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!
Æ21 - Gordian III ΜΗΤΡ ΚΟΛ ΚΑΡΡΗΝωΝ
| Issuer | Carrhae (Mesopotamia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 243-244 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A large crescent, horns pointing upward, occupies the central field, enclosing two pellets or stars arranged vertically within its arc — emblematic of the lunar cult closely associated with the city of Carrhae and its famous Temple of Sin. The reverse type reflects the strong Mesopotamian religious traditions of the mint city, with the crescent serving as the primary civic symbol. The encircling Greek metropolitan legend surrounds the design, distributed around the outer border of the coin. The field is slightly granular in texture, consistent with the hammered provincial fabric of this issue. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | ΜΗΤΡ ΚΟΛ ΚΑΡΡΗΝωΝ |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Carrhae's coinage under Gordian III belongs to the final years of the city's civic mint, which effectively ceased operation following the Sassanid campaigns that reshaped Roman control over Mesopotamia in the mid-third century. The city itself was notorious in the Roman imagination long before Gordian — it was the site of Crassus's catastrophic defeat against the Parthians in 53 BC, a wound Roman commanders spent generations trying to avenge. By 243–244, Gordian was campaigning precisely in this region against Shapur I, and would be dead within months, killed near Misiche in early 244.