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!
Æ24 - Elagabalus ΙΕΡΑΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ
| Issuer | City of Hierapolis (Conventus of Cibyra) |
|---|---|
| Year | 218-222 |
| 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 | 24 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 | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Tyche of Hierapolis standing facing, head turned to the left, wearing a kalathos (modius) upon her head, rendered in the conventional civic personification style of Anatolian provincial coinage. She holds in her left arm a large cornucopia from which the infant Ploutos emerges, symbolising abundance and civic prosperity. In her right hand she holds a pair of scales, an attribute underscoring her role as guarantor of just measure and fortune for the city. The encircling legend proclaims the city's neocorate status, a prestigious honour denoting the right to maintain an imperial cult temple. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | ΙΕΡΑΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ (Translation: of the Hierapolitans, neocorate) |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Hierapolis in Phrygia secured the title of neokoros — formal keeper of the imperial cult — during a period when such honors were aggressively competed for among cities of the Asian conventus. The designation ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ on this issue is civic boasting in bronze: the city spent real money on embassy delegations to Rome to win that title, and coins like this one were part of how they advertised it locally.
Elagabalus's four-year reign generated a distinctive provincial coinage across Asia Minor, partly because his court's religious controversies created unusual pressure on cities to demonstrate loyalty through cult honors.