Nomos AG
obolos 16 11 Oct 2020
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PHRYGIA. Hierapolis. Valerian I, 253-260. (Bronze, 29 mm, 9.95 g, 6 h), in alliance with Sardis. AY · K · ΠΟΥ · ΛΙΚ · ΟΥ/ΛEΡΙΑΝ/ΟC Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Severus Alexander to right. Rev. ΙEΡΑΠΟΛEΙ/ΤΩΝ ΚE C-ΑΡΔΙΑΝΩΝ / ΝEΟ/ΚΟ-ΡΩΝ /ΟΜΟΝΥΑ (sic) Apollo, on left, standing facing, holding kithara in right hand and plectrum in left, looking to right at cult state of Artemis Ephesia facing between two stalks of poppy. Franke-Nollé 852-6. Lindgren III 596 (same dies). SNG von Aulock 3668 (same dies). Coppery tan patina. A couple of flan flaws, otherwise, very fine.
The concept of Homonoia (unity, harmony, like-mindedness) between two Greek cities extends back into the Greek period and was practiced as a way to reduce tensions between city-states. In the highly urbanized Roman east, homonoia between cities was often commemorated on the coinage, the deities depicted "serving as symbols that mediated the power within regional alliances, bolstering the prestige of the divine realm in human activity and providing the glue that bound together the political and the cosmic spheres. " (D. R. Edwards, "Defining the Web of Power in Asia Minor: The Novelist Chariton and His City Aphrodisias," Journal of the American Academy of Religion [Autumn 1994], p. 709). Here we have depicted Apollo Kitharoidos (Apollo the lyre player), whose cult at Hierapolis was of foremost importance and whose temple there was deliberately built atop an active geological fault known as the Plutonion, and the cult statue of the goddess Artemis Ephesia, whose great temple at Sardis, known as the Artemision of Sardis, was the fourth largest Ionic temple in the world.
The concept of Homonoia (unity, harmony, like-mindedness) between two Greek cities extends back into the Greek period and was practiced as a way to reduce tensions between city-states. In the highly urbanized Roman east, homonoia between cities was often commemorated on the coinage, the deities depicted "serving as symbols that mediated the power within regional alliances, bolstering the prestige of the divine realm in human activity and providing the glue that bound together the political and the cosmic spheres. " (D. R. Edwards, "Defining the Web of Power in Asia Minor: The Novelist Chariton and His City Aphrodisias," Journal of the American Academy of Religion [Autumn 1994], p. 709). Here we have depicted Apollo Kitharoidos (Apollo the lyre player), whose cult at Hierapolis was of foremost importance and whose temple there was deliberately built atop an active geological fault known as the Plutonion, and the cult statue of the goddess Artemis Ephesia, whose great temple at Sardis, known as the Artemision of Sardis, was the fourth largest Ionic temple in the world.