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Æ29 - Gordian III ΜΗΤΡ ΚΟΛ ΚΑΡΡΗΝωΝ
| Issuer | Carrhae (Mesopotamia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 243-244 |
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| Diameter | 29 mm |
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| Obverse description | Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Emperor Gordian III facing right, the spiky radiate crown rendered in high relief, with paludamentum visible on the left shoulder. The portrait displays the characteristic youthful features of Gordian III in the Mesopotamian provincial style. The circumferential Greek legend is disposed around the effigy, reading from upper left to lower right. The flan is somewhat irregular, consistent with provincial hammered coinage of the mid-third century AD. |
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| Reverse script | Greek |
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Carrhae's civic coinage under Gordian III sits at the intersection of two catastrophes. The city, already infamous as the site of Crassus's annihilation by the Parthians in 53 BC, was by 243–244 AD deep within the theater of Gordian's Persian campaign against Shapur I. The emperor died — under disputed circumstances, possibly murdered by his own praetorian prefect Philip the Arab — near the Euphrates shortly after these coins were struck, ending Roman offensive ambitions in the region for a generation.
The colonial title ΜΗΤΡ ΚΟΛ reflects Carrhae's status as a Roman colony, formalized under Caracalla, who had a particular attachment to the city and its cult of the moon god Sin.