COMMODUS
AD 177-192
AE18. 3.80g, 18.1mm
MINTED: THRACE, Philippopolis, circa AD 180-192
REF: Varbanov 1012 (R3); RPC Online temp #7640
OBVERSE: ΑY Κ Μ ΑY ΚΟΜΟΔΟС, laureate head right.REVERSE: ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ, Demeter, veiled, standing left, holding two ears of corn and short torch.
Provenance:
Ex Dr. George Spradling Collection
Notes:
Brownish green patina with light roughness.
Historical Notes:
Philippopolis, modern day Plovdiv in Bulgaria, was the largest and most important city in the Roman province of Thrace. Lucian of Samosata, a famous writer and rhetorician of the 2nd century, lived in Philippopolis and praised the city for its beauty and size. It was made the capital of the province in the early 3rd century, but suffered a great catastrophe in AD 250, when an army of Goths under King Cniva beseiged the city, and after taking it, burned it to the ground and slaughtered or enslaved its 100,000 citizens. Philippopolis was eventually rebuilt and prospered once again, only to be devastated by the Huns under Attila between AD 441-442.
COMMODUS . THRACE, Philippopolis . AE18 . Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest
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