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Æ24 - Marcus Aurelius ΘΕΑ ΥΓΕΙΑ? ΝΙΚΑΙΕΙϹ
| Issuer | Nicaea (Bithynia and Pontus) |
|---|---|
| Year | 161-180 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 7.88 g |
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| Reverse description | Standing figure of Hygieia, goddess of health, depicted facing right in long chiton and himation, extending a patera in her right hand from which a serpent, coiled around her left arm, feeds. The composition is characteristic of provincial Bithynian civic iconography celebrating the healing deity venerated at Nicaea. The Greek legend naming the goddess and the civic ethnic of the Nicaeans surrounds the figure in the field. |
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| Reverse lettering | ΘΕΑ ΥΓΕΙΑ? ΝΙΚΑΙΕΙϹ (Translation: Goddess Hygeia, the Nicaeans) |
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| Additional information |
Nicaea's civic bronze issues under Marcus Aurelius belong to a period when Bithynian cities were aggressively competing for imperial honorifics — Nicaea and Nicomedia spent decades feuding over the title of "first city" of the province, a rivalry that played out partly through the volume and quality of locally struck coinage. The reverse deity, likely Hygieia given the tentative reading of ΘΕΑ ΥΓΕΙΑ, reflects the city's documented cultic interests rather than any imperial directive.
The uncertain legend reading flagged in the reference suggests die wear or a damaged specimen at the source — worth examining the reverse inscription carefully against Rec. Gén. parallels.