Catalog
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| Issuer | Nicopolis (Achaea) |
|---|---|
| Year | 253-268 |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Reverse description | Cybele, the Phrygian mother goddess, seated and riding to the right upon a striding lion, her right hand resting upon a tympanum. The composition conveys the deity's dominion over wild nature in a style characteristic of provincial Epirote bronzes of the joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus. The Greek ethnic legend of Nicopolis surrounds the type in the field. The relief is worn but the iconographic elements remain identifiable. |
| Reverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Nicopolis ad Isthmon — not to be confused with the more prominent Nicopolis ad Mestum in Thrace — was a modest Achaean city whose civic bronze output under the joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus reflects the last sustained period of provincial Greek coinage before the Roman monetary system effectively choked off local issues. By the 260s, military pressure on the Danube and the catastrophic capture of Valerian by Shapur I at Edessa in 260 AD disrupted administrative continuity across the eastern provinces, making late issues from this reign increasingly difficult to attribute with precision.