operated: the administration was, as it is typical for premodern societies, predominantly reactive, and requests by local officials were heavily dependent on the support of high-ranking patrons at the imperial court, who advanced them to the chancery or to the emperor himself on behalf of their clientes. In a reaction to the imperial decree, the Philadelpheans hailed Caracalla as their benefactor: the stele with the imperial letter was surtitled with 'Αντωεἰνoς σε κτἰζει ('Antoninus founds you'), indicating that the emperor was worshipped as the new city founder, and local bronze coins such as ours equated him with the sun-god Helios, of whom a sanctuary existed in the city. There can be little doubt that the great honor granted to the polis was the topic of the day at the time, and it is very probable that any Philadelphean with one of these commemorative medallions in hand will have connected the rendering of the emperor as a greeting Helios to the imperial letter publicly displaced in the polis. The three holes and the central fixation drilling on the reverse of our medallion clearly show that it was used as a decorative mount in some way to show the imperial portrait, and it is not hard to imagine how it was proudly shown off by a local citizen on the bridle of his horse.