DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45277#0772
688
MESOPOTAMIA.
route from the prosperous seaport of Gaza, where, as we have already-
seen, the money of Athens was also imitated. Most of these coins which
come to us from Southern Arabia bear, in addition to the Athenian
types, Himyarite letters or inscriptions. In the second century b. 0. the
Athenian types appear to have been temporarily superseded by those of
Alexander the Great, then predominant in all the markets of the ancient
world, a tetradrachm having been recently discovered by me, which
bears, in the Himyarite character, the name of a king called Abyatha
(Num. Citron., 1880, Pl. XV. 3).
In the second half of the first century B. C. the Athenian tetradrachms
of the new style, with the Owl seated on an Amphora, served as models
for the coinage of the Sabaean kings, as is proved by the important Find
of Sana (B. V. Head. Num. Citron., N.S. xviii. 273). Of this later gold
and silver currency there are several series, the earlier bearing on the
obverse the head of a native king whose hair is arranged in ringlets after
the Nabathaean fashion (cf. the coins of King Malchus), while the later
have a head of Augustus, and are doubtless copied from Roman coins,
which must have become known in Southern Arabia at the time of the
expedition of Aelius Gallus into that country in b. C. 24. The inscrip-
tions on these coins consist of monograms in the Himyaritic character,
and of a second legend in an unknown character. After the Christian
era the Himyarite coinage loses much of its importance, and the execution
becomes more and more barbarous.
Although the Southern Arabians seem to have been content to copy
the well known money of the Greeks, it is remarkable that they did not
adopt the Attic standard of weight. The Himyarite drachm, like the old
Persian siglos, weighed 84 grs.
MESOPOTAMIA.
Anthenmsia, between the Euphrates and Edessa. Imperial—Domi-
tian, Caracalla and Maximinus. Inscr., ANOCMOYCIC1N or AN0CMOY-
CIA. Type—Head of City turreted (Sestini, Lettere di Continuazione,
i. 63).
Carrhae, south-east of Edessa, celebrated for its cultus of the Moon,
both in male and female form. Autonomous and Imperial bronze—-
M. Aurelius to Tranquillina. Inscr., AYP. KAPPHNON <i>l A0PC2M AIC1N
K0AC2NIA, variously arranged or abbreviated, also GCIflN AYPHA.
KAPPHNHN; KOA. MHTPOnOAIC KAPPHNHN ; KAPPA KOA. MHT.
Meccon., and rarely COL. CAR.; COL. AVR. METROPOL. ANTONl-
NIANA CA.; COL. MET. ANTONlNlANA AVR. ALEX. etc. Types—
Crescent and Star; Tyche seated with River-god swimming at her
feet, or Bust of Tyche surmounted by crescent, before which is the
figure of a divinity standing on a column. The city was colonized by
M. Aurelius.
Edessa, in Osrhoene, the chief city in Mesopotamia, was situate near
the source of a mountain stream which flows from Mount Masius south-
MESOPOTAMIA.
route from the prosperous seaport of Gaza, where, as we have already-
seen, the money of Athens was also imitated. Most of these coins which
come to us from Southern Arabia bear, in addition to the Athenian
types, Himyarite letters or inscriptions. In the second century b. 0. the
Athenian types appear to have been temporarily superseded by those of
Alexander the Great, then predominant in all the markets of the ancient
world, a tetradrachm having been recently discovered by me, which
bears, in the Himyarite character, the name of a king called Abyatha
(Num. Citron., 1880, Pl. XV. 3).
In the second half of the first century B. C. the Athenian tetradrachms
of the new style, with the Owl seated on an Amphora, served as models
for the coinage of the Sabaean kings, as is proved by the important Find
of Sana (B. V. Head. Num. Citron., N.S. xviii. 273). Of this later gold
and silver currency there are several series, the earlier bearing on the
obverse the head of a native king whose hair is arranged in ringlets after
the Nabathaean fashion (cf. the coins of King Malchus), while the later
have a head of Augustus, and are doubtless copied from Roman coins,
which must have become known in Southern Arabia at the time of the
expedition of Aelius Gallus into that country in b. C. 24. The inscrip-
tions on these coins consist of monograms in the Himyaritic character,
and of a second legend in an unknown character. After the Christian
era the Himyarite coinage loses much of its importance, and the execution
becomes more and more barbarous.
Although the Southern Arabians seem to have been content to copy
the well known money of the Greeks, it is remarkable that they did not
adopt the Attic standard of weight. The Himyarite drachm, like the old
Persian siglos, weighed 84 grs.
MESOPOTAMIA.
Anthenmsia, between the Euphrates and Edessa. Imperial—Domi-
tian, Caracalla and Maximinus. Inscr., ANOCMOYCIC1N or AN0CMOY-
CIA. Type—Head of City turreted (Sestini, Lettere di Continuazione,
i. 63).
Carrhae, south-east of Edessa, celebrated for its cultus of the Moon,
both in male and female form. Autonomous and Imperial bronze—-
M. Aurelius to Tranquillina. Inscr., AYP. KAPPHNON <i>l A0PC2M AIC1N
K0AC2NIA, variously arranged or abbreviated, also GCIflN AYPHA.
KAPPHNHN; KOA. MHTPOnOAIC KAPPHNHN ; KAPPA KOA. MHT.
Meccon., and rarely COL. CAR.; COL. AVR. METROPOL. ANTONl-
NIANA CA.; COL. MET. ANTONlNlANA AVR. ALEX. etc. Types—
Crescent and Star; Tyche seated with River-god swimming at her
feet, or Bust of Tyche surmounted by crescent, before which is the
figure of a divinity standing on a column. The city was colonized by
M. Aurelius.
Edessa, in Osrhoene, the chief city in Mesopotamia, was situate near
the source of a mountain stream which flows from Mount Masius south-