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Æ18 - Elagabalus ΙΕΠΟΡΑΛΕΙΤΩΝ (sic)
| Issuer | City of Hierapolis (Conventus of Cibyra) |
|---|---|
| Year | 218-222 |
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| Composition | Bronze |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Two small children (Erotes or putti) seated facing one another, engaged in play with astragaloi (knucklebones), a motif associated with childhood and divine play in the Greco-Roman artistic tradition. The legend ΙΕΠΟΡΑΛΕΙΤΩΝ (sic, for ΙΕΡΑΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ) is partially visible around the type, identifying the civic issuing authority. The overall composition is compact and lively, characteristic of the playful genre scenes favored on Phrygian provincial bronzes of the early third century AD. |
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| Reverse lettering | ΙΕΠΟΡΑΛΕΙΤΩΝ (sic) (Translation: of the Hierapolitans) |
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| Additional information |
The misspelling in the ethnic — ΙΕΠΟΡΑΛΕΙΤΩΝ rather than the expected ΙΕΡΑΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ — is not a modern cataloguer's error but appears on the die itself, making it a deliberate or careless cutter's mistake preserved in bronze. Hierapolis in Phrygia issued civic bronze throughout the Severan period under the conventus jurisdiction of Cibyra, one of four assize districts Rome established in the province of Asia. Whether this blundered legend represents a single aberrant die or a broader production run remains an open question in the series.