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Æ22 - Marcus Aurelius ΚΑΡΗΝωΝ ΦΙΛΟΡωΜ
| Issuer | Carrhae (Mesopotamia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 161-180 |
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| Composition | Bronze |
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| Reverse description | A large filleted globe dominates the central field, surmounted by a prominent crescent with horns pointing upward, and a star rising above the crescent. This distinctive Carrhae civic type reflects the city's deep association with lunar and astral religious symbolism, linked to the cult of the moon god Sin. The Greek civic legend is disposed around the periphery of the flan. The overall design is boldly struck in high relief despite the irregular planchet. |
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| Reverse lettering | ΚΑΡΗΝωΝ ΦΙΛΟΡωΜ (Translation: of the Carrheneans, friends of the Romans) |
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| Additional information |
Carrhae's civic bronze coinage under Marcus Aurelius reflects the city's peculiar political rehabilitation. Infamous as the site of Crassus's catastrophic defeat in 53 BC — where seven Roman legions were destroyed by Parthian horse archers — the city spent centuries caught between Roman and Parthian spheres. The epithet ΦΙΛΟΡΩΜ, shorthand for Philorhomaios, was a public declaration of loyalty that Carrhae's civic authorities apparently felt necessary to broadcast on their coinage, which itself speaks to the city's uneasy position on the Euphrates frontier during Aurelius's Parthian campaigns of the 160s.