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Æ15 Artemis Persica
| Issuer | Hierocaesarea |
|---|---|
| Year | 54-59 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Draped bust of Artemis Persica facing right, her hair elaborately coiffed and rendered in fine detail. The goddess is depicted with characteristic Eastern iconographic elements befitting her syncretic identity as Artemis Persica. The Greek legend ЄΠΙ ΚΑΠΙΤΩΝΟC, referencing the magistrate Kapiton, is disposed around the bust in the field. The flan is irregular, as is typical of provincially struck bronze coinage of Asia Minor under the early Julio-Claudian period. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Artemis Persica depicted facing right, kneeling astride the back of a prostrate stag and forcefully pulling back its antlers with both hands, a scene emblematic of the goddess's dominion over wild nature. The composition conveys vigorous movement, with the stag rendered in a crouching posture beneath the figure of the deity. The civic ethnic legend ΙЄΡΟ ΚΑΙСΑ ΡЄωΝ, identifying the issuing city of Hierocaesarea, is distributed around the type in the field. Dot borders are visible around portions of the flan periphery. The style is consistent with provincial bronze coinage of Lydia struck under Nero. |
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| Additional information |
Hierocaesarea, a small Lydian city whose very identity was bound to the cult of Artemis Persica, struck these bronzes during the reign of Nero — almost certainly connected to the city's claim of ancient Persian religious foundations. The cult itself was reportedly established by Persian settlers before the Achaemenid withdrawal from western Anatolia, and Hierocaesarea leveraged that antiquity aggressively in its civic coinage, distinguishing itself from the far more powerful neighboring center of Sardis.
The RPC I 2391 attribution places this firmly within a small, well-documented group. Die links within the series are tight, suggesting a single concentrated emission rather than sustained mint activity.