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Æ19 - Gordian III ΜΗΤΡ ΚΟΛ ΚΑΡΡΗΝωΝ
| Issuer | Carrhae (Mesopotamia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 243-244 |
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| Composition | Bronze |
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|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Reverse description | A prominent upward-pointing crescent occupies the central field, with a six-pointed star set within the horns of the crescent. The design carries deep religious significance for Carrhae, where the lunar deity Sin was venerated. The Greek colonial mint legend encircles the central device along the beaded border, identifying the issuing authority. The crescent-and-star type is the hallmark reverse type of Carrhae's civic coinage. |
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| Additional information |
Carrhae's notoriety in the ancient world rested almost entirely on one catastrophe: the 53 BC annihilation of Crassus and seven Roman legions by Parthian horse archers, a defeat so complete it haunted Roman foreign policy for centuries. By Gordian III's reign, the city had long been absorbed into the Roman provincial system, yet its civic coinage stubbornly retained the colonial title ΜΗΤΡ ΚΟΛ — metropolis and colony simultaneously — a bureaucratic peculiarity reflecting its layered Seleucid, Parthian, and Roman administrative history. This issue dates to the final months of Gordian's campaign against Shapur I, shortly before the emperor's death on the Euphrates in early 244.