Ira and Larry Goldberg Auctioneers
Auction 128 28-30 Jun 2022
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Elagabalus. Æ 26 mm (9.05 g), AD 218-222. Ake-Ptolemaïs in Phoenicia. IMP CAES M AVR ANTONINVS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Elagabalus right. Reverse: COL PTO, male diety standing within portable shrine, all within a dotted circle with rays dividing the twelve signs of the zodiac. Kadman 165; Rosenberger 70; Meshorer, City Coins 17; Sofaer -. Rouvier 1035. Possibly the finest known example of this extremely rare type. Very Fine. Estimated Value $3,000 - UP
Despite the fact that Tyre is much nearer to Akko-Ptolemais than Sidon on the Phoenician coast, the reverse type of this impressive coin clearly reflects the strong influence of the latter. Around the same time that this extremely rare zodiac issue was being struck at Akko-Ptolemais a much more common series featuring the baetyl of Astarte in a cart surrounded by the zodiac was produced at Sidon under Elagabalus (BMC 260). On the Akko-Ptolemais issue no baetyl appears, but instead an anthropomorphic male deity, possibly to be identified with the Ba'al of Mount Carmel. It should be noted that Astarte was the traditional consort of Ba'al in ancient Semitic religions and therefore some festival involving the deities of Akko-Ptolemais and Sidon may be deduced since they both share the same surrounding depiction of the zodiac. The prominence of the zodiac here may perhaps serve to signal the beginning of a sacred year or a new era, although it is difficult to be certain. A similar surrounding zodiac also occurs on rare coins struck at Amastris in Paphlagonia with the portrait of Julia Maesa, the grandmother of Elagabalus (BMC 34). It may be that the use of the zodiac on all of these coins is intended to advertise the beginning of a new Severan age headed by Elagabalus and his family following the murder of Caracalla and the usurpation of Macrinus and Diadumenian in AD 217.
Abraham and Marian Sofaer Collection From the Abraham and Marian Sofaer Collection.
Despite the fact that Tyre is much nearer to Akko-Ptolemais than Sidon on the Phoenician coast, the reverse type of this impressive coin clearly reflects the strong influence of the latter. Around the same time that this extremely rare zodiac issue was being struck at Akko-Ptolemais a much more common series featuring the baetyl of Astarte in a cart surrounded by the zodiac was produced at Sidon under Elagabalus (BMC 260). On the Akko-Ptolemais issue no baetyl appears, but instead an anthropomorphic male deity, possibly to be identified with the Ba'al of Mount Carmel. It should be noted that Astarte was the traditional consort of Ba'al in ancient Semitic religions and therefore some festival involving the deities of Akko-Ptolemais and Sidon may be deduced since they both share the same surrounding depiction of the zodiac. The prominence of the zodiac here may perhaps serve to signal the beginning of a sacred year or a new era, although it is difficult to be certain. A similar surrounding zodiac also occurs on rare coins struck at Amastris in Paphlagonia with the portrait of Julia Maesa, the grandmother of Elagabalus (BMC 34). It may be that the use of the zodiac on all of these coins is intended to advertise the beginning of a new Severan age headed by Elagabalus and his family following the murder of Caracalla and the usurpation of Macrinus and Diadumenian in AD 217.
Abraham and Marian Sofaer Collection From the Abraham and Marian Sofaer Collection.