Watch List notes:

PHRYGIA. Colossae. Elagabalus, 218-222. Medallion (Orichalcum, 37 mm, 24.18 g, 7 h). AYT•KAI•M•AY•ANTΩNЄINOC•CЄ Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Elagabalus to right, seen from behind. Rev. KOΛOCCHNΩN The city-goddess seated left, holding facing cult statue of Artemis Ephesia in her right hand and cornucopiae in her left; below, the river gods Lykos and Kapros reclining right and left on urns from which water flows; Lykos holds reed while Kapros holds reed and cornucopiae; above Kapros, KAΠPOC; between the river-gods, monogram of O, T and Θ; in the water below, two fish. RPC VI online -. Von Aulock, Phrygien II, -. Unpublished and unique, a very interesting issue. Very fine.


This hitherto unpublished medallion is interesting in two ways: first, we currently have no plausible explanation for the O, T and Θ monogram between the river-gods, an odd abbreviation which only occurs on the extremely rare coins of Elagablus from Colossae. Von Aulock hesitantly suggested either O[MONOIA] T[ΩN] Θ[ЄΩN], 'concord with the gods', or a date of 379, but he discards the former as unlikely and the latter, rightly so, as impossible. Secondly, this is the first and only issue from Colossae to show two river-gods as opposed to just one: the main river Lykos, which crossed the city, is on the left and its lesser known and hence specifically named tributary Kapros is on the right.