CRISPINA, wife of Commodus
AD 178-191
AE20. 3.09g, 19.7mm
MINTED: THRACE, Philippopolis, circa AD 180-182 (?)
REF: Varbanov 1140 (R4); Mouchmov, Philip. 266 var (no thunderbolt); RPC Online Volume 4, #7630 var (same)
OBVERSE: ΚΡΙСΠΕΙΝΑ СΕΒΑСΤΗ, draped bust of Crispina, right.
REVERSE: ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ, eagle standing right, on thunderbolt, head turned left holding wreath in beak.
 
Provenance:
Ex Dr. George Spradling Collection
 
Grade/Notes:
Fine. Rough surfaces.
Rare and possibly unpublished variant with the eagle standing on a thunderbolt.
 
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.