Catalog
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| Issuer | Prusa ad Olympum (Bithynia and Pontus) |
|---|---|
| Year | 193-211 |
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| Composition | Bronze |
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| Reverse description | Aphrodite Anadyomene depicted standing facing, with head turned to the right, her nude or semi-draped figure shown full-length at center. She raises both hands to her hair, which falls in plaits on either side of her head in the traditional Anadyomene pose. Behind her to the right, a hippocamp — the mythological sea-horse — is depicted facing right, alluding to the marine birth of Aphrodite and reflecting the city's religious associations. The ethnic legend of Prusa ad Olympum appears in the field. |
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| Mint | Prusa ad Olympum |
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| Additional information |
Prusa ad Olympum, nestled at the foot of Mount Olympus in Bithynia, was a city with strong civic pride and a history of issuing local bronze coinage that asserted its Greek cultural identity under Roman rule. Septimius Severus came to power through civil war in 193 AD, and provincial mints across the Greek east were quick to strike in his name — partly loyalty, partly pragmatism after years of instability under Commodus and the chaos of the Year of the Five Emperors.
The city's name appears in the genitive plural on these bronzes, a formulaic civic claim that Prusa maintained consistently across imperial reigns.