Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Æ20 - Gordian III ΑΒΓΑΡΟϹ ΒΑϹΙΛΕΥϹ
| Issuer | Edessa (Mesopotamia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 239-242 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | 20 mm |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Draped bust of Abgar X Phraates, king of Osrhoene, facing right, wearing the distinctive tall conical Parthian-style tiara adorned with ornamental detail. The portrait reflects the hybrid Greco-Parthian artistic tradition of Edessa, emphasizing the vassal king's eastern identity within the Roman sphere. The reverse legend in Greek identifies the ruler by name and royal title, flanking the bust in the field. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Edessa's civic coinage under Gordian III occupies an awkward diplomatic moment: the city's Abgarid dynasty had effectively ended with Abgar X's deposition by Caracalla in 212–213, yet Edessa continued issuing coins pairing the reigning Roman emperor with a royal Abgar title for decades afterward. The "ΑΒΓΑΡΟϹ ΒΑϹΙΛΕΥϹ" legend here is essentially a political fiction — no Abgar was actually ruling. It reflects the city's effort to maintain a dynastic identity that Rome had already extinguished.