Description
| Roman Provincial. Phoenicia, Ace-Ptolemais. Elagabalus (218-222). AE, 220. | |
| Obverse: | IM M AVP ANTONINVS. Laureate and cuirassed bust right. |
| Reverse: | COL PTO. Tyche standing left holding rudder in her right and cornucopia in her left hand, crowned by nike on a column behind her, all in a richly decorated hexastyle temple, in exergue [ΗΞ]C (year 268). |
| Dimensions: | AE, 15.45 g, 29 mm, 6h. |
| References: | RPC –; Kadman 171; Sofaer 192; Rouvier 1036. |
| Condition: | Minor areas of weakness, some small spots of encrustation. Harshly cleaned. Very fine. |
| Comment: | A very rare coin, especially in this condition. Ace-Ptolemais was a Phoenician port city south of Tyre. At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC the place belonged to Tyre. Ptolemy II renamed the place named Ake, settled Hellenistic colonists there and made it a Polis. Under Seleucid rule (from 219 BC) the city-state gained a certain degree of independence, which is evident from the coinage without the depiction of a ruler. Later Roman veterans lived in the city. In AD 57 Paul the apostle spent one day there. Only a few coins with are known from Ace-Ptolemais, this is one of them. The date ΗΞC (year 268) refers to the Caesarean era. |
