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Itn- '.:

.UNIV. OF CALIF. LIBRARY, LOS ANGELES^

A CATALOGUE

OF

THE GREEK COINS

IN

THE BRITISH MUSEUM

CATALOGUE

OF THE

GREEK COINS OF ARABIA MESOPOTAMIA AND PERSIA

(NABATAEA, ARABIA PROVINCIA, S. ARABIA, MESOPOTAMIA, BABYLONIA, ASSYRIA, PERSIA, ALEXANDRINE EMPIRE OF THE EAST, PERSIS, ELYMAIS, CHARACENE)

BY

GEORGE FRANCIS HILL, F.B.A.

KEEPER OF COINS AND MEDALS

WITH A MAP AND FIFTY-FIVE PLATES

LONDON

PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES

SOLD AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM, AND BY

LONGMANS & CO., 39 Paternoster Row, E.G. 4; BERNARD QUARITCH

11 Grafton Street, New Bond Street, W. 1 ; HUMPHREY MILFORD

Oxford University Press, Amen Corner, E.G. 4; and ROLLIN

& FEUARDENT, 4 Rue de Louvois, Paris

1922

[All rights reserved]

FEINTED IX ENGLAND

AT THE OXFOED UNIVEESITY PEESS

BY FREDEEICK HALL

UNIV. OF CALIF. LIBRARY, LOS ANGELES

stack Annex Cage

cj

CONTENTS

Preface List of Plates INTRODUCTION :— Kings of Nabataea

Aretas III

Obodas II

Malichus I

Obodas III

Aretas IV

Malichus II

Rabbel II

Standard of the Silver

Arabia Provincia Adraa Bostra

Charachmoba Dium Eboda Esbus Gerasa Medaba Moca Petra

Philadelphia Philippopolis Rabbathmoba

Arabia Felix

Sabaean, Himyarite, and Katabanian Coinages

I. Imitations of the Older Attic Types

II. Imitations of the Later Attic Type

III. Bucranium class ....

PAGE

i

XI

xi xii xiii xiv xvii xix xix

XX

xxii xxiii xxiv

XXX

xxxi

xxxii

xxxiii

xxxiii

XXXV

xxxvi

xxxvii

xxxix

xli

xlii

xliv xlv

xlvi liv

Ixii

IV

CONTENTS

IV. Class with beads of two kings i. Coins with kings' names . ii. Coins without the king's name The Standard of the Coinage Minaean Coinage .... North Arabian Imitations of Athenian Coins

Mesopotamia Anthemusla Carrhae . Edessa

Maiozomalcba Nesibi

Nicephorium Ehesaena Singara . Zaiitha

Babylonia

Seleucia ad Tigrim

Assyria

Atusia (?), Atumia (?), or Natumia (?) ad Cap Demetrias ad Tigrim Niniva ....

Persian Empire

Alexandrine Empire of the East

Northern Persia .

Persis .... First Series :

Bagadates I

Vahuberz (Oborzos)

Artaxerxes I

Autophradates I . Second Series . Third Series Fourth Series .

Elymais-Susiana . Kamnaskires I Kamnaskires II and Anzaze

CONTENTS					V
PAGE
Kamnaskires III ........ clxxxvii
Orodes I .	.			cxc
Orodes II						cxci
Phraates ....						cxcii
Later Kings						cxciii
Characene ....						cxciv
Greek Series .						cxcvi
Hyspaosines .						cxcvi
Apodakos						cxcvii
Tiraios I . . .						cxcvii
Tiraios II .						cxcvii
Attambelos I						. cxcviii
Theonesios I						. cxcviii
Attambelos II						. cxcviii
Adinerglos .						cxcix
Theonesios II						cci
Attambelos III						cci
Ai-tabazos and Attambelos IV						cci
Theonesios III						ccii
Attambelos V						ccii
Aramaic Series						cciii
Group A . . . .						cciv
„ B . . .						ccv
„ c . . .						ccvi
„ D . . .						ccvii
Sub-Characenian Class .						ccx
' Orabzes ' . . . .						ccx
Meredates ....						ccxi
Erkata						ccxv
Key to Plates XLVIII-LV .			ccxvi
CATALOGUE OF COINS:—
Kings of Nabataea
Aretas III ......... 1
Obodas II ......				3
Malichus I . . . .						3
Obodas III ....						4
Aretas IV ....						5
Malichus II and Shaqilath II .						11
Eabbel II ... .						12

VI

CONTENTS

Arabia

Adraa Bostra

Charachmoba . Dium Eboda . Esbus Gerasa Medaba . Petra

Philadelphia Philippopolis . Rabbathmoba .

Arabia Felix

Sabaeans and Himyarites

Katabania

Minaean .

Northei-n Arabia Felix

Mesopotamia Anthemusia Carrhae . EdessH Nesibi Rhesaeiia Singara . Uncertain Mint

Babylonia

Seleucia ad Tigrira . Assyria

Atusia (?) ad Caprum

Persian Empire . Alexandrine Empire of the East North-Eastern Persia

Andragoras

Vabshuvar

Pcrsis

First Series : Bagadat

PAGE

15 16 27 28 28 29 31 33 34 37 42 44

45 75 76 77

81 82 91

119 125 134 137

140

147

148 176

193 194

195

CONTENTS

Vll

Vahuberz (Oborzos)

Ai'taxerxes I

Autophradates I .

Uncertain of First Series Second Series :

Darius (?)

Autophradates II . Third Series :

Darius II

Oxathres

Uncertain

Artaxerxes II Fourth Series :

Namopat

Uncertain

Pakur .

Uncertain

Kapat (?)

Uncertain

Autophradates III

Artaxerxes III

Manucithr II

Uncertain

Manucithr III

Artaxerxes IV

Elymais

Kamnaskires I

Kamnaskires II and Anzaze

Kamnaskires III and Successors

Orodes I .

Oi'odes II

Phraates .

Orodes III

Orodes IV

Uncertain Kings

Characene Greek Series : Hyspaosines . Apodakos Tiraios I . .

PAGE

197 198 200 202

204 212

216

219 221 222

225 228 229 231 232 237 239 240 241 242 243 244

245

245 247 253 260 272 280 282 284

289 289 289

CONTENTS

Tiraios II Attambelos I Theonesios I Attambelos II Adinerglos . Theonesios II Attambelos III Artabazos Attambelos IV Theonesios III Attambelos V Uncertain Kings

Aramaic Series :

Banaga or Binaga (1)

Nameless King

Maga son of Athabiaos .

Sub-Characenian : Uncertain King Meredates . . . ,

Addenda : Obodas II of Nabataea

INDEXES :—

I. Geographical II. Types .

III. Symbols and Adjuncts

IV. Countermarks

V. Kings and Rulers . VI. Emperors, &c. VII. Inscriptions : —

A. Greek .

B. Semitic

C. Latin . VIII. Eras .

IX. General

Table of the various Eras in use in Arabia, Mesopotamia, &c.

LIST OF PLATES

II. III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII— X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV— XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX— XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV— XXVII.

XXVIII.

XXIX.

XXX.

XXXI.

XXXII.

XXXIII.

XXXIV.

XXXV.

XXXVI.

XXXVII.

XXXVIII— XLTI. XLIII— XLVI.

Kings of ISTabataea. Aretas III. Malicbus I.

Obodas III. Aretas IV. Aretas IV. Malichus II. Eabbel II. Arabia. Adraa. Bostra. Bostra. Charachmoba. Dium. Esbus. Gerasa. Medaba. Petra. Pbiladelpbia. Pbilippopolis. Rabbathmoba. Sabaean and Himyarite. Himyarite.

Himyarite. Katabanian. Minaean. Arabian. Mesopotamia. Anthemusia. Carrhae. Carrhae. Edessa. Edessa.

Edessa. Nesibi. Rhesaena.

Singara. Uncertain Mint. Babylonia. Babylon. Babylon. Seleucia. Atusia. Peesia.

N. Persia. Peesis. Bagadat I. Oborzos. Artaxerxes I. Autophradates I. Uncertain of

Series I. Second Series : Darius. Darius. Autophradates II.

Autophradates II. Third Series : Darius II, Oxathres. Oxathi'es. Uncertain. Artaxerxes II. Artaxerxes 11. Fourth Series : Naniopat. Uncertain. Pakur. Uncertain. Kapat. Kapat. Uncertain. Autophradates III. Artaxerxes

III. Artaxerxes III. Manucithr II. Uncertain. Manucithr

III. Artaxerxes IV. Elymais. Characene.

b

LIST OF PLATES

XL^'I^. Sub-Characeniax.

XLYIII. Addenda.

XLIX. Supplementary : Nabataea. Arabia.

L. Supplementary: Arabia. Mesopotamia.

LI. Supplementary : Babylon,

LII. Supplementally : Babylonia. Persia. Persis,

LIU. Supplementary : Persis. Elymais.

LIV. Supplementary : Characene, &c.

LV. Addenda. N. Arabia. Characene.

Map facing p. ccxiv.

INTRODUCTIOX

KINGS OF NABATAEA

Little modification, except in small details, seems to be required in the arrangement of the Nabataean series proposed by R. Dussaud in his excellent study published in 1904/ to which reference may be made for earlier numismatic literature.

ARETAS III (c. 87-62 b. c).

The coinage begins with Aretas III Philhellen (about 87-62 B. c), who acquired Damascus in 85 B.C., having defeated Antiochus XII. His coinage ^ is for the most part a close copy of the bronze coins issued at Damascus (under the name of Demetrias) by Demetrius III Eukairos ; indeed, even the portraits on the obverses of the two sets of coins are strikingly similar. In addition to the two types of coins described in this Catalogue, there is also a third similar to a type of Demetrias, viz. a female figure standing 1., r. extended holding uncertain object, 1. resting on sceptre (Dussaud, no. 5, PL I. 3 ; here PI. XLIX. 1, from the Paris specimen).

All the bronze coins of Aretas bear in the field the letters AP, which are not likely to be a date, a mark of value, an abbreviation

^ Journal Asiatiqiie, Mars-Avril 1904, pp. 189-238. The admirable summary of Nabataean histoiy in E. Schiirer, Gesch. des jiidischen Volkes*, I, pp. 726 ft'., should also be consulted. For the dedication at Miletus by Syllaeus, the minister of Obodas III. see Kawerau u. Rehm, Das Delpliinion in Milet, pp. 387 ff. (K. Mus. Berlin, MHet, Bd. III). Many Nabataean inscriptions, old and new, are dealt with by RR. PP. Jaussen and Savignac, Mission archeoloffique en Arabie (Paris, 1909 and 1914 [1920]).

2 P. von Rohden, de Palaestina et Arabia, &c. (Berlin Diss. 1885), p. 7, attempts to give these coins to Aretas IV ; his view has not been accepted, so far as 1 know, by any one else.

Xii INTRODUCTION

of the name of Aretas, or (least of all) of Upd^, all possibilities discussed by Dussaud. It is possible that Aretas may have re- named Damascus after himself, as Demetrius had done, and that AP represents this new name. In any case Aretas does not seem to have held Damascus very long, since it appears that the coins of Tigranes' third period (71-69 B.C., see Macdonald in Head's Hist. Num}, p. 773) were struck there,^ and in 66 it was occupied by Pompeius's legates. The later coins of the Nabataeans were therefore presumably struck at their old capital, Petra.

No coins with Nabataean inscriptions can be attributed to Aretas III. On the other hand, all trace of Greek disappears from the coinage of his successors, if we except the puzzling letters IKC on a coin of Malichus I (see below). How long Aretas III reigned after the expedition of Scaurus (62 b. c.) is not known.

OBODAS II (c. 62-60 B.C.).

Obodas II has been proposed by Clermont-Ganneau to fill the gap between Aretas III ^ and the next king who appears in history, Malichus I (first mentioned as assisting Julius Caesar in 47 B. c, last mentioned in 30 b. c). To this Obodas, Dussaud attributes silver didrachms (see PL XLIX. 2, 3)," dated in years 2 and 3 ; the elderly short-haired head on the obverse is quite difierent from the portrait on the coins attributable to Obodas III. Fabric and style show that these didrachms are not far removed in date from the didrachm attributed to Malichus I.

^ Various writers cite an autonomous coin with the Seleucid date 243 = 70-69 B.C. as proof of the independence of Damascus ; but the only authority for this coin is Sestini.

^ The existence of a king ' Obodas son of Aretas ' is proved by the Petm inscription, Dalman, Neue Petra-Forschnngen (1912), p. 99.

^ PI. XLIX. 2 is from Mr. E. T. Newell's Collection (wt. 6-25 gm.), and appears to be of year 2, as Dussaud, p. 209, no, 6. PI. XLIX. 3, formerly in the Windischgratz Collection, was acquired by the British Museum after the Nabataean section of this Catalogue was printed off (see p. 314).

KINGS OF NABATAEA— MALICHUS I

MALICHUS I (c. 60-30 b. c).

Although Malichus I is not mentioned before 47 B. c, he may have been reigning for some time previously. Since the coins just mentioned, if rightly attributed to Obodas II, show that that king came to the throne at a ripe age, and did not perhaps reign more than three years, it may be suggested that Malichus I may have succeeded him in or soon after 60 B. c. If the date on the bronze coin to be mentioned immediately can be read 28, it seems necessary to assume this.

Dussaud assigns to Malichus I only the didrachm illustrated in PI. I. 5. This bears, in addition to the two Nabataean letters Avhich occur constantly on coins of Obodas III and Aretas IV, the mysterious letters IKC. Neither of the interpretations hitherto suggested, /[epay] K[al a]a[vXov] nor /[epay] K[oiXTJi] ^Ivpias], commends itself. It is true that Dussaud's objection, that Upas Kal davXov are titles applicable only to a city, falls to the ground, since the coins were presumably struck in some city which might bear those titles; but the use of such a formula without a city- name is unparalleled; and the blunder presupposed in the abbre- viation provides another objection. With regard to the second interpretation proposed by Dussaud, it is not clear whether he regards Upd? as an epithet of KoiXfjs Xvpias (for the use of such an epithet to describe a large province he does not give any authority) or of some unnamed city in the province. In the second case the objection to the interpretation just rejected applies again. It is to be noted that all the other coins of the period are dated, and bear the date across the field ; it may therefore be suggested that IKC is the attempt of a person, but slightly acquainted with Greek, to date the coin. C may possibly be meant for "E{rovs), and IK for 30, since a Nabataean, accus- tomed to write 30 as 20 + 10, might conceivably construct a Greek date on the same plan. Another possibility, more remote however, is that he used I for 1, and meant the date to be 21.

INTRODUCTION

Among tlie coins of Aretas IV, with wliich it has no affinity in portraiture, style, or arrangement of inscription, Dussaud, following Clermont-Ganneau, places a large bronze coin (here PI. XLIX. 4), on which the king's name is obliterated. It bears across the field — like the coins of the period with which we are dealing — a date which has been read as 43. So high a date would certainly point to the reign of Aretas IV; but the middle numeral seems to me to be possibly not .20, but 5. This reading — yielding the date 28 — is confirmed by M. Babelon, who has kindly re- examined the original. Now in fabric, portrait, general style, and arrangement of inscription this coin is as closely allied to the silver of Malichus I as it is unlike the coins of Aretas IV. It would thus seem that Malichus I reigned at least twenty-eight years; possibly thirty, if my interpretation of IKC is correct. There is just room for such a term of j^ears between the date suggested above for his accession and 30 b. c, when he is last mentioned.

In addition to the letters IKC the didrachm of Malichus I bears the Nabataean H and also a circular sign. These two occur frequentlj^ on the succeeding coins, both silver and bronze, and no explanation of their meaning is forthcoming. The H might possibly be the initial of a mint, as was suggested for the AP on the coins of Aretas III.

OBODAS III (c. 30-9 b. c).

If the reign of Malichus I really extended from about 60 to 30 B. c, it is not possible to accept a proposal of Dussaud's,^ by which he would interpolate between Aretas III and Malichus I not one but two kings of the name of Obodas. His reason for the interpolation of this new Obodas (who would be Obodas III, the Obodas who reigned circa 30-9 B. c. becoming Obodas IV)

^ In Florileghim Melchior cle Vogilt (1909j, pp. 210 fF.

KINGS OF NABATAEA — OBODAS III XV

is the following. To this Oboclas of 30-9 b. c. had been attributed two classes of coins :

1. 'Ptolemaic' coins of years 3 and 5,^ weighing 6-90 gm. and 6-94 gm. (obv. head of king and queen, jugate ; rev. eagle).

2. ' Attic '^ coins of years 10 to 20, weighing 4-50 gm. max., average 4-386 gm. (ohv. head of king ; rev. head of king and queen, jugate).

Now, however, it has been discovered that there exist coins of this latter class dated in the first year of Obodas (weights 4-75 gni., 4-15 gm.). It seems to Dussaud better, therefore, to transfer the Ptolemaic coins to an earlier Obodas, whom he places after Obodas II and before Malichus I, with a reign of at least five years, leaving coins of uniformlj^ ' Attic ' weight to the old Obodas III, who now becomes Obodas IV. From a metrological standpoint this new arrangement is certainly advantageous. But it is open to the following objections :

(1) It leaves no time for the long reign which, if the bronze coin which I assign to Malichus I is rightly attributed and the date rightly read, that king must have enjoyed.

(2) It invents a new king of whom nothing is otherwise known. (This, of course, in the fragmentary state of our information, is not a strong objection.)

(3) While making a good metrological sequence it breaks the sequence of types ; since the coins which Dussaud transfers to before Malichus I bear on the obverse two heads jugate, as in the later fashion, whereas the coins of Malichus I have only one head.

I prefer therefore to adhere to Dussaud's older arrangement. The appearance of coins of the ' Attic ' standard early in the king's reign, before the Ptolemaic standard had been discarded, would point merely to his making experiments with a new standard before giving up the old. As the coins were of very different

1 The Paris specimen of this year is figured here on PI. XLIX. 5. ' On these weights, see below, p. xx f.

XVI INTRODUCTION

weights and sizes, no confusion would result ; the double standard of the coins of Croesus, for instance, must have been much more likely to cause trouble.^ They may have been meant, as it is supposed the coins of Croesus were meant, for commerce in two different directions. In any case, since the average weight of all the known coins of the Ptolemaic standard struck by the Nabataeans is 6-70 gm., and that of the 'Attic' drachms of Obodas III is 4-41 gm., two of the older coins (13-40 gm.) would be worth little more than three of the new (13'23 gm.), so that the two sorts could be used together.

On the so-called ' Attic ' drachms of Obodas III of his first year, one side, which bears the king's name and the date, has a diademed portrait ; on the other are the jugate busts of a queen, veiled, and of the king. The queen's head is placed in the first plane. On the later coins of this king,^ whether ' Ptolemaic ' or ' Attic ', the king's head takes its place in the first plane. Dussaud suggests ^ that Obodas came to the throne as a minor ; that the female bust on the coins of year 1 is his mother's, on the later coins his wife's ^ ; and that it was during the regency that the notorious Syllaeus, who really ruled in Nabataea during the reign of Obodas, was first appointed epitropos.

There can be little doubt that the single bust represents a king, the jugate busts a king and queen throughout the Nabataean series henceforward.^ There is probably no particular significance

^ For a still more inconvenient double standard in Crete, see Gr. Macdonald, Silver Coinage of Crete {Proc. Brit. Acad., Dec. 10, 1919), where other double standards are mentioned.

^ In addition to nos. 2 and 3 in this Catalogue, a good specimen (un- fortunately the date is off the flan) is figured in PI. XLIX. 6 ; it is in the Berlin Cabinet, and weighs 444 gm.

^ Floril. Melchior de Vogue, p. 213.

* It should, however, be noted that on the coins of Rabbel II during his minority (Dussaud, Num. des Rois de Ndbatene, PL IV. 6) the queen-mother's head does not seem to be placed in the first plane.

^ C. R. Morey {Eev. Num., 1911, p. 79 ; Bosira, p. 5) suggests that the single bust may represent Dusares ; but it is quite indistinguishable in details from the regal portraits, and the king's name is inscribed against it. Kubitschek,

KINGS OF NABATAEA ARETAS IV XVll

in this repetition of the king's bust alone. The eagle on the diclrachms was merely a copy of the Ptolemaic or Tyrian type ; as Dussaud remarks, it disappeared when the Ptolemaic didrachm was superseded by the new drachm, and was succeeded, * sans grands frais d'imagination ', by the king's head.^ The appearance of the jugate busts may, as Dussaud remarks, point to the queen's being queen by the right of birth and not merely as consort ; in other words, as in Egypt, the king married a sister or a cousin german. But it is noticeable that it is not until we come to the reign of Malichus II that the queen is described as sister of the king ; the fact that this description was thought necessary would rather indicate that in previous reigns the king did not marry his sister.^

ARETAS IV (9 b. c.-40 a. d.).

The most plentiful issue of coins in the Nabataean series was in the reign of Aretas IV 2; hence doubtless the fact that the silver coins with his bust came to be known as ^niH j'^J? /D;' which the editors of the C.I.S. (II. 198) render deli Haretici.

The dates on the coins of Aretas IV, even when they are not off the flan, are frequently very obscure. I am compelled to differ from Dussaud in the reading of some of these dates.

Of the wives of Aretas, Huldu seems to have lived until at least the sixteenth year of her husband's reign, and Shaqilath to have

however {Num. Zt., 1916, p. 191), accepts Morey's identification. [The article which is here and henceforward cited as Bostra is the Appendix to Div. II, Sect. A, Part 4 of Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditio}i to Syria in 1^04-3 and iQog, which contains a revised version of the article in the Rev. Num. and a Catalogue of the Coinage of Bostra. I have to thank Mr. Morey for a copy of this Appendix.]

^ As we shall see, something of the same kind seems to have happened on the Himyarite coins.

^ On this king and his descendants, see Dalman, Neiie Petra-Forschiingen, p. 106 f. The existence of a wife of Aretas called Hagiru is very problematical.

^ Cp. Dy7DX D^n (fiv6 selaim) in a Himyarite inscr. (Halevy 152) cited by Mordtraann, Num. Zeit., XII (1880), p. 319.

c

XVlll INTRODUCTION

become queen as early as the twentieth year. This latter date depends on no. 7 (p. 6), which appears to read clearly ' 20 ', although Dussaud reads it ' 40 ', presumably regarding the numeral, the top of which has run into the border of dots, as having three curves instead of the usual two. The date 24 on no. 8 he reads as 30, whereas the cross (representing 4) attached to the tail of the 20 is fairly clear on the original. The other dates on coins of this couple in the British Museum are doubtful. The name of Shaqilath is not legible on any coins later than that of year 24, unless no. 13 is really of year 27 ; but the types continue the same until year 48 of Aretas, so that we may assume that she shared his throne to the end.

Among the types of bronze coinage of Aretas IV not represented in this collection are the following :

a. Obv. Head of Aretas r., laureate.

liev. Draped and turreted figure (City- goddess) standing r., holding

palm-branch in 1., r. hand raised. Remains of inscr. 'king

of Nalaataea, year 4 '. ^ 18 mm. Paris; Dussaud, p. 218, no. 25; here PI. XLIX. 7.

/3. Obv. Head of Aretas r., laureate; name and titles of Aretas. Rev. Eagle standing 1. ; inscr. ' half (obol) of silver, year 10 '. JE 19 mm. Paris (two specimens). Dussaud, p. 221, no. 32; here PI. XLIX. 8.

This is the half of the bronze ' obols of silver ' represented by nos. 5, 6 (see below, p. xxi).

y. Obv. Head of Aretas r., laureate.

Hev. Two cornuacopiae and palm-branch ; in field 1., V^ JE 14 mm. Dussaud, p. 231, no. 57. Here PI. XLIX. 9.

The letters VS are unexplained. Possibly they may represent 7N^3 , one of the children of Aretas IV.^

^, Dti', and D'^tJ^ (nos. 14 ff.) probably all stand for the same word, in the sense of ' concordia '.

^ C.I.S., II, 354; Dalman, Neue Petra-Forschungen, p. 107.

KINGS OF NAEATAEA RABBEL II XIX

Aretas IV seems to have held Damascus for a time/ but there is no evidence that he struck coins there.

Mr. E. T. Newell possesses a bronze coin with ^ between the two cornuacopiae on the reverse, and, on the obverse, = behind a head (to r.), which by its style and dressing of the hair in long ringlets may be of Aretas IV, or even earlier. It is unfortunately too liadly preserved to be worth reproducing.

MALICHUS II (c. A. D. 40-71).

Under Malichus II ^ the practice of placing the busts of king and queen jugate on the silver disappears, although it is retained on the bronze. Shaqilath, the queen, is described on the coins as sister of the king." As Dussaud has pointed out, on the coins of this reign the date is placed on the obverse after the kino's name, not on the reverse as in the reign of Aretas IV. There is, however, doubtless no significance in this arrangement ; the title ' lover of his people ' borne by Aretas made it difficult to find space for the date after his name.

RABBEL II (c. A.D. 71-106).

Rabbel II ^ reigned for a short time as minor under the regency of his mother Shaqilath, as is proved by bronze coins from

1 2 Cor. xi. .32.

- Malichus II (son of Aretas IV and Shaqilath I) reigned over thirty years. Littmann [Prhiceton Univ. Arch. Exped., Div. lY, Sect. A, p. 21) reads a date as 'year 33 of Malik', but the number of units seems doubtful, and the date is perhaps 31.

^ Half-sister, if Dalman {Neue Pefi-a-Foi'schtmgen, p. 106) is right in his genealogical list.

* Son of Malichus II and Shaqilath II. His accession is fixed to A. D. 70-71 by an inscription {C.I.S., I, 161), which ec[uates his twenty-fourth year to year 405 of the 'Roman' (i.e. Seleucid) era. This Seleucid date has also been read 410 (giving A. D. 75 as Rabbel's first year), but 405 seems to be correct.

XX INTRODUCTION

the collections of the Marquis de Vogli^ and of Dussaud himself.^ One Oneishu, described as ' brother of the queen Shaqilath ', in the sense of iniTpoTros,^ assisted the queen in the government. Subsequently Rabbel married Gamilath, and all the coins (on none of them are any dates legible with certainty) were issued in their joint names.

The existence of a Malichus III in succession to Rabbel II, assumed by Dussaud, is, as Schiirer has argued, very doubtful. The dynasty came to an end with the creation of the province of Arabia in 106.

The Berlin Cabinet possesses three bronze coins procured recently at Bostra ; one is of Malichus II and Shaqilath, of the usual types ; the second is an unusually rude specimen of Rabbel II and Gamilath ; but the third is a new variety :

Obv. Figure standing 1., r. raised ; border of dots. liev. Similar type ; in field r. inscr., apparently ^<i

n

border of dots. Here PL XLIX. 11.

This is therefore to be attributed to Malichus II and Shaqilath, or, less probably, to Rabbel with his mother.

THE STANDARD OF THE SILVER.

The weights of the didrachm are as follows : Obodas II 6-78 gm., 6-76 gm. Malichus I 6-51 gm. Obodas III 6-90 gm., 6-54 gm.

^ Dussaud, no. 65, PI. IV. 6 : Obv. Two laureate heads, jugate ; Bev. Two cornuacopiae crossed; inscr. H/iSJ^ TO'^p^ /i^'2,1 (Rabbel, Shaqilath, his mother). Here PI. XLIX. 10 (from M. de Vogue's Collection, now in the Paris Collection).

^ So Clermont-Ganneau, quoting Strabo XVI. 4, 21, p. 779: the king has as (■jTiTpoTTov Tcop (Tnlpcdv Tivo. K'lKovfxfvou cide\(p6v. Cp. Briinnow-Domaszewski, Piovincia Arabia, i, p. 402.

KINGS OF NABATAEA THE STANDARD OF THE SILVER XXI

This is obviously the didrachm of the Tyrian or Ptolemaic standard.

The weights of the drachm are as follows :

Obodas III, maximum 4-75 gm. ; average 4-41 gm. Aretas IV,^ maximum 4-79 gm. ; average 4-204 gm. If the four very light coins below 4 gm., evidently under- weighted, are omitted from the calculation, the average is 4-36 gm. The coin was thus two-thirds of the Ptolemaic didrachm. It is obvious that so high an average is unlikely if the standard is supposed to be Attic. The evidence of confcemporaiy coinages, such as those of Aradus or Parthia, shows that the level of the ' Attic ' standard in these parts is much lower. The standard is evidently some independent, doubtless local one, with which we are not acquainted.

These ' drachms ' are the j^S? 7D of Aretas mentioned above. Malichus II, maximum 3-98 gm. ; average 3-52 gm. Rabbel II, maximum 3-59 gm. ; average 3-40 gm.

It is not unreasonable to suppose that these were intended to conform to the Roman denarius, which from the close of the First Punic War until the time of Nero was normally 3-90 gm.-

The terms 'obol of silver' (S|D:3 r\Vt2) and 'half of silver' <^DD T*n), which occur on coins of the tenth year of Aretas IV, evidently mean that the pieces in question were to pass current for i and ^^ of a drachm of silver respectively." The pieces in question weigh from 11-26 gm. to 9-20 gm. and 5-35 gm. respec- tively, but owing to the inexactitude of the weights of token money at this period it is difficult to guess what denominations

^ Dussaud's weights corrected by the material available in the British Museum. The data are hardly sufficient to allow of making a 'curve of frequency ', but so far as this can be done, the top of the curve practically coincides with the average, and while it rises suddenly from 4-15 gm,, it descends very slowly to 4-79 gm. ; in other words, the mass of the coins is above the average.

- Only two coins of Malichus II exceed this weight (3-98 gm., 3-95 gm.) ; Dussaud's statement (p. 201) that his drachms are of a weight notably higher than that of the denarius, assumes that the Neronian denarius (8-41 gm.) had made itself known in Nabataea as early as the time of Malichus II.

^ See Dussaud, p. 222.

XXll INTRODUCTION

they were meant to represent. Normally the silver obol was worth eight chalkoi. Babelon gives the average weight of the chalkous of the Syrian kings (Antiochus IV and Alexander Bala) as barely 6 gm.^ But the coin inscribed XAAKOYZ, attributed to Agrippa II, and apparently struck in a. d. 86,^ weighs only 1-46 gm. Eight of these would weigh 11-68 gm., which is a little more than the highest weig-ht of the obols of Aretas IV. It is probable, however, that in his time the normal weight of the chalkous was considerably higher than in the time of Agrippa II, and the object of the inscriptions on his bronze was evidently to give it a forced value. It was in fact mere token money.

ARABIA PROVINCIAL

The Arabian cities whose coins are catalog-ued in this volume are those which happened to be comprised in the province from the time of its institution in a.d. 106 down to the end of the period of the Greek coinage.** Thus the mints of Philadelphia, Gerasa, Dium, and Philippopolis are included, although they were originally in the Decapolis,° and were only transferred to Arabia in the reign of Severus at the earliest. But Canatha, which was transferred at the same time, had then ceased to issue coins "^ ; it is therefore omitted from this volume, Eboda, of which a solitary coin of Nero's time is known, might have been omitted on the same orounds, but is included because its coinage does not find

' Traite, I, 462.

2 B. M. C, Palestine, p. 247, no. 62.

^ The substance of this section has ah-eady appeared in the Journal of Boman Studies, vol. vi (1916).

* On the boundaries at various pei'iods see Briinnow-Domaszewski, Provincia Arabia, iii, pp. 264 if.

^ Under which head their coins, so far as represented in the British Museum up to 1899, have been catalogued by Wroth, B.M.C., Gakifia, &c. (1899).

« See Wroth, op. cit., p. 302.

ARABIA PROVINCIA — ADRAA XXlll

a place in the series of any other province. The latest Greek coins issued by any Arabian city are of the time of Valerian and Gallienus.

ADRAA.

Adraa (Adri'dt in the Hauran, the Biblical Edrei) was a minor centre of the cult of Dusares, whose baetyl is represented on the coins.^ It was originally in the Nabataean kingdom, and was doubtless included in Provincia Arabia at the time of the constitu- tion of the province, whose era is employed on the coinage.-

The coinage ^ begins in the Antonine period (Marcus Aurelius^ Lucilla, Commodus) and continues to Valerian and Gallienus. The chief types are :

Baetyl of the god Dusares (AOYCAPHC GCOC) placed (some- times) between two ornaments (horns of the altar 1) * on a square basis, probably a kabah or motab (PI. III. 5). This is the type which has usually been described as a wine-press, but has been at last recognized for what it really is by Dussaud.'^

Bust of City-goddess, turreted (TYXH).

City-goddess (TYXH), standing, turreted, resting on spear or sceptre, and holding human head. On a coin in the British Museum (PI. III. 4) this figure appears in a shrine. The head

■^ See especially Dussaud, Notes de Mythologie Syrienne, pp. 167 fF. and below, under Bostra. It is supposed that the panegyriarchs of Adraa whose dedicatory inscriptions appear at Petra (Briinnow, i, p. 220, no. 60, 2-4) represented Adraa at the annual festival of Dusares ; and one of the inscriptions accom- panies the figure of an omphalos-shaped baetyl like that shown on the coins of Adraa. It is, however, noticeable that the neighbouring dedications of panegyriarchs are to dea yayiaTrj, presumably Allat, who may be the paredros of Dusares.

^ Briinnow-Domaszewski, iii, p. 265; Dussaud, Notes, p. 117.

^ See especially de Saulcy, Tene Sainte, pp. 373 ff., and Dussaud, loc. cit.

* Dalman, Petra u. s. Felsheiligtilmer, p. 50, thinks they are the remains of pillars supporting an arch over the baetyl.

^ The coin of Elagabalus representing three baetyls on a platform approached by steps, with A^YC .... 0€OC, which Dussaud (Notes, p. 170) ascribes to Adraa, is more probably of Bostra.

XXIV INTRODUCTION

which she holds is that of the emperor ; see B. M. C, Palestine, p. xix.

Herakles seated on rock, r. resting on club.

Two deities, one lying down, the other seated behind (apparently a river-god, presumably the Wadi Zeidi, and Tyche). Inscrip- tion AAPAHNCJN. . O? M? TYXHC ^rov^) BO (Paris). See PL XLIX. 12. The doubtful letters may point to the title Kojjl- [io8Lav5>v, of which there seems to be a trace on another coin of Commodus recorded by Hardouin.^

The inscription AOYCAPIA which is supposed to occur on a coin of Adraa is perhaps really AOYCAPHC.^ The description: ' Table on which is an urn, between two small figures ; under ^ the table, a press ', suggests that the ' urn ' is not a prize-crown or vase, but the baetyl of Dusares.

BOSTRA.

Bostra, the modern Bosra,^ belonged to the Nabataean kingdom and was included by Trajan under the name Nea Tpa'iavr] Boar pa in the Provincia Arabia. Its era dates from this incorporation, beginning March 22, 106.'"'

The earliest coins which can with certainty be assigned to Bostra are of Antoninus Pius ; but it is generally supposed that the coins of Hadrian, with the bust of Arabia holding two small figures^

^ De Saulcy, p. 374, note on no. 2.

"^ See de Saulcy, p. 375, under Caracalla.

^ Not upon the table, as de Saulcy says.

■* For the remains see especially Briinnow-Domaszewski, iii, pp. 1-84. C. R. Moray has made a useful list of the known coins of Bostra in the appendix to Div. ii, sect. A, part 4 of Pithlications of the Princeton Univ. Arclmeol. Exped. to Syi-ia in 1904-5 and 1909 ; this appendix is hereafter cited as Morey, Bostra. It supersedes the same author's article in the Revue Numismatique for 1911. The latest contribution to the subject is the article on Bostra by Kubitschek in the Numismatische Zeitschrift in 1916.

^ Briinnow-Domaszewski, iii, p. 303.

''' Possibly personifying the Auranitis and Arabia Petraea. The type is not included by M. Jatta in his Rappresentanze Jigurate delJe Prorincie Romane (1908).

ARABIA PROVINCIA — EOSTRA XXV

in her arms (PI. III. 1-3), were struck at this mint. There are a few quasi-autonomous coins (p. 16, nos. 1, 2) which seem to bear the date^ ^(tovs) X^, i.e. 76, which would place them in the reign of Commodus ; and another, apparently not dated, is men- tioned below.

The date of the erection of Bostra into a colony is in dispute. Eckhel- is inclined to refer the statement of Damascius, that it was made a colony (TroX/^erat) by ' Severus ', to Septimius Severus rather than Severus Alexander. This must have been after A. D. 209-10, as the existence of Greek coins of Septimius Severus and Domna shows. Some of the small coins of Caracalla inscribed COL-MET-ANTONINIANA-AVR-.. (in various forms), and usually classed under Carrhae, have been attributed to Bostra ; for they are said to read B, and one of them BOSTRA in full, after the other titles.^ These readings, up to the present, entirely lack confirmation ; and it may be remarked that, if Bostra was already called Metropolis in the reign of Caracalla, it would hardly have dropped the title only to resume it under Philip. Further, while these coins of Caracalla do not resemble in style or fabric those of Bostra either before or after his reign, they are extremely close to those of Carrhae. De Saulcy'^ seems therefore to have been justified in rejecting the attribution to Bostra altogether.^ Nor is it probable that Elagabalus was responsible for the foundation ; for the one coin which seems to show that the place was a colony

^ For the form of ^ for trovs compare the coins of Olba in Cilicia, B. M. C, Lycaonia, &c., pp. 119 ff.

^ Docti:, iii, 500. Kubitschek, op. cit., p. 189, argues that the authority of Damascius on such a point is worthless.

^ Mhs. Sanclem., iii, pp. 8, 9 ; Mionnet, Suppl. viii, p. 385, nos. 9-14 ; Morey in Bei: Num., 1911, p. 81 f. The reading BOSTRA is given in Mus. Sanclem. on the authority of Cousinery. Morey, who had previously [Rev. Num., loc. cit.) accepted the attribution of these coins to Bostra, now recognizes its improbability.

* Ten-e Sainte, p. .36fi.

^ Another coin of Caracalla that has probably been misread seems to give the name ANTflNI ... to Bostra (de Saulcy, p. 365, no. 2). As regards an alleged later coin with Greek inscription, see Kubitschek, op. cit., p. 186 vMaximinus, Thessalonica).

d

XX"V1 INTRODUCTION

in his time is equally uii verified. ^ In fact, there is no satisfactory evidence of the foundation of the colony before Severus Alexander/'^ It then takes the title Colonia Bostra Nova Traiana Alexandriana. Under Philip it receives the title Metropolis, and the titles acquired from Trajan and Severus Alexander disappear. The coinage comes to an end with Trajan Decius or Trebonianus Gallus.

The types are as interesting as the}'- are puzzling. Of chief importance is the god Dusares.^ There is an anthropomorphic representation of this god on a coin of Commodus : —

Ohv. AAYPKOMOAOCKAICAYTOKYIor(v) EY.^

Bust of Commodus r.

Itev. BOCTPHN WNAOYCAPHC. Beardless male bust r. draped, wearing diadem or fillet.

M 22 mm. Princeton Art Museum. C. R. Morey, Rev. Num., 1911, p. 69 = Bostra, p. 12, no. 12, fig. 11 (here PI. XLIX. 13).

The bust on the reverse of a badly preserved coin of Philip, which Morey takes for Philip Junior, perhaps represents the same god (p. 23, no. 39).

Since Dusares was identified with Dionysos,"' it has l)een thought that he is to be recognized in the god who appears on a coin of

1 Pellerin, Mel. de Med. i (1765), p. 300, no. 6. Ohv. IMP. M. AVR. ANTOJNIN. Bust of Elagabalus laureate. Rev. N. TRA. BOSTRA.

Founder ploughing with two oxen. Cf. Mionnet, v, 582, 20 (who gives N. TPA. BOSTRA). The mixture of Latin and Greek on the obverse is, of course, possible, but does not add to our confidence in the reading. Kubitschek, op. cit., p. 187, thinks that Bostra may have been made a colony in the last days of Elagabalus, while Alexander was Caesar.

^ P. Meyer, Fleckeisen's Jalirhncher f. class. Fhilol., xliii, 1897, p. 595, note, cuts the difficulty by saying that Bostra received ' Stadtrecht ' under Septimius Severus, and became a colony under Severus Alexander.

^ See especially Baethgen, Beitr. z. setnit. Religio)isgesch., pp. 92 ff. ; Cumont in Pauly-VVissowa, v, 1865 f . ; Dussaud, l^otes de Mythologie Syr., pp. 169 ff. ; C. R. Morey, Rev. Ku»i., 1911, pp. 69 ft". = Bostra, pp. 1 ff.

* Cf. the inscription on the coin of Commodus in the British Museum (no. 12): AAYPKOM[KA?]lCAV(V)TVIOC€B. On r for C and S, see Kubitschek, op. cit., p. 190, n. 3.

■'' See e.g. G. Dalman, Fetra ii. s. Felsheiligtibner (1908), p. 50. In the dedication by Syllaeus at Miletus he is identified with Zeus.

ARABIA PROVINCIA — EOSTRA XXVll

Elagabalus (PI. IV. 3), on which the attribute of the god has been taken for a panther. But there is little doubt that that god is the same as the one who appears under Trajan Decius (PI. IV. 13)/ where the animal accompanying him seems to be more like a ram than a panther; in fact he is no other than Zeus Amnion (see below).

Dussaud has explained the type, usually described as a wine- press, which is found on various coins of Bostra (PI. IV. 12 and XLIX. 14), as three baetyls sacred to Dusares. Kubitschek^ dismisses this interpretation as a ' verlorene Sache ' ; and recently Morey has endeavoured to revive the wine-press theory.^ I confess that the arguments against Dussaud's views seem to me to be quite baseless. The fact that an anthropomorphic representation of the god occurs under Commodus is certainly no reason for supposing that an aniconic representation would not occur later ; the evidence of coinages, such as those of Perga or Ephesus, where primitive cultus statues existed, proves the precise contrary. Secondly, the object does not, apparently, 'bear any very close resemblance to any known form of ancient wine-press.* If the central portion is a press, the two objects at the sides are certainly not in the least like vases. It is true that no satisfactory explana- tion has been given of the flat objects'^ of which seven are piled on the central baetyl, and one on each of the side ones ; but such

^ Cf. the coin of Etruscilla, de Saulcy, y. 370, where the type is also described as Dionysos (cf. Morey, Bostra, p. 16, no. 51).

^ Xtini, Zeit., 1908, p. 131. He still adheres to his view in Num. Zeit., 1916, p. 192.

^ He publishes an interesting variation of the type, his fig. 20, on which the base looks rather like a throne (here PI. XLIX. 14). On the left, upwards, is AOY ; in the exergue OC (which is probably for ©€ [^C] as in Dussaud's reading of the Rouvier specimen).

* Since the above was written, the technical objections to the wine-press theory have been put with convincing force in Rev. Num., 1916, p. 184. All the constructional parts of a press (the two summers, the two posts) are lacking ; so also are all the essential elements of the screw (such as transverse lever, hole therefor in the head of the screw, inclination of the thread, &c.); and the base, instead of being solid, as is essential, is a platform.

^ Dussaud's suggestion of shewbread does not seem very probable.

XXVlll INTRODUCTION

caps to baetyls are known in otlier cases, and occur both singly and doubly at Paphos.^ The number seven m&y have some relisrious sig-nificance, as Dussaud remarks.

The platform on which the baetyls rest, and the top of which is approached by steps, is doubtless, as Dussaud has shown, a sort of altar, motab or kcihah. It is true that Suidas or his source (s.v. Gevadpr]s) says that the baetyl of Dusares had square faces and rested on a golden base ; but possibly he confused the omphalos- shaped baetyl itself with the square base on which it rested. The coins of Adraa show the baetyl in a simpler form (see above).

The fact that two camels (or rather the figures thereof) were dedicated by Nabataeans to Dusares, according to an inscription at Puteoli,^ does not prove, though it does suggest, that the camel was his sacred animal ; nor is that necessary to explain the appear- ance of the camel on the coins of Bostra. A quasi-autonomous coin (here PI. XLIX. 15) in the Paris Cabinet (ohv. head of City -goddess) is described by Morey (no. 1) as having on the reverse two camels, one with a rider (possibly Dusares). But the animals, and the type as a whole, bear an extraordinarily close resemblance to the type on the coins of Orthosia in Phoenicia ^ ; and the animals, whether they be panthers or griffins, are almost certainly winged. On the other hand, a camel-rider appears on a coin of Caracalla or Elagabalus (PL XLIX. 16) with the half-read and unexplained inscription 0€OKANI (? ?),* which seems to contain the element 0€O, and may therefore be a god's name.

The games celebrated at the annual festival of Dusares (Dec. 25) were known as the Actia Dusaria, as is proved by the inscriptions on the coins (nos. 40-42).

^ B. M. C, Cyprus, p. cxxxii.

2 C.I.S., ii (i),p. 183, no. 157.

s B. M. C, Plioenicia, p. Ixxvii, plates XVI. 1 and XLI. 16.

^ De Saulcy, p. 366, no. 3. Cf. Kubitschek, op. cit., pp. 191-2. One of the gods of the Nabataeans seems to have been called |^ (Baethgen, Beit): z. semit. Religionsgesch., p. 107 f.), and this may be represented by the KAN I of the Greek inscription.

ARABIA PROVINCIA— BOSTRA XXIX

If Dussaud is happy in his interpretation of the baetylic type of Dusares, he is less certainly right in his theory of the identifica- tion of Zeus Amnion with the Arabian god. Ammon appears as the god of the third legion (Cyrenaica) which was quartered at Bostra.^ He is represented on a coin already mentioned (PI. IV. 13) in soldier's garb, proving his connexion with the legion. A very interesting Concordia type (cf. Rev. JS^wni., 1911, plate iii, 10) shows the god, representing the legion, in concord with the Citj— goddess.

The City -goddess type (TYXH) is manifestly influenced by the Astarte-City-goddess of Phoenicia and Palestine (PI. III. 8). One foot is placed on the back of a small crouching animal; unfortunate] }■ this detail is obscure on all specimens known to me, although de Saulcy identifies it as a lion on a good specimen which was in his collection.^ She rests her hand on a spear, which is apparently topped by a small trophy, although this detail is seldom in any degree clear. She holds a cornucopiae. On one coin, of Mamaea (PI. IV. 9), two small creatures, which have been taken for centaurs, stand on either side of her; Dussaud is, however, probably right in describing them as bulls.^ It may be observed that in a dedication at Petra,* by one of the panegyriarchs of Adraa, a goddess is figured ; she is described as being seated, wearing modius and veil and holding a cornucopiae, with two oxen recumbent at her feet. We have already seen that another

1 Drexler in Zeit.f. Num., xiii (1885), p. 281 ; C. R. Morey, Bostra, p. 8. The cuirass woi-n by the god is best seen on a coin at Paris with his bust. On the pre-colonial coin of Elagabalus, mentioned above, his garb is not military.

- p. 365. As Kubitschek remarks (p. 193), it is probable that the object on which Tyche rests her foot is always the same, not a lion on one coin, a prow on another, a human figure on a third. He describes (ibid.) a coin of Otacilia Severa with rev. bust of Tyche, veiled and turreted, holding a sceptre ending in a flower-shaped or cornucopiae-shaped head. Is not this the ordinary type with the cornucopiae as seen on many earlier coins ?

^ Notes, p. 180. It is strange, at the same time, that he has mistaken the goddess for a male deity.

* Briinnow-Domaszewski, i, p. 220, fig. 252. Dalman, Petra u. s. Fehheilig- tilmer, -p. 145, says the goddess stands between two panthers ; he cannot see the cornucopiae, and adds that the modius is conjectural.

XXX INTRODUCTION

of these dedications, in the same place, is connected with Dusares. We may take it that this goddess, who is also the City-goddess of Adraa and Bostra, is Allat, the consort of Dusares, or possibly the Xaafxov mentioned by St. Epiphanius as the virgin-mother of that god. Dussaud's attempt to explain away St. Epiphanius's account is based on the doubtful reading Xaa^ov}

A very interesting type of the City-goddess is the Athena of. PI. III. 9. There can be no doubt that she is the City-goddess, since the inscription calls her Tyche. There is abundant evidence that, in the Hauran, Athena was identified with Allat.^

The ' god of (the tribe) Qatsiu ' was worshipped at Bostra;^ but the coins do not help to inform us how he was represented, and whether he was identical with Z^v^ KdaLo's or Baal-Shamin. Another unidentified god of Bostra was Aarra (X^y^{).■^

The coin-engravers of Bostra seem to have used the genitive of the town name BOCTPflN and the ethnic BOCTPHNflN indifferently. Among the Latin inscriptions on the coins is found the transliteration BOSTPvON.

Many of the smaller coins of Bostra in the third century (e. g. nos. 22-7, 32-8) seem to have been produced by casting. There is no doubt that this process was more frequently used in antiquity, at any rate under the Roman Empire, than is usually supposed.

CHARACHMOBA.

The Qir-MOab of the Old Testament, el-Kerak at the present day.° The coins, which are all of Elagabalus, were unknown

' See Baethgen, Beitr. z. semit. Religionsgesch. (1888), p. 107. Littmann {Princeton Univ. Arch. Ex2)e(l., div. iv, sect. A, p. 57) is inclined to regard n^^K' (Sharait) as the name of the consort of Dusares at Bostra ; but his interpretation is admittedly very uncertain. Another Nabataean goddess at Petra and Bostra is al-'Uzza (ibid., p. 58), but she is only a hypostasis of Allat (Dussaud, Les Arahes en Syrie avant VIslam, p. 132),

* Baethgen, Beitr., p. 97; Dussaud, Les Arahes en Syrie avant VIslam (1907), p. 129.

^ Littmann, Princeton Univ. Arch. Exped., div. iv, sect. A, p. 13.

* Jaussen et Savignac, Mission en Arahie, i, p. 205.

^ Benzinger in Pauly-Wissowa, iii, 2120 ; Babelon in Rev. Num., 1899,

ARABIA PROVINCIA DIUM

until Babelon published two of the specimens now in the British Museum, The third was at the time unknown to him. On this coin, unfortunately badly preserved, a figure is seated before an erection on which is a tall object between two small baetyls (?), i. e. probably an altar or cult-stone of Dusares, as on coins of Bostra and Adraa, rather than a wine-press ; but the central object in this case looks more like a column^ than an omphalos- shaped baetyl.

DIUM.

Dium - of the Decapolis probably belonged to Provincia Arabia in the time of Septimius Severus, when its coins were issued ^ ; certainly that was the case at a later time. Its site is very uncertain : Kefr-Ahil, near Pella ; Edun and QaVat el-Husn, near Irbid : and T ell-el- Ash^ari, N. of el-MuzeHb have all been suggested.*

The era employed on the coins is the Pompeian, since the place received its liberty from Pompeius. In the Decapolis this era seems to have dated from Oct. 63 b. c.^ Consequently the dates which appear on the coins of Caracalla and Geta (268, 270, 271, and 275) are all, with the exception of the last, within the reign of Septimius Severus. The coin of Caracalla, reputed to bear the date €0C, rests on the authority of Sestini only ; that of Geta, with apparently the same date, has been shown bj- de Saulcy to be really of year 270 (^C). There is, of course, nothing improbalile in the issue of a coin by Caracalla in 275 = a.d. 212-13. The type

p. 274 f. ; art. Kir {of Moah) in Hastings's Diet, of the Bible ; A. Musil, Arabia Petraea, i (1907), pp. 45-62.

^ Such as the X^^Ji'tt erected to Dusares at Umm-el-Jimal {Princeton Univ. Arch. Exped., div. iv, sect. A, p. 34). For Nabataean pillar-idols generally, see Dalman, Petra u. s. Felslieiligtilmer, p. 70.

- Benzinger in Paulj'-Wissowa, v, 834 ; de Saulcy, pp. 378 fF.

' Briinnow-Domaszewski, iii, p. 264 f. The coin discussed at such length by de Saulcy, with AKZAIOY, belongs to Seleucia on the Tigris.

* De Saulcy, Joe. cit. ; Briinnow-Domaszewski, Joc.cit. and p. 361 ; Bleekmann in Zeitschr. d. detitschen Pcdastina-Vereins. xxxvi (1913), p. 234.

^ Briinnow-Domaszewski, op. cit., iii, p. 304.

XXXll INTRODUCTION

of this piece, according to Sestini, is the City-goddess seated, with a river-god at her feet.

The type of the other coins is the Syrian god Hadad (PI. IV. 15, 16), who appears in many slightly varying forms on coins of Syrian cities, notably Rhosus and Raphanea ^ ; the bulls are a constant element in the type. At Rhosus, as at Dium, horns appear on the top of his head. Hadad, being equated by the Greeks with Zeus, was appropriately worshipped at a place called Dium.

EBODA.

The site of "E^coSa ^ is at el-'Abda, in Arabia Petraea, south of Elusa. It is sometimes called Oboda, and Zeus Obodas was worshipped there.

Apparently the only known specimen of the coinage is that identified by Imhoof-Blumer :

Obv. [NEPWN] KAAYAIOC KAIZ. Head of Nero r., laureate.

Bev. EBW 1., [A]HZ r. Nike apteros 1., semi-mide, holding wreath in r., pahii-branch in 1.

JE 16 mm. Berlin (Imhoof-Blumer Collection, here PI. XLIX. 17) : see Mionnet, Suppl. viii, 387, 21 (under Eshus) ; de Saulcy, p. 394 ; Imhoof-Blumer, loc. cit.

The occurrence of a coinage in this district so early as the time of Nero is surprising; but it must be remembered that the rela- tions of Eboda with Gaza (between which and Petra it was about half-way) must have been fairly close ; and Gaza had a coinage at this time.

^ Dussaud in Pauly-Wissowa-Kroll, vii, 2161.

^ See Imhoof-Blumer, Momi. gi-ecques, p. 450; Benzinger in Pauly-Wissowa, V, 1896 ; Brunnow-Domaszewski, iii, p. 268 ; Anz. Akad. Wiss. Wien, PhU.-hist. KL, xliv (1907j, p. 140. For the site see Rev. Bihl., 1904, pp. 403 fF., 1905, pp. 74 flP. ; A. Musil, Arabia Petraea, ii (1908), pp. 106-51. I have to thank the late Dr. Imhoof-Blumer for a cast of the coin here illustrated (PI. XLIX. 17).

ARABIA PRO VINCI A — GERASA XXXI 11

ESBUS.

'Ea-jBov's, the Biblical Heshbon, is the modern Hesbdn between Philadelphia and Medaba, 26 km. east of the north end of the Dead Sea.^

The coins are probably all of the time of Elagabalus, although some of them have been attributed to Caracalla. The types are an ordinary seated Zeus, holding phiale (PI. V. l) ; the City-goddess in her temple, her right foot on a small figure, an obscure object (perhaps the emperor's Ijust 2) in her hand (PI. V. 2) ; and the god illustrated on PI. V. 3. The last is the second type described by de Saulcy as Astarte holding a small bust ; but it is apparently a male god,^ perhaps akin to the so-called Men who appears on the coins of Gaba.^ The conical object which he holds resembles a pine-cone, but it may perhaps be compared with the conical stone, if it be a stone, held by the City -goddess on coins of Sebaste in Samaria.^ A serpent twines round the spear or sceptre on which he leans. '^

The coins show that Esbus was called Aurelia.

The inscription on the obverse is in Latin (save for the beginning, AVT instead of IMP), that on the reverse in Greek.

GERASA.

Gerasa (Jerash) was prol)ably included in the Provincia Arabia at the time of its foundation." The coins bear no dates, but the

^ De Saulcy, p. 393 ; Benzinger in Paulj'-Wissowa, vi, 613 ; A. Musil, Arabia Fetraea, i (1907), pp. 383 ft'.

^ B. M. C, Palestine, p. xix.

^ Eckhel, iii, p. 503.

^ Drexler in Rosclier, ii, 2728 f., where it is suggested that this is the Semitic god Sin.

'' B.M.C, Palestine, p. 78.

•^ This suggests another possibility: the god may be the Phoenician Eshmun with his sacred serpent, whose worship, on account of the assonance, might well have been considered in place at Heshhun.

"^ Briinnow-Domaszewski, iii, p. 265.

e

XXXIV INTRODUCTION

so-called Pompeiau era was in use on inscriptions there.^ The place is not mentioned in history before Josephus, who says that it was taken by Alexander Jannaeus.^ But one of the Seleucid kings, probably Antiochus IV, who was fond of renaming cities, had previously given it the name of Antiochia t] npo9 rco Xpvaopoa. This is proved by various inscriptions of the second century after Christ, which speak of the inhabitants as 'Avrio\ei9 ol npo^ Xpv(Top6a ol npoTepov Tepacrrjvoi^ ; and by coins of M. Aurelius and L. Verus which bear the same legend abbreviated. These coins are published by Imhoof-Blumer.'* The type of that of M. Aurelius (PI. XLIX. 18) is Tyche, with rudder and cornucopiae, standing, with the emperor (?) togate, standing to front Ijehind her ; that of L. Verus (PI. XLIX. 19) bears Tyche seated on a rock, holding ears of corn, with a figure of the river-god Chrysorrhoas swimming at her feet.

The coins of imperial date belong for the most part, if not entirely, to the period of the city's greatest prosperity in the second century, and extend from Hadrian to Commodus, and perhaps to Severus Alexander.-^ Under the bust on the obverse

' Ibid., p. 303; Schiirer, Gescli. d. jildischen Volkes, ii^ pp. 182 fF.

^ For the history of the place, see G. Schumacher in Zeitschr. d. dentschen Pcdilstina-Vereins, xxv (1902), pp. 119 fF. ; Schiirer, op. cif., pp. 177 ff.

^ Perdrizet, Lettre au B. P. Sejournd in Bev. BihUque, p. 441 (pp. 18 ff. of reprint), shows (1) that Imhoof-Blumer's interpretation of the latter part of the coin-legend as tccv npoi Tepdaois must be corrected as in the text ; (2) that therefore Antiochia ad Chrysorrhoam and Gerasa were identical, not neighbouring places ; and (3) that the Chrysorrhoas is not the river of Damascus and Leucas, but another stream on which Jerash lies, called the Wady Jerash. The most recently found inscription is a Latin one of Hadrian mentioning the place under the title ' Antiochia ad Chrysorhoan quae et Gerasa Hiera et Asylo(s) et Autonomos' (Cheesman in Journ. Bom. Stud., iv (1914), p. 13).

* Bev. Suisse, viii (1898), p. 47 f. Specimens in the market. I have to thank the late Di*. Imhoof-Blumer for casts of these coins, and of a third in the Gotha cabinet on which the inscription is incomplete (M. Aurelius, Tyche seated as on the coin of Verus).

® De Saulcy, Teire Sainte, pp. 385 ff. The coin of Severus Alexander, with a figm-e of Ai'temis as huntress, depends on Sestini's authority only. The coinage probably began on the occasion of Hadrian's visit to Palestine in

ARABIA PEOVINCIA — MED ABA XXXV

of many of the coins of Hadrian are certain unexplained letters, which have been read €AI, A€, Al, i^vC. It does not seem possible to read them as dates, or as part of the title of the emperor.

The prevailing type is the Ijust of Artemis as Tyche of the citj^ (PI. V. 4-6).^ Dedications to the goddess are found among the inscriptions from the site ; the great temple of Gerasa was dedicated to her, not, as formerly supposed, to the Sun.^ The coins throw no light on the other cults of the city -which are revealed by the inscriptions (Zeus Olympios with Hera, Zeus Helios Sarapis with Isis and Necoripa, i. e. Nephthys,'^ the ©eb? 'Apa^tKO^, presumably Dusares, &c.).

MED ABA.

Medaba (Mddaha), chiefly famous for its geographical mosaic,* was not known to have struck coins until Babelon ^ published one of the Hamburger specimens, now in the British Museum (PI. V. 9), and another in the Paris Cabinet, which had been described by de Saulcj' as possibly a coin of Rabbathmoba or Gaba.^ To these coins, which are of Elagabalus, we may now add two dated coins of Caracalla, nos. 1 and 2 (PI. V. 7, 8) in this catalogue, and two

129-30. when a statue of the emperor was erected in the city ; see Bleekmann in Zeifschr. D. P. V., xxxvi, p. 231, and cf. ibid., p. 260 f. ; or it may have been connected with the wintering of eight troops of the Cavahy of the Guard at Gerasa, which Cheesman {Joiirn. Rom. Stud., iv (1914), p. 16) supposes to have taken place in a. d. 132.

^ De Saulcy describes one coin of Hadrian (p. 385, 3 ; Mionnet, v, p. 329, .57) as having the bust placed on a crescent.

- H. Lucas in Mitf. tt. Nachr. des deutschen Palcisfina-Vereins, 1901, pp. 50 flf. ; no. 2 Geci 'Aprf/xtSi ; nos. 3, 5 'ApreiiiSi Kvpia ; no. 4 Qed AaKa[iV7;] iirqKoa 'Apre/xiS*. Schumacher, Zeitschr. D.P.V.. xxv (1902J, p. 130, adheres to the view that the great temple was dedicated to the Sun. For other inscriptions, besides the references given by Schiirer, p. 179, note, see Princeton Univ. Expedition , div. iii, sect. A, part i, p. 18 f.

2 A. J. Reinach, Rev. Et. f/r., 1912, p. 68.

* A. Jacoby, Das geogv. Mosaik von Madaba (1905). On the site see A. Musil, AvaUa Petraea, i (1907), pp. 113-23.

Comptes Rendus de VAcad., 1898, p. 387 = Mel. Num., iii, pp. 251 fF.

' De Saulcy, Ten-e Sainte, p. 358.

XXXVl INTRODUCTION

of Septimius SeverusJ De Saulcy read the coin of Elagabalus in tlie Paris Cabinet . . . BHN TYXH, and Babelon accordingly assumes, for this coin, the ethnic MHAABHNCJN. Possibly the H is a badly formed W. The coins of Septimius Severus, if rightly read, confirm the termination -rji/cou ; but in the illustration given the last three letters NHN are indicated as doubtful^ while in the text the letters [HN] are bracketed. The draughtsman has read the first two letters as MA ; he may be right, since the form MdSa^a is one of the many which the name assumes in literature.

All the other coins read MHAABIIN TYXH. The City-goddess is represented, on three of the four specimens where she appears, as holding a human bust, which has been shown elsewhere to be that of the reigning emperor.- On the fourth the object in her right hand, which is held close to her body, is not distinguishable.

An interesting coin of Septimius Severus, published Ijy R. P. Decloedt, represents Helios (HA I) in a quadriga to front, his head to 1. and his r. hand raised ; the torch which Pere Decloedt says that he holds in his left arm is not shown in the illustration. Behind him appears a double arc which may l)e meant to indicate the heavens.

The coins of Caracalla appear to be dated by the Arabian era, wliicli, as Kubitschek remarks,^ was naturally used by Medaba so long as it belonged to the Arabian province. The dates on the two coins in the British Museum appear to me to be P€ (A. D. 210- 11) rather than PG (a. d. 214-15).

MOCA.

De Saulcy * is rightly doubtful of the existence of coins of Moca. Coins of Antoninus Pius and Septimius Severus were described by Vaillant"' as reading respectively MO K A lEP. ACY. AYTO (City-

^ R. P. Achille Decloedt, Bev. Xum., 1910, p. 532. He mentious a second specimen in the collection of the German Benedictines at Jerusalem. " B. M.C., Palpstine, p. xix.

° Mitth. d. k. k. geog. GeseUsch. hi Wieii, 1900, ]). 369. * Terre Sainte, p. 402. ^ Num. Imp., pp. 44 and 84.

ARABIA PEOVINCIA — PETRA

goddess in tetrastyle temple, in r. spear, in 1, cornucopiae) and MOKA lEP. ACYA. AY (female figure standing, holding poppy- head and corn-ears in r., cornucopiae in 1.). Mionnet^ described similarly a specimen of the former from the Beaucousin cabinet, and a specimen of the latter (with a slight dilTerence in the inscription, MOKA. IE P. A. AYTO) which de Saulcy has shown to be really a coin of Hermocapelia. Yet another autonomous piece attributed to Moca is stated by de Saulcy to belong to Mopsus. The coin of Antoninus Pius has not been verified.-

PETRA.

Petra/ the capital of the Nabataean kingdom, was presumably the chief mint of the Nabataean regal coinage. Its coinage under the Roman empire is of comparatively small interest, and extends only from Hadrian to Geta. The coins show that Hadrian bestowed on the city the titles Hadriana and Metropolis.* The coinage under this emperor must have been considerable in extent, since among the twelve coins in the British Museum only two show the use of a common obverse die.

The chief type is the City-goddess (PI. V. 10, 11, 13-15), who, according to Dalman, is to be identified with Allat-Manatu.' She carries a trophy, and sometimes holds in her other hand other

1 V. p. 586, nos. 40, 41.

- Mr. E. S. G. Robinson suggests that it may be a coin of Dora, with the inscription ACJPA. I€P. ACY. AYTO k.t.X. and a type similar to that of B.M. C, Phoenicia, p. 118, no. 43 (Elagabalus). In the iUustration in Gessnev, Num. Aiit. Ini2). Iiotn.,iA. CU,&gAQ, the word MOKA occupies the same position in the exergue as the word AGJPA on the coin of Elagabalus. and the representation of the temple looks as if the engraver had omitted the gable and one column on each side.

^ See especially Briinnow-Domaszewski, i, pp. 125-428 ; A. Musil, Arabia Petraea, ii (1907), pp. 41 if, ; G. Dalman, Petra u. s. Felslieiligtiimer (1908), and Neue Petra-Forschungen (1912).

^ De Saulcy, pp. 351-3. Perhaps the titles were given on the occasion of a visit by Hadrian in 130. Kubitschek, Num. Zei'., 1916, pp. 185-6.

5 Petra, p. 52.

INTRODUCTION

objects which cannot l)e easily made out. On one coin, the object has been described ^ as a human bust : l)ut it differs little from the object which, on another piece (PI. XLIX. 21),''' looks like a small stele, and may perhaps represent a deity." Usually, however, her right hand is open.* On a coin of Antoninus Pius (PI. V. 13) she is shown sacrificing.'^ The coins throw no light on the cult of Dusares, the chief god of the Arabians, unless the object held by the City-goddess, as above described, is connected with him.

De Saulcj^ has described a series of coins of Elagabalus wliich, if rightly attributed, would show that Petra became a Roman colony in the reign of that emperor. These coins, which are not uncommon,'^ appear always to come from Palestine. The reverse type is a founder (who is onl}^ partly visible) ploughing to r. with two oxen. The inscription in the exergue is COLOM or COLON I (with A sometimes in front of the oxen's forefeet) ; above is PETAA, PETA, or PEXA. The lower bar of the X is, how- ever, apparently the remains of a line drawn to regulate the lettering. The fabric is usually thick and dumpy, entirely un- like anything found at Petra, but resembling that of the smaller coins of places like Caesarea Samariae and Ascalon. Under the circumstances the series cannot j^et be accepted as belonging to Petra.

^ De Saulcy, p. 353.

2 In the market in 1906 ; ohv. AYK YH POCTTE - bust of Severus

r., laureate; in countermark on neck, A; rev. AAPIANHTTET PAMH TPOTTOAIC. City-goddess seated 1. as described in text. Mionnet (v, p. 588, 49) describes a coin of Geta bearing on the obverse € in countermark.

' Cf. the pillar-idols so frequent at Petra ; Dalman, Petra, p. 70.

* Her fingers have apparently been taken for ears of corn by de Saulcy (p. 351, no. 1); and the cornucopiae and palm-branch which have been described as carried by her on some specimens seem to be equally doubtful.

^ Probably also on a joint coin of two Antonine emperors, where de Saulcy describes the reverse type as a pontifex.

•^ De Saulcy mentions three in the Paris Cabinet, two in his own collection (acquired at Jerusalem), and one (under Pella, p. 292, 'Caracalla') from the Clermont-Ganneau collection ; this last is now in the British Museum, which also acquired three others with the Hamburger collection.

ARABIA PROVINCIA — PHILADELPHIA XXXIX

De Saulcy has pointed out that the letters read as PA^ Ijy Pellerin on a coin of Septimius Severus are really MHT. No dated coins of Petra are known.

PHILADELPHIA.

Philadelphia/ the Biblical Rahhah or Rabbath-beiie-'Ammdn, is represented by extensive ruins at 'Aonindn. It acquired its Greek name from Ptolemy Philadelphus, who rebuilt it. Stephanus (s.v. ^iXaSeXcpeta) says that it was called 'Aa-rdpTrj, which may be a confusion with 'Acmpta, since a goddess of this name is proved by the coins to have been worshipped there, and since Eustathius ' actually mentions a city called Asteria in Syria. The coins," which are inscribed 4>IAAA€A<I)GnN KOIAHC CYPIAC, show that the place was included in Coele-Syria, and it is mentioned by Pliny under Decapolis ; but it belonged to the province of Arabia as early as A. D. 138, and doubtless from the constitution of the province.^ It continued, however, to employ the Pompeian era of 63 B. c. at least as late as a. d. 164-5.

The Ammonites in Rabbah as elsewhere worshipped the god Milkom/ and this worship evidently survived into the Roman period, since the Herakles, whose figure ^ or head (often assimilated to the portrait of the Caesar of the time) and sacred chariot appear on the coins, is clearly the ' Tj^'ian Herakles V Molech-Melqarth- Milkom. According to one version,^ the mother of the Tyrian

^ De Saulcy, pp. 386 ff. ; Wroth, B. M.C., Galatia, Sec, pp. Ixxxix, 306; Schiirer, ii*, pp. 189 ff. ; Princeton Univ. Arch. Exped., div. ii, sect. A, part 1, pp. 34 ff. ; div. iii, sect. A, pp. 8 ff.

- Comin. ad Horn. Iliad., 332, 19.

^ Miiller's attribution of Alexandrine coins with <|)| (nos. 1473 ff.) to this mint cannot be accepted.

■• Briinnow-Domaszewski, iii, p. 265 ; Schiirer, ii^ p. 192.

^ According to the LXX, 2 Sam. xii. 30.

•"' De Saulcy, p. 391 (Caracalla, or rather Elagabalus) ; Herakles standing, resting on club, holding lion-skin.

^ Cf the bust on PI. VI. 5 with the coins of Tyre, B. M. C, Phoenicia, pi. XXXVI.

* Cicero, de nat. deor., iii, xvi, 42 ; Athenaeus, ix, 392 d.

Xl INTRODUCTION

Herakles was Asteria, who also is represented and named on the coins, as a veiled goddess with a star surmounting her head ^ (PL VI. 9).

The sacred chariot of Herakles (HPAKAEION APMA),^ which is represented on some coins (PI. VI. 8 and 12), is evidentlj' one of those shrines, whether wheeled or provided with carrying poles, used for carrying an idol or cult-objects in procession, of which Phoenicia pro\'ides various examples.''

The helmeted bust which appears both as an independent type and as an adjunct to the portrait of Antoninus Pius is usually' described as Athena, but appears rather to be male (PI. VI. 7).

Of the other t3'pes of Philadelphia, we may mention the City- goddess (TYXH <I)IAAA€A<I>€IAC), who is depicted in the usual Astarte-like form. The Dioscuri also occur ; the type is probably only an allusion to the name of the city, and does not prove the existence of a cult there. The head of ' Bacchus ', described by Vaillant on coins of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, seems to require verification.* The Herakles types have already been mentioned, but attention should be called to the remarkable coin at Paris of M. AureKus and L. Verus, with the facing bust of the god HPAKAHC holding a club over his shoulder.^ (Here PI. XLIX. 20.)

Of the quasi-autonomous coins described by de Saulcy, his first

^ On the other hand, the veiled goddess on certain quasi-autonomous coins, without a star above her head, is Demeter; for the reverse types associated with her bust are a wicker basket containing two ears of corn between two serpents (PI. VI. 2) and five ears of corn (Mionnet, v, p. 330. no. 61).

- Variously misread by older authorities.

= Jouni. HelJen. Stud., xxxi, pp. 61 ^., pi. HI, 17-19; IV, 25, 34; cf. also the well-known car of the sun-god of Emesa. A temple of Herakles, and possibly also a procession in his honour, at Philadelphia are mentioned in an inscrip- tion: Clerraont-Ganneau, Rev. ArcJi., vi (1905 , pp. 209 ff.

* Perhaps they are coins of the Lydian Philadelphia. Lydian also may be the coin of M. Aurelius and L. Verus showing a figure with extended arms in a distyle temple (Mionnet, v. p. 333, 79) ; possibly Helios, cf. B. M. C, Lydia, p. 199, no. 73.

'•' De Saulcy, pi. XXII, 7. To judge from a cast, it would seem that the surface of the coin has been worked on.

ARABIA PROVIXCIA PHILIPPOPOLIS xli

is a misread coin of Philadelphia in Cilicia,^ and his second appears to be badly preserved and of doubtful attribution. His coin of Agrippina Junior belongs to the Lydian Philadelphia.^ Thus there remain no coins earlier than the reign of Titus. From henceforward until the reign of Elagabalus the coinage is fairly continuous. The coins of Severus Alexander cited by de Saulcy rest on the authority of Sestini only.

PHILIPPOPOLIS.

Philippopolis was founded as a Roman colony by Philip the Arabian. The site is at Shuhba (or Shehha), about 7 kil. north of el-Kanatvdt (Canathal).^ A building which bears inscriptions in honour of members of Philip's family, including his father Julius Marinus, was probably a temple in which the deified Marinus was worshipped.'* Coins struck by Philip commemorate the apotheosis of his father, whose bust is borne by an eagle, and surrounded by the inscription SEH MAPINU (PL VI. 14, 15).'' But the statue of Roma on the coins with the portraits of the two Philips and Otacilia bears in her hand an eagle supporting not one but two small figures (PL VI. 16, 17). These are possibly intended for Marinus and his wife, the mother of Philip, although there is no evidence that she was divinized.'''

' A similar specimen from the Hamburger collection shows that the letters on the reverse are KIH TOJN.

- Imhoof-Blumer, Lt/d. Stacltmunzen, p. 121, no. 29.

^ Briinnow-Domaszewski, iii, pp. 145 ft'. ; Ptiblications of an Amer. Arclmeol. Exped. to Syria in 1899-1900, part ii (1904), pp. 376 ft'. ; iii, pp. 307 ff. ; Kubitschek, Sitzb. Ahid. Wien, Bd. 177, Abh. 4 (1916), pp. 40 ft\ Kubitschek's suggestion that the ancient name may have been Chababa is, he says, rejected by philologists, so far as equation with the modern name is concerned. It is to be presumed that Philip was born in the place where he founded the city (Dessau, Prosopogr., ii, p. 205).

* Briinnow-Domaszewski, ibid., p. 167.

■' See especially Waddington, Jl/e7. de Num., ii, p. 61 f.

'' De Saulcy takes the two figures to be the two Philips ; but the eagle shows that the figures are divinized. Mowat {Rev. Num., 1912, p. 200) is certainly wrong in calling them the Dioscuri.

f

xlii INTRODUCTIOK

The coins of Philippopolis are not dated (though the city used a local era, about a.d. 244, commemorating its foundation).^ Philip gave it the status of a Roman colony, Imt the lack of Latin among the colonists is proved by the use of Greek inscriptions. The letters SC in the field are an attempt to repair the omission, on the analogy of the coins of Syrian Antioch, which likewise used the title KOAIINIA in Greek.

The only reverse types of Philippopolis represent Roma, either standing or seated ; when standing she holds a phiale, when seated the two figures. All the coins were evidently struck at the same time.

RABBATHMOBA.

The ruins of Rabbathmoba, which the Greeks called Areopolis, are at er-Rabha.^ The diflicult question of the relations of the ancient places Ar and Kerioth with Rabbathmoba cannot be dis- cussed here." The following points are, however, to be noted :

Kerioth (Qeriyyoth) was apparently the chief cultus-place of the Moabite god Kemosh (Moabite Stone, G. A. Cooke, iV. Seni. Inscr., p. 3j.

The old name of Areopolis was Ariel {'ApiiqX) : Theodoret, GomTii. in Is., c. 16 and 29 (Migne, ? Pair. Gr.., 81, 275 and 302) ; cf . Hieron., de situ et nomin. locorum Hehr. (Migne, ? Pair. Gr., 23, 162) : some consider Ariel (Isa, xxix. 1) to be Areopolis, ' eo quod ibi usque nunc Ariel idolum colunt, vocatum cctto rod "Apecos, id est a Marte, unde et civitatem dictam suspicantur ' * ; but St. Jerome takes Ariel here

' Briinnow-Domaszewski, iii, p. 805, give 248 ior, more exactly, between 247 and aut. 249). But Kubitschek, loc. cit., shows that Philip founded the colon}^ before he went to Rome, where he amved about summer 244.

'■' Briinnow-Domaszewski, i, pp. 54-9. A. Musil, Aiahia Petraea, i (1907), pp. 370-2, 381.

•' See especiallj' F. Dietrich in Merx, Archiv f. tcias. Erforsch. desA. T., i (1869), pp. 320 ff., and further references in articles Ar and Kerioth in Hastings's Diet, of the Bible.

* Euseb., Onom., p. 58, 13 (ed. Larsow et Parthey) : eVetS') KaXoiaiv els eri Kn'i

viv 'Apir]X TO etSwXoi/ avTcov ol rrjv 'A/J60770X11' OLKOvvm, ano tov aefdnv top Apea, €^ oil Koi Trjv TToXti' o)v6fj.aaav.

ARABIA PROVINCIA RABBATHMOBA xliii

to refer to Jerusalem, Elsewhere {Goinm. la Z*., c. 15, 1) identifying Areopolis with the ancient Ar, he denies tlie derivation from Ares.

The god who is represented on tlie coins of Rabbathmoba is, in the first place, a war-god (PI. VII. 1, 2). But the torch-like altars which flank his figure (they are not ordinary incense altars, since they evidently burn with a large flame) suggest a connexion with fire ; and this is significant in view of the most favoured interpretation of the word 7X1i< as ' altar-hearth '}

But for the statement of Eusebius it would be natural to give the name Kemosh to the deity represented on the coins of Rabbath- moba; and indeed it is possible that Eusebius misunderstood his authority, and applied to the god the name that really belonged to liis fire-altars ; or there may have existed between the god and his altars the same intimate union as seems to be indicated in the case of the Arabian god Dusares and his motab,^ the two being mentioned on an equality. Baethgen^ has already pointed out that Kemosh was probably a war-god.

The coins of Rabbathmoba belong chiefly to Septimius Severus and his family. It may be doubted whether those which are attributed to Antoninus Pius and Gordian III (see de Saulcy) are rightly read ; there is, however, no reason to doubt de Saulcy 's coin of Elagabalus, whose head seems also to occur in countermarks on coins of the city (e. g. no. 3).'*

Besides the type of the war-god, we find on the coins the City- goddess, her left foot on a river-god, resting with her r. on a spear (?), and holding in her 1. the emperor's bust.'' The type of Poseidon used on coins of Caracalla (no. 5) is interesting in con- nexion with the fact that the city seems to have been subject to earthquakes.''

' See G. A. Cooke, Xorfh-Seinific Liftcriptions, ij, 11, quoting Robertson Smith's suggestion that the ^X'lX '"''^^ ^ pillar surmounted by a cresset, which exactly describes the objects on the coins.

- Cooke, op. cit., no. 80, note on 1. 4.

^ Beitrage zur semit. Religionsfjeschichte, p. 14.

* Cf. F. de Saulcy, &c., Mel. de Num., i (1875), p. 338.

5 De Saulcy, p. 355 f., nos. 4-6.

'■ St. Jerome, Coiinii. in Jos., c. 15.

Xliv INTRODUCTION

Readings by Vaillant suggest that the phice-name was some- times written Rabbathmoma, and tins form is also attested by one of the manuscripts of Stephanus.

The era used on the coins is that of the province.

ARABIA FELIX

According to Strabo/ whose information is based on Eratos- thenes, there were four leading tribes in occupation of Southern Arabia : Meipaioi jxev kv rep Trpoy ttji' 'EpvOpav fi^pei, TroAi? 5' avTmv 7] /xeyiaTT] Kdpva \rj KdpvavaY^ i\6fj,ei^0L Se tovtoiv ^a^aioL, /jLrjTpoTToXis 8' avrSiv Mapia^a' rpLTOL Se Karra^avels, KaOrjKovT^s rrpos TO, areva koI ttjv Sid^aaLV rov 'Apa^tov koXttov, to 8e ^aaiXeLov avToou Tafxi/a /caAeirar Trpoy eco Se fidXicrra Xarpa/xcoTiTai, ttoXlv S' eXovaL Sd(3aTau (v. L, Xa^dravov). The absence of the Him- yarites from this list is due to the fact that they did not rise to power until after the time of Eratosthenes. Pliny (vi. 161), on the other hand, mentions the Himyarites, omitting the Katabanians, whose place they had taken. They had already been mentioned {circa a.d. 50-70) by the author of the Periphit^.

Hitherto the coins of Southern Arabia have always been classed together as ' Himyarite '. It will be seen that a more exact term for a great part of them would be ' Sabaean ', and also that there is ground for distinguishing two small groups of coins, one attribut- able to the Minaeans, the other to the Katabanians, although this latter group can only be regarded as subordinate to the main Himyarite series.^

1 xvi. 768. .

'^ Mordtmann's conjecture for the usual reading Kapvavn. The Minaean inscriptions give Qarna'u. The place is the modern Ma'in.

^ The literature of South Arabian archaeology is widely scattered. The following is a selection of the more important works and articles on the numismatics, history, and geography of the district. There is a vast literature

ARABIA FELIX xlv

SABAEAN, HIMYARITE, AND KATABANIAN COINAGES.

Since the rise of the Himyarites to power probably did not take place before the middle of the second century B.C., when their capital at Sapphar regia (Safar, near Yerhn) superseded the old Sabaean capital at Mariaba (Met rib), the earliest series of the coins with which we are concerned should strictly be regarded as Sabaean rather than Himyarite. Nevertheless, the chronology is so uncer- tain, and the series are interlaced in so curious a way, that it is

dealing with the epigraphic remains, and the portion of the Corpus Inscriptiomim Semiticarum which includes the inscriptions is still in progress of publication. W. T. Filter, in Proc. Soc. Bihl. ^rc7i.,xxxix -(1917), has pub- lished an Index of the South Arabian Preiser Names contained in the C. /. S.

Numismatics. Adr. de Longperier, Rev. Num., 1868, pp. 169 fF. ; W. F. Frideaux, Trans. Soc. Bihl. Arch., ii (1873), pp. 5, 6, 23; ibid., Jouni. As. Soc. Bemjal, 1881, pp. 95 fF. ; B. V. Head, Ntm. Chron., 1878, pp. 273 fF. ; 1880, pp. 303 fF. ; J. H. Mordtmann, Num. Zeit., 1880, pp. 289 fF. ; Gr. Schlumberger, Le Trcsor de San\l (Paris), 1880; Rev. Ntim., 1886, pp. 369 fF. ; Casanova, Rev. Nuvi., 1893, pp. 176 fF. ; D. H. Miiller und J. W. Kubitschek, Sudarahische Altertilmer (Vienna), 1899, usually hereafter quoted as ' M. u. K.' ; E. Babelon, Traite des Monnaies grecques et romaines, II, ii, pp. 686 fF. ; G. F. Hill, Ancient Coinage of Southe7-n Arabia, in Proc. Brit. Academy, vol. vii, 1915 (this is the basis of the present section).

History and Geoyraphy.

D. H. Miiller, Burgen und Schlosser Sildarabiens nadi dem Iklil des Hamddni, in Sitzungsber. d. Wiener Akademie, Bd. 94 (1879), pp. 335-423, and Bd. 97 (1880), pp. 955-1050 ; especially pp. 981-96 and 1012-23 of the latter volume ; see also his additions to the lists of kings in Zeitschr. Deutsch. Morg. Ges., 37 (1883), p. 390. E. Glaser, Die Abessinier in Arabien und AfrlJca, 1895. Martin Hartmann, Der Islamische Orient, ii {Die Arabische Frage), 1909, is written from the political and sociological rather than from the historical standpoint. The summary by Tkac in Pauly-Wissowa-Kroll, Realencyclopadie. viii, 2182 fF. (Homeritae), and his immense article 'Saba' in the same work, lA 2, 1298- 1511, may also be consulted. The latter appeared too late for consultation while this section was being written, but has been referred to later. I have been unable to obtain a sight of Fart I of vol. i of Eduard Glaser's Skizze der Geschichte und Geographie Arabiens (Munich, 1889). Vol. ii of the same book (Berlin, 1890) deals with the geography, and I have frequently referred to his more ingenious than convincing theoi-ies ; but the most useful treatment of this subject is still A. Sprenger, Die alte Geographie Arabietts (Bern, 1875).

Xlvi INTKODUCTION

very difficult to draw any line between them. Roughly speaking, we may assume that the earliest coins, which are direct imitations of the earlier Attic coinage, belong to the Sabaean period, while the later, flat coins (of that which we may for convenience call the San'a class},^ with a reverse type derived from the Attic coinage of the ' New Style ', the small coins with names and heads of various kings, and the ' l:>ucranium ' series must certainly belong to the Himyarite period. But there are certain single coins, or small groups, which, although in fabric and types they look fairly early, seem by their monograms and inscriptions to be intimately con- nected with the San'a class, apparently so much later.

The following is an attempt at a provisional classification of the various series.

I. Imitations of the Older Attic Types.

a. Ohv. Head of Athena. Hev. Owl, with olive-spray, crescent, and AGE, more or less blundered ; traces of incuse square on some specimens [Pl. VII. 3-8].

The largest coins which appear to belong to this class are repro- ductions of the Athenian tetradrachm ; the only specimens known to me are at Berlin.-^ One is countermarked on the obverse with X (Sabaean H) and A ; another has something like a Sabaean mono- gram (possibly meant for m reversed, wnth [^ below it) scratched on the reverse.

But these large coins are quite exceptional, and we are justified

' Since the great majority, if not all, of the known specimens in silver seem to have come from the great board discovered there and described by Schlumberger, Le Tresor de Sana (Paris, 1880). The place-name, correctly written, is Sau'd.

' D. H. Miiller and J. W. Kubitschek, Si'idarahlsche Altertiimer (Vienna), 1889, p. 76, I, nos. 474 and 183-7. All these coins were brought from South Arabia by Glaser or Mordtmann. It may be mentioned here that the imitation, in a different style, of an Attic coin bearing the name of Mazaeus, which is attributed by Babelon {Traite, ii, p. 679, no. 1095) to Yemen, has nothing to do with that district ; the supposed Irqih which is read on it is not a Himyarite letter, whatever it may be. Cf. Newell in Ani<r. Journ. Num., 1915, p. 70.

ARABIA — SABAEANS AND HIMYARITES xlvii

in regarding as the ordinar}^ unit the smaller coins of 5-55 gm. maximum.^

These units all show the Sabaean 3 on the cheek of Athena ; the halves, when legible, are similarly marked with Jl ; the quarters with n,^ the eighths with ^. The same system appears to be followed on the series next to be described. On the San'a coins, however, we find the halves marked sometimes with ) (p. 58, no. 22), sometimes with ^ (p. 58, nos. 18-20, and Schlumberger, PI. II, 23, 31 ; III. 47), while a cross (which may be meant for n, though that is not certain) occurs on the reverse of some of the San'a units (e.g. no. 36 and Schlumberger, PI. III. 48, 49) which have J on the obverse. The h ( S) which is found on one half (no. 40, cp. Schlum- berger, PI. III. 56) may perhaps be really f ()!). Schlumberger has suggested that the J is the initial of Nejran {Neypaua). But if he is right, it would seem to follow that the other letters mentioned above are also mint-initials,^ and that, at least in the earliest period, the four difierent denominations were issued from four different mints. If this seems improbable, it is, for the following reasons, equally difficult to accept the view, which suggests itself upon the consideration of the earlier series, that the letters are the initials of denominations. Schlumberger records (p. 22) an early Attic tetradrachm which has been countermarked with a Sabaean !•* and, as already stated, the J is found on halves of the San'a class. We have also seen that the Berlin Museum possesses'' a piece of about the weight of the Attic tetradrachm (16-95 gm.), imitated from the earlier Attic types, with two countermarks, viz. X and A, of which the former may be the Himyarite D ; and this letter, as we have seen, is found on the quarters.

^ The standard is discussed below (pp. Ixxixff.).

- Except one published by ^rovdtmann, Xioii. Zeit., 1880, p. 293, Taf. V, no. ii, which appears to have O (y).

^ For J, the city of "J^^, associated in an inscription with Nejran, has been suggested (see C.I.S., iv, 7i.

* It must be remembered that the Sabaean ^ is hardly distinguishable from the same letter in some other Semitic scripts.

5 M. u. K., p. 76, no. 474.

xlviii INTRODUCTION

The coins of the class with which we are dealing bear nothing Sabaean or Himyarite about them save their style and the letter on the cheek of Athena (the ' tetradrachms ' at Berlin being with- out even the latter distinguishing mark of Arab origin). They still retain traces of the incuse square, and were dated by Head ' about 400 B.C. It is, however, clear from the treatment of the eye that they are imitated from the comparatively late Attic coins which may themselves be dated to the fourth century (c. 393-322 B.C. according to Head).'^ The earliest imitations themselves are scarcely earlier than the third century.^

/3. Similar to series a, but slightly broader in fabric and later in style ; on the reverse, Sabaean letter or monogram ; traces of incuse square rarely if ever present (PI. VII. 9-23). The units, halves, and quarters are marked with the same letters as in series a ; no eighths seem to be known.

These coins must cover a fairly long period of time ; for in proportion to the number of specimens known (the collections in London and Vienna provide all or nearly all of them), the number of varieties is comparatively large, at least nineteen different letters or monograms being represented ; while to strike the thirty-eight specimens of the unit in the British Museum alone about twenty- nine obverse and twenty-seven reverse dies were required. The series may be dated to the second century B.C. The lower limit is furnished by the fact that some coins which resemble this series in fabric and style are intimately connected by monograms and in- scriptions with the flat coins of the San'a class.

The following letters or monograms occur on coins of this series ; I record only those of which I have seen originals, casts, or clear photographs : —

(1) ^ r= ^. B, M. p. 48, nos. 24-5.

(2) U = 2:. B. M. nos. 26-7.

' iium. Chron., 1880, p. 310. • Hist. Nmn.\ p. 374.

" I do not speak of the ' tetradrachms ', having seen none of those at Berlin, but of the units and smaller denominations.

(-) )r1 =

ARABIA — SABAEANS AND HIMYARITES xHx

(3) g = h B. M. DOS. 28-35.

(4) "J^D-^^ B. M. nos. 36-7.

(5) r = ^ - y. B. M. nos. 38-40. Cp. M. u. K. nos. 24, 25.

(6) )§ = "I ^ D ^ n. B. M. nos. 41-3 and Pbilipsen Collection (Hirscb,

Katal XXV, 3072). Cp. the place ^» (Khamir) described as a strong fortress by Al-Hamdani (M. u. K., p. 93).

") + ^^ + ^. B. M. nos. 44-5.

(8) J = /!:^"T + ^ B. M. nos. 4G-7, 62.

(9) f^ = n(V)^p + n(?). B. M. nos. 48-50. (10)|| = -1 + V B. M. nos. 51-3.

(11) 'J^^^S^-I + X. B. M. nos. 51-3.

(12) -(7| = ^ + n(:) + X or y + n + X. B. M. no. 63. Cp. M. u. K.

no. 23 (Taf. XIV. 12).

(13) ^ = X + (?) + V B. M. no. 66.

(14) ^ ^?, and ^ M. u. K. nos. 8-1 1 ; Babelon, Traite, PL CXXVI.

10. 11. The letters J^, "J, and ^ seem to be common to all three.

(15) \n=") + ^ + n- See M. u. K. no. 26. This also occurs on coins of

the San'a class, and Mordtmann {Xum. Zeit., 1880, p. 305) suggests that it gives the name .»^a. (Hadur) of a mountain and castle between San'a and Kaukeban.

(16) Si = ^ + J + i or * + {< (cp. no. 13 above). M. u. K. no. 26. The

additional sign there given beside the monogram is the curved sign Avhich occurs on so many coins and which is discussed below. In fact this coin is one of the links between the earliest and the San'a class.

(1') ij = ^or y) + )|3 + 1. Paris, Babelon, Traite, 1118, PI. CXXYI. 12.

(18) An incomplete monogram of which the only certain element is

g(n). M. U.K. no. 16.

(19) Hy ^ 1 + ? B. M. nos. 54-7; Vienna, M. u. K. nos. 12, 15, 16.

g

INTRODUCTION

This last group has been the subject of considerable discussion.

Mordtmann ^ explains the right-hand sign as Pf or H, which ordinarily take the forms U and y,- He notes that these two signs, sometimes in reversed order, are frequently found in lapidary inscriptions, now at the end, now at the beginning of the inscription. They remind him of the unexplained AjJajL* >— s^^^ which precedes certain passages in the Koran. It is to be noted that this group of signs is not confined to this particular series, but also occurs on the small transitional group to be discussed below, and on the earlier of the San'a series. Schlumberger -^ suggests that it is the mark of the unit (drachm). As it occurs so irregularly, this explanation may be at once rejected. Casanova,^ who pub- lishes an interesting lapidary instance, where it is combined with the ' gazelle-bucranium ' to be discussed later, thinks it has some religious significance. The fact that the sign is uniformly on a larger scale than its accompanying "1 seems to me to show that it is not an ordinary letter, but some special symbol. It is possibly a degenerate pictograph derived from the bucranium and associated with 'Athtar ^ ; but still more probable appears to me the deriva- tion from the Babylonian twin-serpent sceptre. The earliest example ^ of the twin-serpent-sceptre onotif is found on a libation vase in the Louvre of dark green steatite dedicated by Gudea. patesi of Lagash, to Ningishzida, his patron deity, about 2450 b.c.'^ Ningishzida in his chief aspect was a war-god and a Sumerian prototype of the god Ninib in his later character, whose emblem

1 Num.Zeit., 1880, p. 299 f.

'^ On the coins, in this connexion, the form is never M or ^ ; and probably also never in the lapidary instances (see O. Weber in Hilprecht Anniversary Volume, 1909, p. 271).

^ Tresor de San'd, p. 20.

* Rev. Num., 1893, p. 181. I may note here that the supposed Himyarite signs which he finds on some early Arab coins of Syria appear to me to be, ■without the slightest doubt, misread Arabic inscriptions.

^ This suggestion is not new ; see C. I. S., iv, no. 366, p. 12.

^ I owe what follows to my late colleague, Professor L. W. King.

' L. Heuzey, Catal. des AntiqtiiUs chaldeennes, 1902, p. 280 ; the same, Decouverles en Chaldee par E. de iSarzec, vol. ii. 1912, PJ. 44.

ARABIA — SAEAEAKS AND HIMYARITES 11

was the twin lion-headed sceptre ; so that the twining serpents with natural heads are the direct ancestors of the lion-headed serpents of the later emblem, as we get it, for instance, on a boundary-stone of Nazimaruttash,^ about 1330 B.C. I take it that the wavy form generally assumed by the tail of the Sabaean sign in question is a relic of the spirals of the serpents' tails.

The other sign, as I have said, is usually, if not always repre- sented of the same size as the ordinary letters of the inscription, and is doubtless only "1. Weber and the editors of the G. I. S., how- ever, regard it as a special symbol, the former elaborating a most ingenious theory, which identifies it with the double curved symbol which occurs so frequently upon the later coins (see below). If he were right in this last identification, then (1) the voided and solid forms of the curved symbol must be distinguished, because (2) the solid form, at least, of the curved symbol occurs occasionally in connexion v:itli and in addition to the group of signs which we are discussing. (See, for instance, p. 54, nos. 2 fi". in this Catalogue.) But that the solid and voided forms of the curved symbol cannot be distinouished in significance is clear from the fact that both are used iudiff"erently in the same context on coins of the San'a class.

y. In a small group of coins, comprising two specimens at Vienna,^ one at Paris (PL L. 1), and one in the British Museum (PI. VII. 24), we find on the obverse, instead of the head of Athena, a beardless male head with curly hair, in which the Viennese scholars see a resemblance to the portrait of Philetairos on Pergamene coins. To me, if it is a copy of anything, it seems to reproduce rather the Soter portrait on Ptolemaic coins and CjTrenaic didrachms of the Ptolemaic period ^ ; but it is probably an attempt at a por- trait of a local ruler. That is surely true of the heads on the

' HUpredit Anniversary Volume, p. 274, Fig. 7.

2 M. u. K., p. 63, II, nos. 1, 2.

^ Mr. Robinson sees another trace of Ptolemaic influence in the similarity between the head on the Himyarite coins of the Bucranium class (PI. X. 12 £F.) and the bewigged head of Libya on late Cyrenaic copper with a Ptolemy's title ; but I should regard this as a coincidence, since the ringlets are a characteristic Arabian coiffure. See below on the head of the Sana coins.

lii INTRODUCTION

succeeding group. There is no letter on the cheek. The owl is more erect than on the series a and /3, and A0E is ab.sent. The monograms are more elaborate, and there are two on each coin. That on the right of the second Vienna coin is the same as appears on the Paris and London coins, which are incomplete on the left. The Paris coin shows a 3 below the right-hand monogram, which thus consists of Jl-f-y + ^ + ^ + fi. The left-hand monogram, judg- ing from the photographs, consists of Jj f (^^) with q (i) above ; but Mliller and Kubitschek draw it as a more elal)orate com- bination.^

S. On this group (PI. VII. 25-6) the Attic types have disappeared. On the obverse we have a beardless portrait of pronouncedly Semitic character. On the reverse is a much less characteristic head, bearded. The curly-haired Semite of the obverse connects this group, which is represented, so far as I know, onl}^ by the two half-drachms in the British Museum, with group y. On the reverse

of no. 71 we have the monogram ^■V which contains the same elements as a monogram which is found on one of the two coins of group y at Vienna.^ On the other coin we have in the exergue the name Harb, on the left a mutilated monogram (possibly the same as that just mentioned), and on the right another monogram rh. well-known on later Katabanian coins, some of which were also struck at Harb (see below, p. Ixxv), We may therefore perhaps regard these two groups, y and 8, as representing the earliest Kata- banian coinage, which developed, side by side wdth the coinage of the San'a class, into the later coinage with the full names of kings.

€. The latest of the coins imitated from the older Attic coins (PI. VII. 27-9) retain the old types, the i on the cheek of Athena

^ The apparent lower part of the monogram on the Viennese coin, Taf. xiv, 13 (Babelon, Traite, PI. CXXVI. 21), is evidently only clue to double striking of the monogram. The n doubtless has the same significance here as when it occurs on the cheek of Athena.

^ M. u. K., p. 68, no. 1, omitting the ) which, from the photograph, seems to me to be very doubtful.

ARABIA — SABAEANS AND HIMYARITES liii

for the units, the broken-down A0E and the pair of signs \^ V

on the reverse ; but they introduce certain new features, viz. the Yanaf monogram, the curved sign (see p. Ivii f.), and the very- puzzling inscription ppT>\/T)\\} One of these coins in the British Museum (PL VII. 29) appears to have a bare male head on the obverse, instead of the head of Athena ; but in its present condition this is not certain.

The monogram ^ (= &|]3^ Yanaf) represents a regal surname ('exalted'). Mordtmann^ has remarked that this name occurs as the surname of three kings of Saba, all called Samah'ali ; of a king whose name is missing on an inscription of Sapphar," and elsewhere ; while in the form IANAA<t> it is inscribed on one of the later Aethiopic coins. Mordtmann further notes that since the word has no significance in Aethiopic, the equation IANAA<i> = f\y helps to confirm Von Gutschmid's theory that of the two names which occur on the Axumite coins one represents the under-king of Yemen. It is obvious that all the Sabaean or Himyarite coins with the Yanaf monogram are not necessarily to be attributed to one ruler on account of that monogram only. Nevertheless, it would be un- reasonable on the ground of fabric alone to separate the coins of the group now under consideration from those of the San'a class which are connected with them by the Yanaf monogram, the Aramaic inscription, and the pair of signs \^ V. We may, there- fore, attribute them to the same ruler, to whom must be due the introduction of the coinage imitated from the ' New Style ' Attic coins.

To the elucidation of the Aramaic inscription I am unable to contribute anything definite, Mordtmann (loc. cit.) holds that it

' For convenience I call this henceforward the Aramaic inscription. M. u. K., p. 67, no. 14, give an additional letter on the right, which is. however, the remains of the A of the A0E.

- mm. Zeit., 1880, p. 296 f. ; Z. D. M. G., xxxi, p. 90.

^ 'Amdan Bayyin, who struck coins at Sapphar (Raidan), was also called Yanaf (see below, p. Ixx) ; may his then be the missing name ?

liv INTRODUCTION

should be inverted, and reads it Vlagash, i.e. Volagases, an Arsaeid name. He points out that the writer of the Periplus Maris Erythraei says that part of the coast of Hadramaut and the island Massyra (Sarapidis insula) belonged to Persia, so that Yemen may have been in relation with Persia before Sassanian times. Never- theless, his reading is improbable for at least two reasons. First, the position of the Yanaf monogram and other details of the design show that the inscription should be read as here printed, and not outwardly. Second, the two letters on the extreme left cannot reasonably be given different values. The general character of the script recalls the Characenian Aramaic.^ It might accordingly be read nunyri)! (g-t-'-t-h-h).^ It is possible that the inscription indicates the intrusion from the neighbourhood of the Persian Gulf of some conqueror, who ruled in Yemen for a time, and introduced the new style of coinage. But if so, why did he retain the distinc- tive Sabaean or Himyarite Yanaf monogram on his coins 1 Another possibility is that the inscription was added to the coins by a native ruler in order to facilitate commerce with some tribes who used the script in question.

II. Imitations of the Later Attic Type.

San'a class (PI. VIII-X. 11).

As stated above, the change from the old to the new Attic type probably took place during the reign of a single ruler ; nevertheless,

^ See the alphabet given by Drouin, Rev. Num., 1889, PI. VII.

'^ Col. Allotte de la Fuye has been kind enough to give me his views on this subject in a letter. He regards the inscription as Aramaic, and the last two letters as more probably T^T) than nn ; the first letter may possibly be {i^ (since it sometimes approaches the Estranghelo form for that sound). He adds that Schlumberger's attempt to recognize Sabaean letters in this inscrip- tion must not, however, be lightly set aside ; it may be a cursive form of Sabaean writing. From this point of view he suggests YTnirin ~ ^^^n^J^? noting that for tp the form Y is actually found in some Sabaean inscriptions, and V in Abyssinian. But it would be odd to find a cursive form like this side by side with monograms showing the ordinary monumental forms.

ARABIA — SABAEANS AND HIMYARITES Iv

for purposes of classification it seems better to keep the two types separate. HeacP dates the coins of the San'a class as follows:

Group with Arab head on obv., Aramaic inscription and monograms

on rev. (PI. VIII. 2-8). Circa 70-40 B.C. Group with similar obv., monograms only on rev. (PI. VIII. 9-IX.ll).

Circa 40-24 B.C. Group with Augustan head on obv., monograms on rev. (PL X.1-11).

After circa 24 b.c.

This classification is generally much more acceptable than that of Schlumberger,* It is true that the Attic coinage of the New Style by no means came to an end, or was even seriously restricted, under Sulla, as was formerly supposed; we now know that it went on until the time of Augustus. But the rule that a barbarous imita- tive coinage begins when the supply of originals falls off must not be rigidly interpreted. It would, for instance, be inconsistent to insist on this rule, in order to find a date 2^081 quein for the earliest San'a type, and yet fix the adoption of the later type, with the Augustan head^ by the expedition of Aelius Gallus in 24 B. c. But if the rule applies at all here, it is worthy of notice that the supply of the New Style Attic coinage shrank considerably during the periods circa 146-100 and 100-86 B.C. According to the latest chronology ^ of these coins we find that in

Class I, circa 229-197 B.C., there are 17 series

II. „	196-187 B.C.,	9
Ilia, „	186-147 B.C.,	31
ni/3, „	146-100 B.C.,	14
IV a, „	100-88 B.C.,	9
IV A „	86-Augustus ,	30

The time of greatest scarcity of Attic coinage was therefore from 146 to 86 B.C., and the date of the beginning of the corresponding Himyarite coinage may fall within this period.

1 Num. Chron., 1880, p. 310.

- Le Tresor de San^A (Paris, 1880).

3 Head, Hist. Num.\ pp. 380 ff.

Ivi INTRODUCTION

If, on the other hand, ignoring tliis rule, we seek to associate the reform with some event in Himyarite history, we may find it in the inauguration of the Himyarite era in 115 b. c.,^ a date which, curiously enough, corresponds to within a single year with the middle of the period 146-86 B.C. It appears to me quite reason- able, on grounds of style, to place the accession of the ruler repre- sented by the Aramaic inscription about this time, and to date the San'a coins with that inscription during the period circa 115- 80 B.C. The other San'a coins with the Arab head may then be dated circa 80-24 B.C.; and the Augustan type during the last quarter of the century and the first half of the first Christian century.

The head on the obverse of the pre-Augustan San'a coins is seen by its head-dress to be that of an Arab king or god. The encircling of the type by a wreath has been referred by Schlum- berger to Seleucid coins,^ and the strange border made up of small vases to the fillet-border on the same series ; and there are no chronological objections to this view. The resemblance of the ringletted head to certain heads on Ptolemaic and Roman coins is doubtless purely a coincidence. It is indeed remarkable that there are so few signs on the coinage of this district of that Ptole- maic influence, which is so evident in Nabataea. Possibly, how- ever, the weight of the gold coin discussed below may point to a connexion with Egypt.

It is exceedingly difficult to decide whether the head ^ represents a god or a ruler. The features on one coin (PI. VIII. 2) are curiously like those of Obodas III of Nabataea in general effect. The face on another (PI. VIII. 3) shows a very different individuality. It is

^ Glaser, Skizze der Gesch. Arabiens, i, as quoted by Mordtmann in Z.D.M. G., xliv (1890), p. 175.

2 Cp. the coins of Demetrius I (162-150 B.C.); B.M.C., Seleucid Kings, PL XIV. 2.

^ The coins are sometimes so badly double-struck as to give the appearance of two heads jugate. This is seen, for instance, in PI. VIII. 10 and IX. 5, and doubtless the coin in the E. F. Weber Collection (Hirsch, Kaicd., xxi, 4331) was similar.

ARABIA HIMYAEITES Ivil

probable that both gods and rulers would be represented in the same sort of head-dress, even to the wearing of the ornament (globe-in-crescent) which appears on the head in some specimens, and which is doubtless the symbol of the moon-god.^

The more important groups of the coins of the San'a class may be classified as follows ^ :

A. With Arab head.

a. Gold and Silver with monogram of Yanaf. (P. 54, no. 1, PI. VIII. 1). The British Museum specimen is the only known gold coin of this class ; another gold piece at Berlin is catalogued by Milller and Kubitschek " in tlieir sixth class, i. e. among the later coins with two heads. Its reverse is described as a clumsy attempt at a cornucopiae ; can this be the curved sign f which we shall discuss presently ?

The weight of our coin is 2-48 gm. = 38-3 gn. This maj perhaps be regarded as one-third of a Phoenician didrachm of 7-44 gm. It is possible that Egyptian gold coins may have been in circulation in Yemen. As we know nothing of the ratio prevailing between gold and silver, it is wiser not to speculate on the question of the value of this gold coin in silver units.

Although it does not bear the mysterious Aramaic inscription, this coin is connected with the groups which do bear it by its fabric, the Yanaf monogram, and the curved sign* which appears in so many varying forms on the remaining Himyarite coins. This same sign, often resembling a sort of ribbon, is found also in

^ Compare the coins of Carrhae (PI. XII. 3, &c.). The globe in a crescent is found on various inscribed Himyaritic stones, as C. /. S., iv, 226, 285, 362.

^ I have been obliged to omit some of the varieties described by Mliller and Kubitschek, owing to their not being illustrated.

3 p. 78, no. 216. Wt. 0-31 gm., i. e. J of our coin.

* I regard all the forms, whether voided (i-ibbon-like) or solid, as variations of the same sign ; for both voided and solid forms occur in precisely the same I'elation to the other details of monogram,&c.(e. g. p. 62f.,nos. 44-8j. Otherwise, since in one series we find the solid form on one side of the coin and the voided form on the other, it might have seemed that they represent two different signs.

h

Iviii INTRODUCTION

lapidary inscriptions,' and has been regarded as a non-significant terminal or initial sign, or even as a misunderstood or degenerate cornucopiae, derived from a symbol on some Attic coin which started the fashion. Neither explanation will stand in view of the fact that the object occurs alone as a symbol in the field of certain coins, and of the importance which is assigned to it in the lapidary inscriptions. The editors of the C. I. >S'.^ see in it the symbol of a deity, possibly Ilmaqah or Ilmuqah.^ It occurs on a remarkable little inscribed stone,* a dedication to 'Athtar and Sahr, with four other symbols, thus (from r. to 1.): ' gazelle-bucranium ', dragon's head, curved symbol, a second smaller bucranium, and the stan- dard (?) sign to be discussed later. Since Ilmaqah is not mentioned in this dedication, the curved sign can hardly be regarded as exclusively, if at all, his symbol. Weber's '^ theory that the voided form of this symbol is only another form of the sign for "l is not tenable for reasons already given. The late Prof. L.W. King has here again solved the difliculty, so far as tracing the origin of the object is concerned ; for it is exactly like the curved weapon, consisting of three or more strips bound together, which is held, for instance, by King Eannatum on his stele in the Louvre.^

It seems doubtful whether the other gold coins which according to rumour have been found in Yemen were Himyaritic." Mordt- mann ® quotes Cruttenden as saying that rectangular gold coins were often offered for sale by shepherds in the neighbourhood of Marib, and Mohl for the story of the finding in the same place of

1 e.g., M. u. K., Taf. IX, 23; Bh-ch, PI. Ill (in the margin); 36, PI. XVII; C.I.S., iv, 2, Tab. IV, no. 393. ^ Commentary on iv, no. 366, p. 11 f.

* On this deity see D. Nielsen, Mitt. d. Vorderas. Ges., 1909, 4.

* C.I.S., iv, 458. This is in the Marshall Hole Collection at Bulawayo. ® Hilprecht Annivei'sary Volume, p. 276 f.

^ L. Heuzey, C. R. de I' Acad. d. Inscr., 1908, p. 418, fig. B ; Catal. des Antiqu.ifes chakUennes, pp. 102 ff. ; Decoiivertes en Chaldee, vol. ii, 1912, PI. 3 bis.

■^ Capt. W. H. Lee-Warner, however, assures me that he has seen some Himyaritic gold coins in the possession of a dealer at Aden.

8 Num. Zeif., 1880, p. 289.

ARABIA — HIMYARITE8 Hx

a chest full of gold coins, which were melted down. There is no reason to suppose that any of these last were Himyaritic rather than Persian or Aethiopic. As to the rectangular gold coins, they must be something otherwise quite unknown ; for the gold mohurs of Akbar never, to our knowledge, circulated in those parts.

In the same class as the gold coin must be placed the silver coins at Vienna of the same style, viz. a half (2-38 gm.) and a minute denomination (0-16 gm.).^ These have the same symbols as the gold, and the larger one, at any rate, is exactly similar in other details (reverse border with pellet in crescent at top). The larger silver denomination has not yet been found.

All the remaining coins of the San'a class are of silver, and of fairly good quality.

p. (PI. VIII. 2-10). The distinguishing marks of this group are the Yanaf monogram ; inscr. PpT)\/T)\\ ; AGE (blundered) ; and

the group of signs H (oi' H) Y () ^^ of which have been discussed above.

The remains of AGE and the inscr. pPTiVDS^ hereafter dis- appear from the coins ; so do the signs \f\ V, but the curved symbol remains. '

y. Monograms : 9 = Yanaf.

M. u. K., p. 69, no. 1, Taf. XIV. 15.

S. Monograms the same as on preceding, but, in addition, on 1. J^ (= Jb + *1 + *1); on r., ^ attached to the bottom of the ^, thus j^. M.u. K., p. 69, no. 5, Taf. xiv. 18 ; p. 76, no. 218. With the former of the additional monograms, cp. the place Medr or Madar in the Hamdan district, where there were no less than fourteen castles : Sprenger, Alte Geogr. Arab., p. 221 ; C. I. S., iv. 5 ; M. u. K., p. 94 (from Al-Hamdani),

' M. u. K., p. 69, nos. 10 and 8, Taf. XIV. 22 and 19.

Ix INTRODUCTION

0 e. Monograms the same as on y, l)ut, in addition, on 1. ft

= C?) + !] + "1 + 7 (the upper sign is given differently b}^ Kubitschek); on r., the same elements as in the right-hand monogram of 5 (i.e. * + i + ^ + 7 + ^) differently arranged. M. u. K., p. 69, no. 12, Taf. XIV. 20.

\

\

^. Monograms :

= n + l + ^ + J. The i is perhaps not part of the mono- gram, but the separate letter which occurs frequently on this class. See, e.g., p. 57, no. 16.

as on 8, and below it ]Jp = *l + 23 + ^ ; cp. (jl Ijelow. The name may be Shammar (Shammar Yuhar'ish was king of Saba and Raidan ^ : cp. G. I. S., iv. 407) ; but there was also a place-name *12/'D, C.I. 8., iv. 376, 1.9. M. u. K., p. 69, no. 6.

7]. On obverse, behind the head, ^. On rev., monograms T7 O + i + zb) reversed and another probably the .same as the second on C- M. u. K., p. 69, no. 13, Taf. XIV. 31 ; cp. p. 76, no. 190. The first monogram occurs on coins of the Bucranium class (see p. 64 f .)

0. (PI. VIII. 11, 12.) Monograms :

nr = D + Jl + J (according to Muller - ^ + '^5 + ^ + ^ = Arabic J.-Jo, sic, for J^ ?).

tId

t, K. (PI. IX. 1-6) . Monograms :

= 7Xy*T^ (Yada'il) according to Prideaux"; this is

^ But according to Glaser {Die Abessinie7; p. 31) a dated inscription shows that he reigned as late as A. d. 281, and was also the first who was king of Hadramaut and Yemanat as well as of Saba and Raidan. The monogram on the coins cannot therefore be his.

^ Biirgen u. ScMosser, as above, p. 995, note.

' See Muller, Burgen u. Schlossei; ibid.

h

ARABIA — HIMYAEITES Ixi

accepted by Miiller and Mordtinanu.^ It is the name of five kings of Saba.^ (PI. IX. 7-9). Monograms :

\h = ^ivn, Hadur, according to Mordtmann (p. 305), a

castle and mountain between San'a and Kaukeban. Un- fortunately for this identification, this same monogram occurs on coins of King 'Amdan Bayyin which bear the mint-name of Raidan in full ; it therefore probably repre- sents a personal and not a place name.

as above (i, k).

These two monograms occur together on one group of the coins with the Augustan head. We may therefore regard this group (X) as the latest of the pre-Augustan series.

yu. (PL IX. 11.) On this solitary coin, differing somewhat in workmanship from the others, the head is not laureate, and the

monograms are unusuall}^ elaborate. One of them £/ combines

n + ^ + *l + J, but the last may be merely the f^ which is found on so man}^ of these coins, so that the same name may be intended as

in A. The other & includes 5 + J + * in its upper portion and

1(?) + f2+^ in its lower. Cp. ^ above. B. With Augustan head.

f. Of this series, the first group must be that with the same monograms as on A preceding.^ (PI. X. 1, 2.) i- (PI. X. 3-11). Monograms :

/jij = * + ^< + 7 + fi + tJ^; perhaps also i + l + V. This is also found on the Bucranium class. Muller interprets ^y hi<V^\ Mordtmann h^^^^ or S^<S?3t^'^^

1 Num. Zeit, 1880, p. 304.

^ Muller. Burgen n. Schlosser, as above, p. 983.

^ M, u. K,, Taf. XIV. 53, has these monograms, but the *^ attached to the left- hand one has not been noticed by the editors.

* Muller, Burgen u. Schlosser, as above, p. 995, note ; Mordtmann, Num. Zeit., 1880, p. 306.

Ixii INTRODUCTION

T A monogram somewhat resembling this (but with a * added) is found on a stone (C. /. /S'. iv. 7, pp. 19 and 450) of which the editors say, ' primo adspectu apparet in lapidem titulum monetae esse translatum '. They suggest that it may be for ^7N*n, the name of a coin. It seems to me that the monogram may be read Tlfli^, which is the name of the Sabaean castle Salhin, near Marib.^ But, like Hadur, it also occurs on a coin which bears the mint- name of Raidan (see p. Ixxi).

III.

There remain two more series of Himyaritic coins, that with the names of kings and a human head on each side, and that with the king's head on one side and an animal's head on the other.^ The latter may be dealt with first, since they have certain points of connexion with the San 'a class. Thus the monograms on nos. 1-23 are found also on coins of the San'a class (see above ^ and r]}.

The other monograms which I have noted are ^ = ^ + n + XD+/

(nos. 24-33, and M. u. K., p. 77, no number)^; ^ — '>+'^ + h+^ or

^ + y + n (nos. 34-5); ^ == * + :j + (?) + tJ^ (M.u. K., p. 77, no. 196) ; and

^ = -l(?^) + n + J + l + p + n (M. u. K., p. 78, no. 195), which is apparently only the monogram on our nos. 36-7 without the ^. A variety of our nos. 17-23 at Paris has the head on the obv. to r. (here PI. L. 2). All the coins of this class show the curved sign in two forms, the solid form on the obverse, the voided one on the reverse. Ihe border on the reverse looks like a deaenerate

1 C. I. S., iv, 289, V 15 ; 308, v. 13 ; cp. Mordtmann, Z. D. M. G., xxxi, p. 65.

- Coins of this class were first published by Schlumberger in Rev. Num., 1886, p. 370 f. ; then (the same specimens) by Casanova, Fer. Niint., 1893, p. 183.

^ A specimen of this variety at Paris shows also a ^ on the obverse below the head (here PI. L. 3). A *\ also occurs in the same place on a Paris specimen, otherwise similar to nos. 8 ff. (except that the monogram on the reverse is on the right).

ARABIA HIMYARITES Ixiii

descendant of the amphora Ijorder on the San'a class. The other sign, like a standard, on the obverse is probably not a monogram, but some sort of religious symbol. It occurs in the relief of the five symbols dedicated to 'Athtar and Sahr mentioned above (p. Iviii) and also in inscriptions (e.g. Brit. Mus., no. 102,460).^

A small coin at Vienna (M. u. K., no. 12, Taf. XIV. 28) omits the ordinary types on both sides, and bears only the monograms or symbols.

The metal of these coins is often comparatively poor ; there is a large proportion of base coins in the Vienna series.^

The curious type of the reverse is evidently connected with the animals' heads carved on certain of the inscribed stones from Yemen. Thus at Vienna ^ we find two bucrania, each with a sort of plume between the horns, and a somewhat similar bucranium occurs on a stone at Paris already mentioned.^ Stylized bucrania also form the decoration of another Vienna stone.^ On the altar in the British Museum ^ the design is simplified into almost pictographic form.'^ Casanova has noticed that the head on the Paris stone resembles a bull in its muzzle and a gazelle in its horns. There can be little doubt that it is the sacred beast of some deity, probably 'Athtar, as D^renbourg has suggested, since on some of the inscriptions it seems to be associated with that deity .^

^ Weber {HilprecJit Anniversayy Volume, p. 275) recognizes its likeness to the spear-head of Marduk, which, however, lacks the cross-piece.

^ M. u. K., p. 70, nos. 1-12. Other copper coins of small size, with very degraded versions of the types, are in the possession of Comm. Carlo Conti Rossini, as he kindly informs me.

2 Hofm. 24; M. u. K., Taf. IX. Miiller holds that the bucrania here cannot have anything to do with bull-worship, because the inscription shows that the bucrania are used with a magical object : a complete non seqiiitur. It is to be noted that both on the Bulawayo stone and on that at Vienna the two bucrania are of different sizes.

^ Casanova in Eev. Num., 1893, p. 181.

5 Hofm. 123 ; M. u. K., Taf. XII.

« Birch, PI. XV, no. 29.

■^ For other instances see Weber in Hilprecht Anniversai'y Volume, pp. 271 ff.

^ Nielsen, on the other hand, prefers to connect the stylized bull's head on the monuments with Ilmuqah, as the Sabaean moon-god {Mitt. Vorderas. Ges., 1909, 4, p. 52).

Ixiv INTRODUCTION

On one of the British Museum specimens of this series (no. 14), unfortunately much worn on the obverse, I seem to detect the sign X and even traces of IJJ to the right of it. These letters would indicate the mint of Harb (see below).

Numbers of coins of this series have been brought to England by officers stationed at Aden during the war. Some were reported as being brought to Aden by an Arab from Zaaba ; others to have come from Marib.

IV.

There is a general agreement that the Himyarite coins which are inscribed with the full names of a series of kings, and which bear a head on either side, come last in the series in point of time (PI. XI. 1-20). It is also regarded as probable that Prideaux is right in his identification of Karib'il Watar Yehun'im, who struck coins at Raidan, with the Karab'il Watar Yehun'im,^ king of Saba and Raidan, known from a number of inscriptions, and with the Xapi(3arjX who was reigning at the time when the Periplus Maris Erythraei was written, that is about A.D. 70 or a decade or two earlier.- But since there were five rulers called Karib'il, it must be admitted that the last- mentioned equation, of the Charibael of the Pervpliis with the king who struck the coins, is open to dispute. Glaser, for instance,^ is inclined to identify the Charibael of the Periplus with the first of the kings of the name Karib'il, who apparently bore no extra titles. If this is so, then the Karib'il of the coins must come down a generation or two later. But he will still probably fall within the

^ Of the five kings called Karib'il mentioned in inscriptions, it is the son of Dharaar'ali Bayjun to whom the coins must be attributed (Prideaux and Miiller, Burgen u. Sciilosser in Sitzber. Wiener Akad., 97, p. 994).

^ W. Christ, Gesch. d. gr. LHt.^, 672. Glaser {Die Ahessinier, p. 140) claims to have fixed the date between a. d. 56 and 67. The latest discussion of the date of the Periplus is by Tkac, art. Saba above cited, who concludes (1465) that it was written about a.d. 40-5. The Periplus describes Charibael as reigning over the Homeritae and Sabaeans in his metropolis Sapphar, and being in constant diplomatic relations with Rome.

^ Op. cit., p. 37.

ARABIA — HIMYARITES IxV

second century after Christ. It may be remarked that it' we have to pick out our king who struck coins from among five kings of the same name, our choice will naturally fall upon that one who, like the Charibael of the Peri'plus, was in close relations with Rome, because such relations seem to indicate commercial prosperity. It may be added that the coins themselves seem to show the influence of the Roman denarius of the Neronian reduction (see below).

Mliller assigns the rulers who, like Karib'il, call themselves ' Kings of Saba and Raidan ', to the last period of Sabaean history, ending about a.d. 100. Ilsharh Yahdib, king of Saba and Raidan, who is also mentioned in inscriptions, may be the 'iXdaapo? who was king of Mariaba or Marsyabae at the time of the expedition of Aelius Gallus (24 b.c.).^ Since his father Fara' Yanhub is called king of Saba only, the change from Sabaean to Himyarite domina- tion, with the corresponding transference of the capital from Mariaba to Raidan, may, Mliller suggests, have been connected with the expedition of Gallus.^ Mordtmann,^ on the other hand, would date the transference of the capital about the middle of the first century of our era ; and if the coinage inscribed with regal names began w^ith this transference, his date seems to suit the numismatic evidence better.

If the identification of Ilsharh with 'iXdcrapo^ is correct, one might expect to find a monogram representing the name on some coin of the San 'a class ; but there is nothing of the kind. Another curious fact is that of the kings whose names can be read in full on the coins so few seem to be mentioned in the inscriptions.* It must, however, be remembered that many more inscriptions remain to be published. It is only fifteen years since the inscription containing the names of two Katabanian rulers, to whom as we shall see coins can be assigned, was first made known.

1 Strab., xvi, 782.

2 Cp. Mliller in Z.D.M.G., xxxvii (1883), pp. 10, 11. But it is doubtful whether the titulature of the kings on these inscriptions is so rigid that we can base an argument of this kind on it.

^ Z.D.ilf. (?.,xxxi, p. 72.

* Cp. Glaser, Die Abessinier, p. 32, note.

i

Ixvi INTRODUCTION

Longp^rier sees a general resemblance of the coins of the class now under consideration to those of the Characenian Arabs of the first and second centuries of our era,^ and suggests as the inferior limit for the coinage the breaking of the dam of Marib, which he supposes to have happened in the second century. But the date of this critical event is extraordinarily uncertain.^

This much is certain, that all these small coins, showing little change of style, belong to a comparatively restricted period." It is highly improbable that they should overlap with the large flat coins of the San 'a class : the non-numismatic evidence as to the date of Karib'il points to the second half of the first century after Christ; and since the tendency to a scyphate fabric, perceptible in these coins, is a sign of decadence, we cannot reasonably date any of the kings who struck them much earlier.

On the whole we shall not be far wrong in assigning the coinage of this class to a period beginning about A. D. 50, and lasting about a century.

The following is an attempt at the description and classification of this regal coinage.*

^ There is no resemblance to the Characenian coinage \\\ fabric.

^ Some authorities, as Redhouse {The Pearl-Strmgs, vol. iii, 1908, p. 7), place it in the time of the Achaemenidae ; Sale, soon after the time of Alexander the Great ; Caussin de Perceval, about a. d. 120 ; de Sacy about A. d. 150-170 ; and Glaser (who reckons three breaches) from A. D. 447-540 ! Of course there may have been more than one breaking of the dam ; but that which caused the dispersion of the Arabs was the one that mattered.

^ This is the answer to Glaser's question {Die Abessinief, p. 33) : ' Konnen wir nach dem oben Entwickelten tibrigens auch nur annehmen, dass alle Miinzkonige in so spate Zeit gehoren ? '

* The references to Mordtmann are to his useful article in Num. Zeit., 1880, where (pp. 307-16) he classifies this coinage under seven heads. To avoid confusion, it may be remarked that he calls the concave side obverse, the convex side reverse ; but the convex side was obviously the anvil side, and therefore the obverse, of the coin. Glaser {Die Ahessinier, pp. 32, note, 37) speaks of coins bearing the name 'Jahmal', who may possibly be the Ilsharh Yahm (?)... of the inscription Glaser 686. I have not been able to trace any specimens of this coin.

ARABIA — HIMYA RITES Ixvii

The general types of the coins are :

i. (PI. XI. 1-20). Ohv. Head of the usual Himyarite type, with ringlets, usually with a monogram behind it. Rev. Smaller head of the same type, between two monograms ; above, king's name ; below, mint-name, ii. (PI. XI. 21, 22). Generally similar to i, but without any king's name. (See also M. u. K., Taf. XIV. .36, 37, 39 a, 40, 41, 42, 44, 46.) iii. Ohv. Monogram. Rev. As in ii.

(See M. u. K., Taf. XIY. 38, 39.)

The second and third types are confined to small denominations and, so far as I know, are represented only in the Vienna Cabinet among the coins from the Glaser Expedition, with the exception of two specimens of the second type in the British Museum.

The two heads on the two sides of the coin are so much alike ^ that it seems natural to assume that they both represent persons of the same class ; that is to say, they are both human beings or else both deities. The inscriptions sometimes mention two brothers reigning jointly, but if the two heads on the coins represent joint rulers, it is strange that the name of only one is inscribed, and that too against the smaller head on the reverse. That smaller head, since the king's name is written against it, may be regarded as representing the reigning king. Is the larger head on the obverse the founder of the dynasty 1 Or have we here merely a repetition of the process which it is suggested took place on the Nabataean coinage, so that both heads represent the same person, the head on the reverse being repeated from the obverse when a type was required to take the place of the original owl *? ^

^ Mordtmann, p. 308, says that the head on the rev. (his obv.) wears a wreath ; but the distinction certainly does not hold in most cases. Longperier (Rev. Num., 1868. p. 173) takes the two heads to represent the reigning king and a subordinate prince.

^ A somewhat similar problem arises in regard to the two heads on Axumite coins, and is discussed by Littmann [Deutsche Aksuni-Expedition, i, p. 46 j. But there the two heads differ in their dress, one being crowned.

Ixviii INTKODUCTIOX

i. Coins tvith kings' names.

a. (PL XI. 1, 2.) Karib'il Yehun'ini Wattar ()X(D|llOf^yf JlftrDA

im Dy^n'' 7X^15) son of Dhamar'ali Bayyin.^ The coins were first identified by Prideaux,^ who showed that the monogram on the obverse is the surname Wattar," which the king l^ears in the lapidary inscriptions.

On his no. 2 Mordtmann reads a H in the border above the head, and behind it a monogram consisting of the letters V, t2, 1, ^ This contains the same elements as the names of two other kings who struck coins ('Amdan or 'Umdan). Since it cannot be a place- name (the mint-name being given on the other side), or another surname of the king, we may assume that it and the other monograms on the reverse represent magistrates of some kind (possibly one of them may be an eponym). Or it may represent the man who actually became king afterwards, in a subordinate capacity. So far it has not been possible to discover any definite rule about the use of monograms on these coins.

On the reverse the king's second name is sometimes written HHV?' without the ain, as on the two specimens here catalogued. The mint-mark is always tHYX Raidan, the castle of Sapphar ; the regular title of the rulers of this period is p^Tl"! t^!}D *]7^, king of Saba and Dhu-Raidan."* In front of the head is always the

sign «P (found also in slightly varying forms on coins of all

1 a I. S., iv, 373, cp. 37 ; Miiller, Burgen, ii, p. 994.

2 Miiller, loc. cit. ; Prideaux, J A.S.B., vol. 1, 1881, p. 98. Others are pub- lished by Mordtmann, p. 307; Miiller u. Kubitschek, p. 72, nos. 16, 17 ; p. 77, nos. 224, 483, and 481 (biat the last two are Mordtmann's specimens).

^ This solution of the monogram was found independently by Mordtmann, p. 308.

* TOY PA€IAAN in the famous inscription of Aeizana*. C.I.G., iii. 5128. Hommel, in the Enzijlio})adie ties Islam, i, 39.5, says that the kings took their territorial title from ' the mountain Raidan near the Kattabanian capital Tamna' to the S.E. of Ma'rib '. Hut see M. Hartmann, Der Islamische Orient, ii, p. 168 f. There seems no reason to reject the statement of Hamdana that Raidan was the castle of Sapphar.

ARABIA — HIMYARITES Ixix

the other kings of this period except Yeda'ab Yanaf, Shahar Hilal, and Waraw'il Ghailan), This appears to be not a monogram, but some kind of symbol, analogous to the religious symbols on the coins of the San'a and Bucranium classes ; it occurs in inscrip- tions.^ On the left of the head, the British Museum specimens show monograms, <pL and i., which probably occur also on other specimens, although they have not been noticed. The former seems to consist of ) + '2; the latter possibly of ^{ and ^ (or | and ^). Mordtmann (p. 314) describes it as having marks in the body of the rectangle which he takes for "I, thus reading it as D1X, which is the name (1) of a place where the god Ilmaqah was worshipped ; (2) of a god, perhaps the sun-god called Avfxov by the Nabataeans. But among the many instances of this monogram which occur on coins of this class I have seen no trace of the interior signs.^ It is noticeable also that the rectangle shows no signs of incurving sides, as J (f2) normally does. The interpre- tation must therefore remain uncertain.

There seems to be at present no possibility of deciding whether the other kings, whose coins remain to be described, were earlier or later than Karib'il.

(3. (PI. XI. 3-5.) 'Amdan Yehuqbid (Bflt Vf iWllO, ppn^ pD5?). Specimens of the coinage of" this ruler ^ were first puljlished by Mordtmann * and Prideaux.^ One of Mordtmann's specimens has no monogram (or an obscure one) on the obverse ; on the other

' Mordtmann, p. 309.

- An exception may be Mordtmann's no. 9, Taf. V. 9 ; but may not the marks be due to accident ?

^ An inscription (Glaser 567 ; Die Ahessinier,-p. 32, note) contains a mutilated name which he reads '- - - - n Bajjan Juhakb - -', and this king, he says, is probably, though not certainly, the same as the ''Amdan Bajjan Juhakbidh' of the coins. I know of no coins of any 'Amdan who combines the names Bajjan (Bayyiri) with Juhakbidh (Yehuqbid), and suspect that Glaser is confusing the coins now under discussion with the next group (y).

* p. 310.

' J.A.S.B., 1881, p. 99, PI. X. 3, 4, 5. See also M. u. K., p. 77, nos. 487 and 477 'Mordtmann's specimens).

IXX INTRODUCTION

we find a monogram which he resolves into "*+7 + n + n + ^ + *1.^ On the British Museum specimens we have four different mono-

grams, one T consisting of CJ' + n + p + i + S (i.e. in all but the

first letter the same as the king's name) ; another 1 apparently

* + J + ^(?); a third »«:. = ^ + i + i (?) ; and a fourth Hf consisting of 7 + n + ^ + & (the double slanting line on the right is not quite certain). On the reverse we have the sign <p, and on two out of four specimens the monogram i.. The mint is always Raidan.

y. (PI. XI. 6-15.) 'Amdan Bayyin (H?nlHH30. T^ p^^)- The coins with this name are usually all attributed to the same ruler, but it will be observed that they may be divided into two groups, according to the presence or absence of the Yanaf monogram a. Coins were first published by Prideaux and Mordtmann.^ Taking first those with the Yanaf monogram (which are the less numerous), we find that they are on the whole better executed and of better quality than the others. The border on the obverse is linear, not dotted, and resembles a penannular torc.^ The mint is always

Eaidan : and the sign on the reverse takes the form ? or <P •

Above the head on the obverse of some specimens (e.g. no. 1) appears an ornament or sign of some kind. It is not the letter f.

On the other hand, those without the Yanaf monogram, besides being as a rule of poorer work and sometimes of poorer alloy, include smaller denominations, and seem to belong to a later stage of development. They are, for one thing, much more markedly

^ Kubitscbek's drawing of tbe monogram, p. 78, note 1, fig. 16, does not entirely bear this out.

2 See Mordtmann, pp. 310, 311 ; M. u. K., p. 71, nos. 8-15, Taf. XIV. 82-5; p. 77, nos. 194, 192, 225-31. It is a curious fact that one of the British Museum specimens was acquired by Dr. Buresch in the Hermos plain near Sardes.

^ Cp. M. u. K., Taf. XIV. 33 with the specimens in this Catalogue, PI. XI, 6-9. Col. AUotte de la Fuye suggests that the border is meant for a serpent, but, although one end is pointed, the other shows no resemblance to a serpent's head.

ARABIA — HIMYARITES Ixxi

scyphate. On the obverse we find a number of monograms. Those which can be made out are :

,1-^n

, on which see above, p. Ixi.

This could also be read pH/D, with which compare the name of the Sabaean castle Salhin (see above, p. Ixii). But the improba- bility that the monogram can here represent a place, since the mint-name appears on the other side, has already been pointed out.

A very elaborate monogram given by Kubitschek ^ as J^ con- tains the letters ^ + i + D (twice ?) + J| + ^ and at least one other. 2[ is also given by Kubitschek-; the letters seem to be

1i^) + 'n+f2 + ^ ', the wavy line below is perhaps not part of the monogram but the curved symbol of a deity, which is, however, not found on any other coins of this class.

Other monograms, not to be clearly made out, are given by Kubitschek.^ On one obverse he describes a corn-ear in front of the head.

The mint of all these coins is Raidan, with one exception which is of barbarous workmanship and has the mint-name Sait

other peculiarities are the branch (?) on no. 4' (possibly the corn-ear mentioned above is something of the same kind), and the letter ^ (H^) on the neck of the bust on no. 7, p. 72. Both forms of the characteristic sign A ♦ occur.

^ M.u. K., p. 71, no. 13.

- Ibid., p. 77, no. 194. Probably the monogram on the British Museum coin, p. 71, no. 4, is the same.

3 Ibid., p. 71. no. 8 (^ + -|, cp. C.I.S., iv, 37); p. 73, at top. no. 1: also a doubtful one on the reverse of a coin, p. 77, no. 192.

* Vienna, M. u. K., p. 73, no. 1.

^ The coin catalogued by M. u. K., p. 73, no. 11, as uncertain, is similar to this ; they describe the object as ' unklares Ding, einem Cohorten-Insigne ahnlich '.

Ixxii INTRODUCTION

The differences noted al lOve seem to point to a distinction either between two rulers, an earlier, 'Amdan Bayyin Yanaf, and a later, 'Amdan Bayyin, or between two issues of the same ruler, those without Yanaf being the later. This second alternative is favoured by the facts :

(1) that more than one find seem to be composed entirel}^ of coins of these two classes to the exclusion of coins of any other ruler; if the two varieties belonged to two different kings, more especially if they were separated by any interval, we should expect some other king to be represented ;

(2) a curve of frequency shows that there is a slight falling off in weight, the peak of the curve being at 1-50 gm. for the coins without the monogram, at 1-60 gm. for those with the monogram ;

(3) in a series of coins from a find which I have examined, the coins without Yanaf seemed to be on the whole in better condition than the others, showing that they were more recent.^

I am inclined to think that the coin with a doubtful reading published by Mordtmann ^ may be of 'Amdan Bayyin, and that the

monogram on the obverse which he reads f\ + i^ may be really ^,

as on no. 5, p. 71 : but if so, this is the only coin of 'Amdan Bayyin with the monogram Q.

S. (PI. XI. 16-18.) Tha'ran Ya'ub (notlH)hS ^i?^ pi<f\). The surname is sometimes written without the a I a. A king Tha'ran, son of Dhamar'ali Yuhabir, son of Yasar Yuhasdiq, is known from an inscription." Longp^rier and Mordtmann, who first published his coins,'^ misread his name, the form of which is however quite

^ This find is said to have been made in a grave in Abyssinia ; I have examined 133 of the specimens, and understand that a large number of others were acquired by the Paris cabinet. The coins acquired from Mr. Bakewell (p. 70, nos. 1-3, p. 71, no. 2) are said to have come from a large find made at Marib ; the fourteen coins in his possession were all of the two groups under con- sideration.

2 p. 814, no. 10.

« C. I. S., iv, 457.

* Rev. Num., 1868, p. 169: Nxm. Zeif.. 1880, p. 812. See also M. u. K., p. 71, nos. 1-7.

ARABIA — HIMYARITES Ixxiii

clear on various pieces not known to them. The following mono- grams may be noted as occurring on the obverses :

(?) = n + fl + i (Mordtmann no. 7).

J^ = ^ + ^ + 1 (Mordtmann no. 8). D^* (Yerim) is the name of a place in Yemen, and also of a Sabaean king Yerim or Yarim Aiman.^ W1 on the other hand is a surname (' the exalted '), and this interpretation is preferred by Mordtmann, although, as he admits, it is used by Minaean rulers, whereas the Sabaeans prefer the equivalent ?\y.

= ^ + "l + n + 1 (M. u. K., p. 71, no. 5).

I

Tlie last two, being evidently meant for the same name, show that the last letter of the name must be "1, since that is not present in both. Madhuw (ooooypjj, 1im23) is the name of a deity.^ On

the reverse are the characteristic sign <p and the monogram q ; on some specimens instead of the latter we find -J' ( = j^ + j^) surmounted by ^Jj." The mint is always Raidan.

The head on the obverse occasionally bears a letter on its cheek in characteristic Himyarite manner: X = H, on no. 1, fl = ^ on the coin published by Longpdrier.

Mordtmann's no. 10, reading apparently !l+^ I p+V, may, ac- cording to him, be a badly struck coin of Tha'ran Ya'ub ; but see above, p. Ixxii.

e. (PI. XI. 19.) Shamnar Yehun'im (HO^iVf |)^l]j , D^jn^ "iD^SJ^). So, rather than Shamdar ()Hll J ), I read the name on the rare coins, p. 74, no. 1 in this Catalogue, and Mordtmann's no. 9 ; his illustration does not, at any rate, conflict with this reading.

1 C.I.S., iv, 401.

^ Mordtmann u. Miiller, Sabdische Denkmuler, pp. 80, 102. ' No. 3 in this Catalogue, correcting the descriptions in M. u. K., p. 71, nos. 1-3.

k

Ixxiv INTRODUCTION

On the obverses of these coins we have the monogram jT = fl + *i/ and on one of the two known coins the cheek is marked with O = y. The mint is Raidan, and the reverse shows the usual sign

4» and the monogram f^.

Omitting a broken coin with an apparently blundered inscription,^ we have now given the list of all the coins bearing kings' names which have the characteristic sign 3> or ?. The coins with kings' names on which this sign is absent are much fewer in number.

C (PI. XI. 20.) Yeda'ab Yanaf (0*if | flfloH?, ^^' l^'^^'). Mordtmann points out that the name Yeda'ab occurs in inscriptions with the surnames Bayyin and Ghailan, but these are kings of Hadramaut ^ ; on the other hand the name is found with the surname Dhubayyin (riU'l) as the name of the son of a Katabanian priest-king, and we shall see later that the other rulers who struck coins at the same mint (Harb) as this Yeda'ab were Katabanians. The name also occurs among the deities and kings invoked at the end of certain inscriptions mostly found at Kharibat Sa'ud,'^ a day's journey north-east of Marib. All Glaser's ■' Kata- banian inscriptions came from the country between Marib and Shabwat, and they give as the name of the chief city Vi/^^ri, which is the Tamna of Eratosthenes, the Thomna of Pliny, the Thumna of Ptolemy, and, according to Glaser, the modern Tamna' in Wadi Baihan el Qasab."^ Now Eratosthenes says that the Katabanian country, which he mentions between the Sabaeans and the people of Hadramaut, came down to the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. It

^ This, and not the simple letter )^, seems to occur on Mordtmann's specimen as on ours ; on his, the head on the obverse appears to be turned to 1., not to r.

^ M. u. K., p. 72, no. 18. I have already noted that Glaser (Die Ahessinier, pp. 32, note, 37) speaks of coins with the name ' Jahmal ', and that I have not been able to trace these coins, of which he gives no details.

3 C. I. S., iv, 155, 308 ; cp. Mordtmann in Z. D. M. G., lii, p. 399.

* Halevy, 630, 631, 632, 635 ; Z.D. M. G., xxx, p. 291, no. 5.

^ See his Ahessinier, p. 112.

® For Glaser's earlier identification of Tamna with Duranat Djaba or Dumnat Khadir see his Skizze, ii, p. 18 f.

ARABIA — KATABANIANS IxXV

would seem therefore that in his time the Katabanians occupied a good deal of the country which afterwards belonged to the Himyarites. There has been a general tendency to look for the capital Tamna somewhere in the south-west corner of the peninsula; but it is difficult to reject the evidence of the inscrip- tions.^

Now the coins of Yeda'ab Yanaf bear in their exergue, in the place where the mint-name normally comes, the name Harb.^ Mordtmann has accordingly suggested that Harb may be Kharibat Sa'ud, the place where the inscriptions with the name of Yeda'ab were found, and that both may be Caripeta, the furthest point reached by Aelius Gallus.^ Kharibat, however, merely means ' ruins ', and there are various places of that name.

The name Har(i)b, again, is not singular; Manzoni marks one place of the name about 55 km. E. by N. of San'a on the way to Marib ; and there is another more important Harib south-east of Marib, about half-way to Nisab. Since the Katabanian coins were struck at Harb, is it not probable that it may have borne the same relation to the capital Tamna as Raidan did to Sapphar, i. e. that it may have been the stronghold of the Katabanian kings ?

The coins of Yeda'ab Yanaf have no monograms on the obverse.* On the reverse, besides the familiar (^ and the incomplete mono-

^ See, for tlie latest discussion of Katabania and its capital, Tka2 in Pauly- Wissowa-Kroll-Witte, lA 2, 1326 f.

^ Col. Allotte de la Fuye notes that on a specimen in his collection the middle letter of the mint-name appears to be ^ or X rather than ); but the reading is very obscure, to judge from an impression before me, and the letter is clearly ) on other specimens.

^ Glaser (Shizze, ii, p. 58) is inclined to identify Pliny's Caripeta with Kharibat Sirivah (a long day's journey west of Marib). In the same work he distinguishes Strabo's Marsyabae from Mariaba, and thinks that Gallus never reached the latter; but in his Abessinier, p. 35, note, he seems not dis- inclined to admit that Marsyabae is Marib. Other views on the whole vexed question in Tkac, art. Saba above cited, 1353 ft".

* Mordtmann describes two specimens as having a helmeted head on the obverse, but from his illustrations the appearance of the helmet seems to be deceptive. The head on the obverse is to the left on his no. 11 and on the Berlin coin, M. u. K., p. 78, no. 193.

Ixxvi INTRODUCTION

gram on no. 1, p. 75 of this Catalogue, we find a monogram Avhich, if rightly drawn by Kubitschek/ consists of ^ + 11; but in the illustration it appears to me to be more elaborate.

The mint of Harb was also used by two other kings, who can be identified in a most satisfactory way with kings mentioned in inscriptions, and are represented each by a unique coin : —

77. Shahar (or Shahir) Hilal (11 V \ )Vj, SSn nnjT). This is presumably the Katabanian king, known from an inscription. The coin proves that Weber is right in correcting the reading of his second name from Yalil or Yagil to Hilal.^ His third name was Yuhargib (li'in*).

The only known coin of this ruler, which is in the Vienna Cabinet,^ has the monogram £^ on the reverse, and weighs 0-77 gm.

6. Waraw'il Ghailan (h1?TI I Ift®)®. t^^^^ hi<)^\}, whose third name was Yehun'im, the son of Shahar Hilal, just mentioned. The inscription on the coin is incomplete,'* and is given by Kubitschek as in"TTl I Ifl^)) with an alternative reading by Glaser Hlffl I IWLfl]- Since O (y) and O {)) are so easily confused, especially on these tiny coins, we may quite certainly emend Kubitschek's reading, with the help of Glaser's, to 41f ^ I In®)®' the name of the Katabanian king who is known from the same inscription as his son Shahar.^

The solitary coin of this ruler, which is in the Berlin Cabinet,

has on the reverse the monograms f^ and % (as drawn by Kubitschek) ; the latter I cannot resolve.

The above identifications with Katabanian rulers perhaps justify

1 M. u. K., p. 73, 13, nos. 1, 2, Taf. XIV. 43. If no. 3 has no king's name following the letter ^, should it not have been catalogued after no. 4 ? As regards the Berlin specimens (p. 78, nos. 479, 193, 484, 480), all but the second were acquired from Mordtmann, and are doubtless identical with three of the four described by him on p. 315, but it is not quite clear which is which.

^ D. Nielsen, Xeue Katahanische Inschtiften, in Mitt. Vorderas. Gesellsch. 1906, 4, p. 17 ; O.Weber, Stiidien ziir sildarah. Alteiiumt<'kunde, ibid.. 1907, 2, pp. 12 ff'.

3 M. u. K., p. 73 /3, no. 4.

* M. u. K., p. 78, no. 191. Berlin. Wt. 1-52 gr.

^ D. Nielsen and 0. Weber, as above.

ARABIA HIMYARITES Ixxvii

US in i-L'^arding the group of coins without the characteristic mark «j» as distinctively Katabanian.

And if our dating of these coins to the period a.d. 50-150 is approximately correct, Glaser's theory ^ that Katabania was absorbed into Hadramaut in the second century B.C., and that at the time of the expedition of Aelius Gallus the Katabanian king- dom had ceased to exist, needs considerable revision.

ii. Coins ivith ttvo heath, hut without the Icing's name.

With the exception of the two pieces described in this Cata- logue (pp. 74-5), all the published coins of this class are in the Vienna cabinet. They all belong to small denominations, and it may be assumed that the absence of the king's name is merely due to lack of space. They fall into the following groups :

a. Obv. Head r. Rev. Head r. ; ou I. «p ; sometimes on r. ? ; in

exergue ^Hf) (Raidan). PI. XI. 21. M. u. K., p. 72, nos. 19-23, Taf. XIV. 36, 37. fj. Obv. Head r. Bev. Head r. ; on r. J, on 1. a combination of 4>

with y ; in exergue JJO*] (Na'am). M. u. K., p. 72/3, nos. 1, 2, Taf. XIV. 39 a, 40. y. Olv. Head r. Bev. Head r. ; on I. a> ; in exergue nOj (Ya'ub).

M. u. K., p. 72 y, nos. 1-5, Taf. XIV. 41, 42. 8. Obv. Head r, Ilev. Head r. ; on 1. t, on r. ^ ; in exergue ^rilT

(Yuhabir). M. u. K., p. 73 B. a, nos. 1, 2, Taf. XIV 47, 48. e. Obv. Head r. ; sometimes on 1. a monogram, sucli as r*l.

Eev. Head r. ; monogram of J and ^ or r^ ; in exergue ri/M-l

(Harb). Brit. Mus., p. 75, no. 2, PI. XI. 22 ; M. u. K., p. 73,

nos. 5-10, Taf. XIV. 44-6.

If we assume, as Miiller and Kubitschek assume (and it is diffi- cult to take any other view), that the names in the exergue of the reverses of these five groups represent mints, it is strange that three out of the five mints should be represented only on these

^ Die Ahessinier, pp. 77, 114 f.

Ixxviii INTRODUCTION

poor little coins. Haib itself, it must be admitted, may be a man's name.^ As to Na'am, it can be both a man's name and the name of a castle.^ Ya'ub and Yuhabir, on the other hand, seem to be known, apart from their occurrence on these coins, onlj^ as sur- names of kings of Saba and Raidan." One of these kings, Tha'ran Ya'ub, struck coins at Raidan. The other, Dhamar'ali Yuhabir, was the father of a Tha'ran, presumably this same Tha'ran Ya'ub. This is a remarkable coincidence, if it is nothing more. We have to choose between two alternatives : either the names Yuhabir and Ya'ub on these coins represent not mints, but the two kings in question, or they represent mint-places which were founded by and named after these kings, just as the fortress of Na'am was named after its founder Na'am.*

The Yanaf monogram occurs on the Raidan coins (a), and sug- gests that they may have been struck by 'Amdan Bayjnn Yanaf ; it is less reasonable to attribute them to Yeda'ab Yanaf because that king's coins were struck not at Raidan but at Harb, and do not

bear the sign a.

On 13 we find, combined with the sign J, the letters f and y. These might possibly stand for HO^iVf (Yehun'im), the surname of Karib'il and Shamnar, or Bfl^V? (Yehuqbid), the surname of 'Amdan. It is again a curious coincidence, if nothing more, that the supposed mint-name ||0*| in the exergue of these coins, if read in continuation of the two isolated letters, gives the name JJOitT (Yehun'im).

y may conjecturally be attributed to Tha'ran Ya'ub, and S to Dhamar'ali Yuhabir, his father, even if we suppose the names in their exergues to be the names of mints; for the assumption —

1 See Mordtmann u. Miiller, Sabaische Denkmaler, p. 100; C.I.S., iv, 345.

2 C.I.S., iv, 154; cp. iv. 21 and 1 Chron. iv. 15. The name is a place or clan name {C.I.S., iv'. 37, v. 4 ; 74, v. 18 ; 117, v. 1 ; Z.D.M. G., xxix, p. 227; cp. Haitmann, Der islam. Orient, ii, p. 291).

' Tha'ran Ya'ub, whose coins are described above, and Dhamar'ali Yuhabir, C. I. S., iv. 365 and 457. ' C.J.S., iv, 154.

AEABIA HIMYARITES. STANDARDS Ixxix

taking- it for what it is worth — is that these mints were established by the jDersons whose names they bore.

€ bears a monogram of ^ and ^J, which may represent Yeda'ab, whose inscribed coins were struck at Harb.

iii. Finally, there are two coins which bear on the obverse a monogram, on the reverse a head, the mint-name Raidan, and the sign «p.^ The monogram is that which is already familiar to us

from coins of the San'a class (above, p. Ixi, A) and of 'Amdan Bayyin (above, p. Ixxi), Possibly the coins were struck by the last-named king.

Here also may be mentioned a coin which Kubitschek has placed in a seventh class by itself.^ On the obverse it has a monogram

which he draws j[J ; on the reverse ®X(, i-e- Wattar, and the curved symbol below it. It is natural to give this coin to Karib'il Wattar Yehun'im ; but it must be remembered that there were other kings bearing the name Wattar."

The Standard of the Coinage.

As Kubitschek^ has remarked, the standard in use was leased on the Babylonian drachm of 5-6 gm. (86-4 grains troy). The highest weight recorded for coins of this denomination of the earlier class is 5 55 gm.''

On the other hand, among the coins of the San'a class we find the maximum of this denomination reaching 5-62 gm. (86-7 gn.).*^

The maxima of the various denominations are given in grammes

1 M. u. K., p. 72, nos. 24, 25, Taf. XIV. 38, 39. On the second coin there is another sign to the left of the monogram, but it is half obliterated ; if

Kubitschek reads it right, it is the Y of the earlier coins.

2 p. 74, vii. 1, Taf. XIV. 50. JP. plated ; wt. 0-24 gm.

^ AsYatha' 'amar Wattar (C. 7. &, iv. 490) and Wattar Yuha'min {C.I.S., iv. 10 and 258). " M. u. K., p. 66. 5 lUd., p. 76, no. 217. ® p. 54, no. 2.

IXXX INTRODUCTION

in the following table (based on the coins in the British Museum and Schlumberger's and Kubitsehek's lists) :

Three units.	Unit.	Half.	Quarter.	Eighth.
Earlier Class 16-95	5-55	2-Gl	1-35	0-55
Transitional Class	5-41		1-48
San'a Class	5-62	3-10	1-33	0-40

The high weight reached by the half in the San'a class is remarkable ; but it is possible that the two coins at Vienna and Berlin,^ weighing 3-10 and 3-05 gm. respectively, are accidentally over- weighted, since otherwise the maximum of this group is 2-85 grn.^ The weight 0-16 gm. is reached by two small coins at Vienna,^ but the weights of these minute denominations are apt to 1 >e irregu- lar, so that it is impossible to say what they represent.

The Berlin Museum, as already stated, possesses six'* coins of approximately the weight of the Attic tetradrachm (ranging from 16-95 to 16-35 gm.), imitated from the earlier Attic type, but differing from the smaller coins in the absence of any Sabaean letter on the obverse. All appear to have come from South Arabia, having been acquired from Mordtmann and Glaser. A tetradrachm of purely Attic origin was acquired by the British Museum along with the Himyarite coins purchased from Salunjie of Aden. It is clear therefore that the Arabians were not only familiar with the Attic tetradrachm, but made imitations of it of somewhat low weight. Nevertheless, in consideration of the comparative rarity of these larger coins, and of the steady persistence of the piece of about 5-62 gm. as the dominant denomination throughout the period of the coinage, we are justified in regarding the latter as the unit. The pseudo-Attic tetradrachm, as Kubitschek has pointed out, is a tridrachm expressed in terms of the piece of 5-62 gm. In the same way, in the little group of coins attributed below

1 M. u. K., p. 69, no. 12, and p. 76, no. 218.

2 p. 58, no. 18.

» M. u. K., p. 69, nos. 8, 9.

* Ibid., p. 76, nos. 474 and 183-7. One of these is the conntermarked coin already mentioned.

ARABIA — HIMYARITES. STANDARDS IxXxi

to the Minaeans, we have an Alexandrine Attic tetradrachm or Babylonic tridrachm of 16-72 gm.

The weights of the coins of the class with the bucranium reverse are very irregular, and the metal is frequently very base, so that any attempt to ascertain their standard is likely to be futile. Fifty-six specimens of which the weights are available range from 0-30 to 3-63 gm.; the weight aimed at was, however, apparently in the neighbourhood of 3-10 gm.^

The denominations employed for the latest class of Himyarite coins are so small that here again it is difficult to come to any conclusion about the standard.^

The maximum recorded weight seems to be 2-26 gm. (a coin of 'Amdan Bay y in Yanaf, from the alleged Abyssinian find), but this is quite exceptional. Another coin of the same ruler from the same find weighs 2-02 gm. These are clearly outliers; the table of frequency ^ shows that there is a fairly continuous series from 1-83 gm. down to 1-00 gm. ; thus, at intervals of 0-10 gm., we get

1-80 gm. 15 specimens

1-70 24

1-60 46

l-oO 48

1-40 30

1-30 14

1-20 10

MO 7

1-00 2

This indicates (allowing for loss of weight by circulation) that the norm was in the neighbourhood of 1-60 gm. The coins

' In a table of frequency we get the highest number (ten coins) at S-IO gm. ; eight at 2-90 gm. ; four at 3-20 gm. and 2-50 gm. But the material is inadequate for this method.

^ It is unfortunate that Mordtmann's weighings of his coins are hard to reconcile with those given by Kubitschek for the coins acquired from Mordtmann by the Berlin Museum.

^ Calculated from the coins in this Catalogue and in Miiller und Kubitschek, and from others which have passed through my hands.

1

Ixxxii INTRODUCTION

weighing less than 1-00 gm. fall into two groups, representing probably the half and the quarter of the highest denomination, at about 0-80 and 0-40 gm. respectively. Most probably the highest denomination represents half the weight of the Neronian denarius (1-71 gm,).

MINAEAN COINAGE.

The remarkable imitation of an Alexandrine tetradrachm in the Cabinet of the University of Aberdeen, the Arabian source of which was hrst recognized by Head,^ stands quite apart from the rest of the South Arabian series in every particular except the script. I follow Head's description :

Ohv. Head of young Herakles r., in lion's skin. Border of dots. Rev. Ojfnh ((^^ v^ S^n^^X, 'Abyatha') in the Himyarite character.

Figure imitated from, or rather suggested by, the Zeus on the coins of Alexander, seated left on throne, his feet on footstool. He rests with his left arm on sceptre. The upper part of his body is naked, the lower limbs draped. The face is beardless, and the hair falls in curls, in the Arab fashion. In his right hand, instead of the eagle, he holds apparently a flower. Outside the inscription and parallel with the sceptre is a long perpen- dicular line of dots. In the field in front of the figure is the Himyaritic letter f\ {Alif).

M 8i [30 mm.]. \Vt. 258 gn. [16-72 gm.]. [Die-position \]. PI. XV. 3 [here PI. L. 5].

The apparent radiation round the head on the reverse seems to be due to creases in the impression from which the cast photographed by Head and the electrotype now in the British Museum were made.

The original Alexandrine from which this piece was imitated belonged to Muller's Class V. Head remarks that the original was doubtless struck about 200 B.C. We may date the coin itself to some time in the second century B. C.

' Num. Chroit., 1880, pp. 803 ff.

ARABIA — MINAEANS Ixxxiii

Since this coin seems to belong to a different category from the other South Arabian coins, which form one connected series attri- butable to the Sabaean and Himyarite rulers, we are justified in looking for its origin in one of the other two great Arabian tribes, viz. the Minaeans or the Chatramotites. Now it happens that a typical Minaean name is S?1^iX , Abyada*. Mordtmann has already remarked ^ that the Abyateh who was subdued by Assurbanipal in the middle of the seventh century B.C. must have been king of Ma'in, because his name, which is to be equated- with S?1^!3X, is peculiar to the Minaean royal race. We seem therefore to be justified in removing this coin from the Sabaean- Himyarite series and placing it in a separate class as Minaean. But to which of the kings Abyada' who are mentioned in the inscriptions it is to be attributed depends on the dates of those inscriptions, a question on which I do not feel competent to pronounce. D. H. Miiller^ places Abyada' Yathi' in the second group of Minaean kings ; if his third and last group was contemporary with the latest Himyarite dynasty of which we have coins (the fixed point among which is Karib'il, about a. d. 50-70), then kings of his second group may possibly have been reigning during the second cen- tury B.c^

The Aberdeen tetradrachm carries with it the curious bronze imitation of an Alexandrine drachm (PL XI. 23), which came from the Prideaux Collection, therefore probably from Arabia. The resemblance to the tetradrachm is very striking, especially in the modelling of the figure on the reverse.

The reverse type of a small coin at Vienna^ is also imitated

1 Z. D.M. G., xliv (1890), p. 183.

- The form VH^^X occurs in the Obne inscription ; see Homniel, Sildarab. Chrestotnathie, p. 119.

3 Burgm ti. ScMosser, as above, p. 1012. Muller's arrangement is disputed in certain details by Mordtmann, Z.D.M.G., xlvii, pp. 407 ff. See further M. Hartmann, Der islamische Orient, ii, pp. 126 ff.

* The Minaean dynasty was still flourishing in the third century B. c, by the evidence of Eratosthenes (see Mordtmann in Z. D. M. G., xliv, p. 184). Hartmann, oj). cit., p. 132, thinks it came to an end about 230 B. C.

5 M. u. K., p. 70, Taf. XIV. 23. Wt. 0-41 gm. (fy of the Alexander drachm).

IxXXiv INTRODUCTION

from the Alexandrine coinage, with less modification than the tetradrachm above discussed ; the obverse shows a bare male head, with short curly hair, and a skin (lion-skin?) fastened round his neck.

The ancient Minaean capital is probably represented by impor- tant ruins at Ma'in, about 1^ hours east of El-Hazm Hamdan, in the middle Jauf.^ The ancient writers give Kama or Karnaua (Qarna'u ; see above, p. xliv) as the name of the capital. Important Minaean sites are also at Es-Sud and Beraqish.^ These are all in the interior, whereas the statement of Eratosthenes that the Minaeans lived iu tS> npo^ 'EpvOpau /lipeL seems to point to the coast." Probably the geographer's use of the phrase merely implies south-western Arabia generally, which is bounded by the Arabian Gulf (the Red Sea in the modern acceptation) and the Gulf of Aden, Both these pieces of water were included by the ancients in the Red Sea.

To sum up : we have seen that the coinage of Southern Arabia Felix may be divided into (1) the coinage of the Sabaean dynasty, merging into that of the Himyarites, with a small group that can be assigned with practical certainty to the Katabanians ; (2) a small group which stands apart, and may be attributed to the Minaeans. It is doubtful whether any of the coinage is earlier than the third century B. c, although the Attic prototype is of the fourth century. The influence of Athens is dominant as regards morphology, that of Persia in the standard. The coinage probably comes to an end in the second century of the Christian era.

^ J. Halevy, Rapport sur une mission archeologique clans le Yemen, 1872, p. 75.

^ See Mordtmann in Z.D.M. G., xlvii, p. 408; Ma'in = Qaniau, Beraqish = Yathil.

^ Glaser accordingly {Ahessinier, p. Ill) supposes that Eratosthenes cannot mean the Minaeans of the period of the Minaean kingdom, known from inscriptions, since these inhabited the Jauf ; and that at most he could mean the Minaeans whom Pliny describes as living in the immediate neighbourhood of the frankincense country.

NORTH ARABIA IxXXV

NORTH ARABIAN IMITATIONS OF ATHENIAN COINS.

Head has published- a group of very barbarous small imita- tions of the earlier Attic type, some of which come from the land of Midian. Burton obtained at Macna (Muqna') on the east coast of the Gulf of Aila an ancient plated coin copied from one of the earlier Attic tetradrachms. Unfortunately Head did not illustrate this, and it is not clear how precise he intended to be in describing it as of the same class as the coin next to be mentioned (see PI. XI. 26). This, which has recently been presented to the British Museum by Mr. J. Mavroo-ordato,^ weighs 10-87 gm., and is of copper or bronze, without trace of plat- ing. It is said to have been found in Babylonia hy Loftus. This is not in favour of its Arabian origin, though it may well have passed across the neck of the Arabian peninsula to the head of the Persian Gulf ; but Head points out that it is the prototype of small coins already mentioned as having been acquired by Burton at Muqna'. On these the degradation has proceeded still farther, the types being almost unrecognizable, and the fabric similar to that of the small bronze coins of the Jewish rulers in the late second and first centuries b. c. ' Among them,' says Head, ' and at first sight hardly to be distinguished from the rest, I have found coins struck hy the Maccabaean princes, Alexander Jannaeus and Alexander II, a coin of Herod Archelaus, and several coins of Tiberius, one struck in a. D. 30 l:)y Pontius Pilate, also a few coins of the Nabathaean king, Aretas II, 7 b. c. to A. D. 40 .'^ Clearly then these imitations, although derived from the earlier Attic

1 Num. Chron., 1878, pp. 274, 283, PI. XIII. 17-22. These coins are the property of the Camberwell Public Library, but are deposited in the British Museum on indefinite loan, so that it has been possible to include them in this Catalogue (pp. 78 fi"., PI. LV. 2-9). I have not been able to identify among the pieces that I have seen all those described by Head, e.g. nos. 18, 19 on his plate ; doubtless these have gone astray between 1878 and 1920.

2 The Photiades coin (Froehner's Catalogue, lot 785) seems to be something of the same kind.

^ For the last vrords read ' Aretas IV, 9 b. c. to a. d. 40 '.

IxXXvi INTRODUCTION

type, must have been made as late as the first century B. c, since their fab)'ic is that of coins which would only have come into circulation in North Arabia in the last third of the second century.

The British Museum possesses (see PI. XI. 24, 25) two other imitations of the Athenian tetradrachm which, although their provenance is not known, alike differ from any other Eastern imitations in certain peculiarities, which at the same time seem to connect them with the Loftus coin. These are, on the obverse, the large curve on the cheek under the eye, and, on the reverse, the treatment of the olive-spray, which, with a little more formalization might well develop into the form which it takes on the Loftus coin. Both still retain traces of the incuse square, and are evidently, to judge by the treatment of the eye, copied from a quite early variety of the Athenian coinage. They have been tentatively included in this Catalogue as earlj'' examples of the Arabian imitations circulating in the northern part of the peninsula.

Finally, among Arabian imitations of Athenian coins, may be mentioned the curious piece (PI. L. 4) belonging to Mr. J. de Morgan, and illustrated here by his permission. It was procured by him at Muscat. The crest of Athena's helmet is represented by a row of annulets. On the reverse the owl is incuse; on the left are three letters, HM^ (^), and on the right a crescent above a sign resembling the Cypriote sign for ba.

MESOPOTAMIA.

The cities considered under this heading were all included in the Roman province of Mesopota^mia.^ The region was conquered by Trajan at the same time as Armenia and Assyria, as a result of his campaigns of a.d. 114-16; but it was given up by Hadrian, and

^ Kiepert, Formae Orbis Antiqui ; Mommsen, Provinces, ii, 68 fF. The details in Marquardt, Rom. Staatsverw., P, 435 ff., are for the most part worthless, owing to his uncritical use of the numismatic evidence.

MESOPOTAMIA CARKHAE IxXXvii

only partly recovered by the campaigns of L. Verus (a. u. 162-5). It was first properly organized by Septimius Severus. The Romans held it with varying completeness until Jovian in 363 ceded all east of the Chaboras to the Persians. It is bounded on the north by Armenia, on the west by the Euphrates, on the east by the Tigris ; southwards it may for a time have extended to the sea ; but the coinage of the southern portion was issued from Babylon and Seleucia,^ and none of it comes into the period of the Roman Province ; it is therefore dealt with under the heading Babylonia.

ANTHEMUSIAS.

Anthemusias (also called Anthemusia or Anthemus) is identified by Regling ^ with Batnai and the modern EsJci-Seruj. It was a Macedonian foundation and took its name from the Macedonian Anthemus. All the coins that can be verified are of the reign of Caracalla, who, as Regling suggests, may have visited the place on his eastern campaign.^ The reverse type is a head of the City- goddess (PL XII. 1, 2). On some specimens she wears a crescent on her turreted crown, as at Carrhae.

CARRHAE. Carrhae, or Harrdii, Crasd ciade nobiles, lay at the junction of tlie rivers Skirtos and Karrha.^ It is described by Dio Cassius (37, 5) as a Macedonian colony. It was famous in antiquity for

^ Seleucia is usually included by numismatists under Mesopotamia ; but its nearness to Babylon and the unlikeness of its coinage to the otherwise homogeneous Roman coinages of Mesopotamian cities make it desii'able to transfer it to Babylonia.

^ In Lehmann's Beitrage zur alten Gesch., i, pp. 450-6.

^ Sestini (Mus. Hed., iii, p. 123. n. 1, Tab. XXXII. 3) gives a coin of Maximinus, which is apparently like our no. 2 (Caracalla). The reverse inscription on no. 1 is probably to be completed as AN0€MO VCI AC. A coin of Domitian which has often been published is of Anemurium in Cilicia (see B. M. C, Lycaonia, &c., p. xli, note 2).

* Regling in Lehmann's Beitr. z. alt. Gesch., i, map at p. 445 ; E. Sachau, Beise in Syrien u. Mesopotamien, 1883, pp. 217 ff . ; D. Chwolsohn, Die Ssabitr unci der Ssahismus (1856), i, 303 ff.

IxXXviii INTRODUCTION

its cult of the Moon-o-od, the Babylono-Assyriau Sin, here called Ba'al-Harran.^ The coinage extends from Marcus Aurelius ■^ to Gordian and Tranquillina. Most, if not all, of the quasi-autono- mous coins attributed to Carrhae belong to other mints. Thus the piece described by Duraersan ^ and Millingen * {ohv. bearded head r. rev. XAPP three ears of corn) is a common coin of Tingis in Mauretania^ with a Punic inscription ; and Arigoni's piece {ohv. head of Helios, with torch in front, rev. bucranium surmounted by a crescent and two stars with the inscription ETCKAP PHNnN) is of Stectorium in Phrygia.*'

Here may be mentioned a curious bronze coin in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge :

Ohv. Figure of armed goddess ou basis, facing, with round shield

on 1. arm, wielding axe (?) in r. ; inscription KAIKOACO

N€IAC Border of dots. Rev. On a basis, a baetyi, decorated with an eagle displayed, and

with a crescent(?); inscription AACB^filA^ Border of

dots. M 19 mm.

Dr. Imhoof-Blumer kindly informed me that a specimen formerly in his collection read MHTPOTTOACCJC on the reverse, on the right side, where the Fitzwilliam coin is deficient ; on the other hand his specimen failed altogether where that in the Fitzwilliam Museum shows considerable though obscure remains of lettering.

I had been inclined to read these remains as AA€ZANAP€IAC and to attribute the coin to Carrhae, regarding KAI on the obverse

1 Cf. Chwolsohn, op. cit., i, pp. 399 ff., and the article Sin by Jeremias in Roscher's Lexicon, 890 f.

^ Unless Invent. Waddington, 7287, is rightly read, in which case the coinage begins with Antoninus Pius.

* Cabinet Allier de Hauteroche, 1829, p. 114.

* Sylloge, p. 82, PI. IV. 63.

^ L. Miiller, Numism. de VAfrique anc, iii, p. 146.

® Sestini, Catal. Num. vet. Mtts. Arig. (1805), p. 89. The type is coramon in Phrygia ; see the coins of P^ucarpeia, Hieropolis, and Peltae, B. M. C, Phri/gia, PI. XXVI. 7 ; XXXII. 5 ; XLI. 5.

MESOPOTAMIA — CARRHAE JXXXIX

as a miswriting of KAP. The type of the reverse would be quite appropriate to Carrhae. Further examination, however, inclines me strongly to read AAOAIKIAC. If I am right, the coin must belong to Laodicea ad Mare. The type of the obverse would then be the Artemis Brauronia, who appears on the coins of that city, with axe and shield, accompanied by deer.^ The baetyl of the reverse, on the other hand, must be the stone of Elagabal, which on the coins of the neighbouring Emesa is represented adorned with an eagle. ^

Sestini^ has published the following coin from the Munich Cabinet :

Ohv. Crescent with star, resting on globe. Rev. KAPPHNflN Crab. JE size 4.

If this is correctly described, the crab presumably stands for the constellation Cancer.

The ethnic of Carrhae is given as Kappalo^ by Dio Cassius, as Kappaio9 or Kapprji/6^ by Stephanus. Only the latter form (some- times written with one p) is found on the coins. Where the name of the city appears instead of the ethnic, it takes the form KAPPA.*

On a coin of Sept. Severus we find this in the genitive miswritten KAPCJN.

The books of the older writers on Carrhae swarm with mis- readings.'* On the authenticated coins the following titles appear, usually abbreviated :

<l>IAOPnM€0|. M. Aurelius and L. Verus ; possibly also Com- modus. See Eckhel, iii, p. 509.

AYPHAIA, AYPHA(iai/oO. From Commodus onwards.

1 Wroth, B. M. C, Galatia, &c., p. 263, no. 113, PL XXXI. 5.

- Wroth, 02?. cit., PL XXVIL 12; cf. B.M.C., Palestine, p. xxxii.

^ Classes generales, 1821, p. 156.

* Macdonald, Hunter. Catal., iii, p. 301, 3-5.

® Grave doubt attaches to Sestini's description of a word in oriental script on a coin of Elagabalus {Mits. Hede>v., iii, p. 124, 8 ; cf. Chwolsohn, Die Ssabier, p. 413).

m

XC INTRODUCTION

AOYKIA. Septiniius Severus. See MsLcdonald, Hunter. CataL, iii, p. 301, 2.

KOAflNEIA. From Septimius Severus onwards.

MHTPOTTOAIC. From Caracalla onwards.

MHTPOTTOAIC MECOn(ora/xray). Severus Alexander; some- times with A added in the field (for TTPnTH). See Eckhel, iii, p. 509. Vaillant's coin of ' Marcus Aurelius ' with this title is doubtless really of Severus Alexander.

On the Latin coins of Caracalla the titles are Col{onia) Met{roi)olls) Antoniniana Aur{elia) Alex{andriana) or Got. Aur. Metropolis Antoniniana. According to Eckhel one coin with the latter legend adds CA, and indeed this affords the reason for the attribution of these Latin coins to Carrhae.

Numerous coins of M. Aurelius, L. Verus and Commodus ^ have been published by Arigoni, Vaillant, Sestini and others, which would seem to show that Carrhae was a colony before the time of Septimius Severus; and Eckhel and other good authorities have not questioned the readings. In no case, however, have I been able to verify them. Some of them combine the colonial title with the epithet <l>IAOpnMAIO|, but how should Roman colonists be described as 'Friends of Rome ' r- Yet, if KOAHNEIA really appears on coins of Commodus, the latter portion of the word may have been the source of the readings KOAHN. €. If. given by Arigoni and KOAHN. SEIUN. quoted by Rasche from Odericius. The titles Lucia Aurelia were, as Macdonald has remarked, derived from Verus, who effected the Roman conquest of Mesopotamia. Whether, however, either of them appears before the time of Commodus seems to be doubtful; and of AOYKIA the only occur- rence seems to be on a coin of Severus.

^ I observe that, as at Edessa, it is easy to confuse the portrait of Septimius Severas on these poor coins with those of some of the Antonines.

^ Chwolsohn, Die Ssabier, i, p. 394, sees the difficulty and attempts to explain it away. Prof. J. S. Reid also suggests to me that the title may have been taken by the Carrhenes to declare their loyalty to Rome, before the foundation of the colony, and retained afterwards. But the title remains otiose in the case of colonists, however unreal their Roman character may have been.

MESOPOTAMIA CARRHAE XCl

Imhoof ^ has suggested the attribution to Carrhae of two silver tetradrachms, the style of which, and the form of oxide with which they are encrusted, point to a Mesopotamian origin. He describes them as follows :

1. AYT K M AY [C€ ANTWJNINOC C€. Bust of young

Caracalla 1., laureate ; on his back, scale-cuhass, on his 1.

arm, shield. Rev. <I)OYAOYIA HAAYTIAAA AYfOYCTA. Bust of Plau-

tilla r. M 25 mm. Wt. 11.60 gm. PI. L. 6.

2. AYT K M AY C€ ANTWNINO. Bust of Caracalla 1., with

slight beard, radiate crown, and scale-cuirass; spear in r., shield on 1. shoulder.

Rev. eeCJ C€OY[HPCa] TTATTTTCJ Bust of Severus r., wearing

cuirass and paludamentum. M 25 mm. W^t. 10-35 gm. PI. L. 7.

These could not have been struck at Edessa, since until the death of Abgar IX (X) (216-17) the Edessene coins bear the portrait of that king, whereas one of the above coins was issued before the banishment of Plautilla in 205. The other is not earlier than 211. The only likely mint, other than Edessa, is Carrhae, on the bronze coins of which the bust of Caracalla is sometimes represented in the same way, with shield on shoulder.- Udinro?, as Imhoof points out, must be used in the sense of 'pater.

The great outburst of coinage under Caracalla is to be connected with his use of this district as a base for his eastern campaigns. It was in setting out in 214 for his first expedition that €v6v^ 'AXe^auSpo^ rji/,^ and accordingly we find that the colony received the title Alexandriana. He was murdered on the road from Edessa to Carrhae.

1 Rev. Suisse, 1908, p. 131, Taf. V (IX), 8 and 4. The coins were obtained from Aleppo.

2 Mionnet, Suppl. viii, 394, 26. Ct. PI. XII. 24 (Sev. Alexander) and the type of Edessa, PI. XV. 4 and 6 (Elagabalus).

^ Herodian, iv, 8, 1.

XCU INTRODUCTION

The conquest of Carrhae by tlie Persians accounts for the absence of coins of that mint in the reign of Maximinus. The issue was restored during the brief period of re-conquest by Gordian III.

The types are for the most part illustrative of the cult of the local moon-god. The crescent (PI. XII. 3, 5, 9-12, 23 ; XIII. 4, 5) is usually represented with a single star, and is frequently placed on a globe or cushion-like object, but occasionally there are two stars, which must be the sun and Venus, so that we have the trinity : Sin, Shamash, and Ishtar.^ From the crescent sometimes descend streamers on either side. The moon-god or goddess is sometimes represented by a conical or obelisk-like object, possibly a baetyl, surmounted by a crescent.^ The coins of Septimius Severus show this type in the central space of a temple (PI. XII. 4). In the intercolumniations on either side are two objects which have been taken for cultus-figures.^ It seems probable, however, that Mionnet, Chwolsohn, and others were right * in calling them military standards. A single standard in a shrine is also found at the Syrian HieropoHs, where again it has been taken to be the representation of a deity.'^ That the Roman standard was placed in a shrine and worshipped ^ is well known. In ordinary

' .Jeremias in Roscher, art. Schamasch, col. 535, and Sin, col. 921 ; cf. the types at Phrygian cities mentioned above.

' This is the origin of Pellerin's ' fly with spread wings ' on his coin reading AYPHAIO • KAPHNCJ; the streamers have suggested the wings. See Hirsch, Kafal xxi, 4332.

2 Macdonald, Hunter. Ccttal., iii, p. 301, 2.

* Mionnet, v, 520, 24 (he attributed the coin to Aelia Capitolina, following Lajard) ; Chwolsohn, Die Ssabiei; i, p. 401.

^ H. A. Strong and J. Garstang, The Syrian Goddess, frontispiece, no. 1, and p. 70 ; A. B. Cook, Zeiis, p. 586. Six and Imhoof-Blumer, Gr. Munzen, p. 759, recognize the legionary standard.

" See Daremberg et Saglio, Did. s.v. Signa, p. 1324. A. L. Frothingham, on the other hand, writes (Amer. Jotini. Arch., xx, 1916, p. 208) : 'Numismatics {sic) have more or less half-heartedly accepted the opinion of Six that this is a Roman standard or legionary eagle. No archaeologist can agree to this after reflecting for a moment on the absolute impossibility of supposing a Roman standard to have been substituted for a god in the sanctum sanctorum

MESOPOTAMIA — CARRHAE XClll

camps the aedicula was doubtless placed near the praetorium ; but iu a colony the standards of the legions quartered there would naturally be placed in one of the chief temples. At Carrhae then we see two standards, eacli in an aedicula in the chief temple. Each aedicula is surmounted by a crescent ^ ; it was the easier thus to connect the worship of the standard with the local cult because a crescent often formed part of the symbolic decoration of the military standard. To say, with Mr. A. B. Cook, that the objects in these aediculae were originally pillar-altars, later con- ventionalized into Roman standards, is surely to exhibit a desperate ingenuity.

Vaillant ^ describes a coin of Marcus Aurelius on the reverse of which the crescent supports a bust of the Moon-goddess ; but the engraving and description are so untrustworthy that all details must be regarded as suspect until confirmed.

The figure of the City-goddess is, as usual, deriv^ed from that of Antioch on the Orontes ; the river-god at her feet is either the Skirtos or the Karrha. On a few of the Latin coins of Caracalla a cornucopiae or a small serpent appears in front of her bust (PI. XII. 19-22). The crescent-moon is placed above her head on the coins of Gordian III, and at the same time a small figure is represented on a pedestal before the bust (PI. XIII. 1, 2). This has been explained by MacdonakP as the sign Aquarius. He points out that it seems to correspond to other astronomical signs, such as Aries and Sagittarius, on Mesopotamian coins. But the corre-

of so holy and ancient a city as Hieropolis. Besides, there is in this image not the least resemblance to Roman standards or to their commonly known cqin types. The fact of the matter is that the circles are not the solid medallions of Roman standards but are serpent coils. The shadows and lines show that there is a continuity and not a solution of the curved lines.' Mr. Frothingham is too positive. Certain details, which he considers have been added by the draughtsman responsible for the drawing in Strong and Garstang, are confirmed by the half-tone illustration in the same book made directly from a cast of the coin.

^ At Hieropolis, similarly, by a dove, for the Syrian goddess.

- Nmn. Col, i, p. 179.

' Hunter. Catal., iii, p. 303, note.

XCIV INTRODUCTION

spondence is not exact, since this figure alone of the three is represented on a pedestal, which seems to indicate that it is a monument ; also the figure seems to hold a skin and not a jar, which would indicate the ' Marsyas ' of the Forum, a frequent type on colonial coins, even if it be not the ordinary symbol of colonial right. On the other hand, the attitude is not that of the ' Marsyas', and on some specimens liquid appears to be issuing from the skin ; so that the probabilities as between the ' Marsyas ' and Aquarius seem to be about evenly balanced. For the present we may continue to use the latter name.

It may be suggested that the zodiacal signs wliich play so important a part on the coins of Mesopotamian cities are, so to speak, genethliac, marking in each case the sign under which the colony was founded. They cannot, as Eckhel has shown,^ mark the month in which the local era begins.

EDESSA.

Edessa ^ in Osrhoene, or more correctly Orrhoene, is represented V)y tlie modern Urfa. It is first heard of in Macedonian times, when its earlier name Orrhoe was changed by Seleucus I to Edessa after the Macedonian city. For a time (perhaps only under Antiochus IV) it bore the name of Antiochia r] km rfj KaWiporj, from a lake of that name, and the coins struck there by Antiochus IV are inscribed 'Avrioxicou rccu i-rrl KaWiporji. The river Skirtos, on which the city was situated, and which is represented below the feet of the city-goddess on the coins (e.g. PI. XIV. 18) is now

^ Dodr., iii, p. 517.

^ E. Sachau, Reise, pp. 189-210 ; Ed. Meyer in Pauly-Wissowa. BeahEncyd., V, 1933 ff. ; A. von Gutschmid, Unfersitch. iihcr die Gesch. chs Kuiiigreichs Osvoene, in Mem. de VAcad. Imp. des Sciences de St. Peteishouyg, vii* ser., t. xxxv, no. 1 (1887); Rubens-Duval, Hist. d'Edesse, in Journal Asiatiqiie. 18, 1891; 19, 1892.

MESOPOTAMIA — EDESSA XCV

called the Daisdn ^ ; both names mean the same thing, the ' leaper ', and refer to the serious inundations to which it subjected the city. The rock on which the City-goddess sits more probably represents the Nivirild Ddgh than, as Babelon supposes, the far distant range of Masios. The Kallirrhoe is now called Birket Ibrdhtm^ and its fish are still regarded as sacred. This fish-worship was doubtless connected with the cult of Atargatis, which is otherwise known to have prevailed at Edessa. Christian authorities also mention the cults of Bel and Nebo. We know also from Julian ^ that the Sun- god was worshipped at Edessa with two attendant deities Azizos and Monimos, probably the morning and the evening stars. Helios and Bel are probably to be identified.^

The thorough study which has been made of the coinage l)y Babelon ^ makes it unnecessary to go into many numismatic details here. The examination of the material available confirms his attributions and dates in all essentials ; a few minor points of difference are noticed as they occur.

Although the kingdom of Edessa began in the second century B.C., the founder of the dynasty being Aryu, 132-127 B.C., there is no coinage before the time of Marcus Aurelius. The generally accepted chronology from the reign of Ma'nu VIII onwards (which is that of A. von Gutschmid, based on Dionysius of Tellmahre) has been corrected by Babelon with the help of the coins, as will be seen from the following comparative table ^ :

^ The modern name is also given as Nah7- el Qut and Qara Qotjwi.

^ J. S. Buckingham, Travels in Mesopotamia (1827), i, p. Ill ; Rubens-Duval, p. 92 ; Sachau, p. 196 f.

^ Orat., iv, pp. 150 and 154 ; cf. Dussaud, Notes de Mijthologie Syrieune (1903), p. 10.

* Dussaud, op. cit., p. 75.

"' Melanges Numismatiqties, ii, 1893, pp. 209-96.

" In the following discussion I retain Babelon's notation, adding the number according to that of A. von Gutschmid in brackets. Thus by Abgar VIII (IX) I mean the son of Ma'nu who reigned from A. D. 179 to 214. Babelon gives no number to the Ma'nu whom he assumes to have reigned only with Abgar VIII (IX), and, to avoid confusion, I have followed his example.

XCVl INTRODUCTION

A. D. Gutschmicl. Babelon.

163-1G5 Wael, son of Sahru (2 years).

A

I •

165-167 Abgar VIII (2 years). j Interregnum.

V .

Y '

167-179 Ma'nu VIII restored (12 years).

179-214 Abgar IX the Great, son of

Ma'nu (35 years).

214-216 Abgar IX and Severus Abgar,

his son (1 year 7 months).

Abgar VIII the Great, son of Ma'nu, alone, aftei"wards with his son Ma'nu (35 years).

Abgar IX Severus.

216-242 Ma'nu JX son of Abgar, titular king only (26 years).

242-244 Abgar XI Phrahates, son of 1 Abgar X Phrahates, son of

Ma'nu (2 years). | Ma'nu (2 years).

The coinage begins with the expulsion of Ma'nu VIII from the throne of Edessa by the Parthian king Volagases III. Three classes of bronze coins appear now to have been struck at Edessa : (1) Coins with the bust of Volagases on the obverse, and the symbol O as reverse type. These bear the name of 'Volagases Arsaces king of kings ' in the local script (Wroth, B. M. C. Parthia, p. 236). (2) Coins with the bust of Volagases on the obverse, and the bust of Wael (with inscription Wael Malka ^) on the reverse (PI. XIII. 6). (3) Coins with the bust of Wael {Wael Malka) on the obverse and a temple containing a cult object on the reverse (PI. XIII. 7, 8). The inscription accompanying the reverse type has been read by Babelon as ^PK TOi^, and the remains of the inscription on the British Museum specimens do not contradict this reading, and certainly support it more than any other that has been suggested. The star which appears in the pediment of the temple indicates the god's celestial character, and the object by which the deity was represented was a cubic stone or something of that kind. Such an object is represented in the temple which occurs as an adjunct on some of the later coins of the city (e. g. PI. XV. 4). It is tempting, in view of the celestial

' On the name, see G. A. Cooke, North-Semitic Inscri2)tions, pp. 106-7.

MESOPOTAMIA — EDESSA XCVH

character of the god in question, to connect the name 7I7X with Alhd, the Babylonian name for the constellation Cancer.^ At the neighbouring city of Carrhae a crab appears as one of the types, if Sestini's description of a coin at Munich is to be trusted.-

Wael, the creature of Volagases, reigned but two j'ears. On or after the conclusion of the Parthian w^ar by L. Verus about the middle of 166/' Ma'nu VIII was restored to his throne. There ma}^ have been some interval between the expulsion of Wael by the Romans and the restoration of Ma'nu, but, as Babelon has shown, there is no reason to fill the gap with an otherwise unknown Abgar.^ Dionysius of Tellmahre mentions no king, nor indeed any interval, between Wael and Ma'nu. Wael doubtless disappeared from Edessa soon after the beginning of the campaign of 165.^ I do not see any reason for dating the restoration of Ma'nu in 167 rather than 166.

During the second reign of this king. Edessa w^as the mint of certain silver denarii with the portraits of Marcus Aurelius, Faustina II, Lucius Verus, and Lucilla. They all bear on the reverse the name of Ma'nu (Mannos) wdth the titles BaaiXevs and ^iXopcofiaio?. As regards types, those of the denarii of M. Aurelius, Faustina Junior, and Lucilla are purely Roman in character. The resting Mars of PL XIII. 10 alludes to the conclusion of the war.*^

^ The late Prof. L. W. King, to whom I owe this suggestion, remarks that AUul probably represents the pronunciation of the name in Semitic as well as in Sumerian, being taken over in the same way as EfiJil (the chief god of the Babylonian Pantheon), whose name in the later form is EUil, written 77{i^ in Aramaic dockets of the Achaemenian period (of. Clay, Amei: Jotirn. of Semit. Lamj. and Lit., xxiii, pp. 269 ft'.).

^ See above, p. Ixxxix.

^ C. H. Dodd, Num. Chron., 1911, pp. 253, 259.

* The coins supposed to associate an Abgar with M. Aurelius and L. Verus are really of Septimius Severus. As Babelon remarks, some of the heads which are intended for Severus are more like Verus and other emperors.

® This campaign had come to a successful end in the eaily autumn : Dodd, op. cit., p. 235.

8 Cf. Dodd, op. cit., p. 225.

n

XCVlll INTRODUCTION

The reverse of the denarius of L. Verus bears merely the king's name and title in four lines across the field (PI. L. 8).^

Edessa, rather than Carrhae, was probably also the mint of certain other silver denarii of Marcus Aurelius, Faustina II, L. Verus, and Lucilla (PI. XIX. 5-12), and small bronze of Commodus (PI. XIX. 13), which commemorate a Roman victory in the words YTT€P NIKHC PHMAIflN or the like. They are described on pp. 137-9. Eckhel attributes the bronze of Commodus to Carrhae, but leaves the mint of the silver coins uncertain, Babelon " gives them all to Carrhae on the ground that the silver must go with the bronze, and that the bronze cannot have been struck at Edessa under Commodus, because its 'republican' type of Tyche is unsuitable to Edessa at a time when a dynast was striking coins there in his own name. There is, however, no reason against supposing that coins with the complimentary inscriptions YTT€P NIKHC PHMAinN k.t.X. may have been struck at more than one mint in Mesopotamia; so that even if the bronze coin was struck at Carrhae, the denarii might belong to Edessa. But indeed the occurrence of the head of Tyche on the bronze does not forbid the attribution of it to Edessa during the reign of a dynast, unless we are prepared at the same time to deny the existence of coins of Tigranes with the Tyche of Antioch, or of Philopator of Cilicia with the Tyche of Hieropolis. The head of Tyche, moreover, does not, so far as I know, occur on coins bearing the name of Carrhae in the time of Commodus * ; so that we are free to attribute the bronze as well as the silver to Edessa, where we know that a silver coinage of exactly similar style was being issued at the time. A further reason, though not

1 Babelon, p. 234, PI. III. 7; Macdonald, Hunter. Catal, iii, p. 305, no, 3, PI. LXXVIII. 32,

- iii, 508 and 520.

'^ Mel. Num., ii, p. 233,

* A specimen with this type, on which the reverse inscription is entirely illegible, is in the British Museum trays under Carrhae; but it may well be one of the coins with YTT€P NIKHC PriMAIflN which we are discussing.

MESOPOTAMIA — EDESSA

a strong; one, for attributing- these coins to Edessa is the fact that the denarii of Ma'nu, which were struck there, bear the portraits of exactly the same four imperial personages. It must, however, be admitted that the attribution to Edessa does not amount to a certainty.

Wherever they may have been struck, the silver coins bear Roman types, although it is difficult to give names to some of the personifications, as nothing- exactly like them occurs on contem- porary Roman coins. The figure of Armenia seated on the ground (PI. XIX. 6) on the coin of Marcus is, however, an exact reproduc- tion of that inspired by the Armenian campaign of L. Verus, which first appeared on the coins at the end of a. d. 163.^

Other types that occur in this series are :—

Victory, carrying long palm-branch and circlet with pendent fillets, standing on a globe (PI. XIX. 5).

Female figure, with globe or apple and cornucopiae (PL XIX. 7, 9)-

Female figure, with sceptre and cornucopiae (PI. XIX. 8).

Female figure with patera and sceptre (PI. XIX. 10).

Venus with apple and sceptre (PI. XIX. 11, 12).

Female figure, holding .sceptre in 1., ears of corn in r. over altar. (PI. XL VIII. 7).

Fecunditas, with four children. Mionnet, v, 638, 229.

Jupiter seated, holding Victory. Ihid. 639, 231.

Lectisternium. Ihid. 232 (the Saeculi Felicitas type of Faus- tina II).

Minerva standing, with javelin and shield. Ihid. 233.

Fortuna standing, with rudder on globe, and cornucopiae, Ihid. 234.

The inscriptions are H N€IKH Pn/^AIHN, YHEP NIKHC PIlMAinN, VneP NIKHC THN KYPIHN, sometimes with C€B added, YHCP NIKHC THN C€BAC. The Armenian type is identified by AP/**A€N in the exergue.

' C. H. Dodd, op. cit., p. 218.

C INTRODUCTION

To return to Ma'im : Babelon also assigns to liim the coins which bear his name in Estranghelo on the reverse {Ma'iiu Malka). Most of these have the king's portrait in a tiara on the obverse (PI. XIII. 9) ; but one variety (here PI. L. 9) ^ has a bearded portrait, without tiara, which so strongly resembles Lucius Verus that I take it to represent that emperor rather than the king. That in itself would be sufficient to fix the date of all these coins to the time of Verus, i. e. to the second reign of Ma'nu. This bronze coin, with the portrait of Verus on the obverse and the name of the king without type on the reverse, is exactly parallel to the silver denarii, except that, doubtless for reasons of space, the bronze coin does not give the king the epithet corresponding to ^iAopco/iaioy.

Ma'nu VIII, dying in a. d. 179, was followed by his son Abgar the Great (VIII according to Babelon, IX according to von Gutschmid), who reigned thirty-five years (a. d. 179-.'2i4). His coins (all of bronze) fall into the following groups :

(1) Ohv. Bust of Abgar r. wearing tiara.

Rev. ^^712 *\y2^ in two lines in Estranghelo ; no type. M 12 mm. Collection of the Marquis de Vogii^. (Rev. Xum., 1892, p. 210; Babelon, Melanges, ii, p. 243, no. 14, PI. IV. l).'^

(2) Coins with the heads and names of Commodus and Abgar (PI. XIII. 14 and Babelon, p. 248, nos. 15, 16).

(3) Coins with the heads and names of Septimius Se verus and Abgar (PI. XIII. 15— XIV. 7, and Babelon, pp. 251 ft'.). The.se are often very badly blundered. The obverse inscription seems to be usually intended for C€0 YHPOC AYTOKP ATHP, and the portrait of Severus is often assimilated to those of other emperors, such as

^ Babelon, p. 240, no. 10, PI. III. 10. Babelon says that the portrait is similar to that on the coins with the tiara ; but in his engraving the greater resemblance to Verus is manifest. Note particularly the treatment of the beard.

- This coin does not seem to have come to the Bibliotheque Nationale with the rest of the Marquis de Vogue's collection, and its present possessor is unknown to me.

MESOPOTAMIA — EDESSA

L. Verus. On one (no. 29) tlie inscription seems to be a mixture of the names of Trajan or Hadrian and Severus. None of the coins in the British Museum gives Abgar any additional name ; but Babelon pubhshes specimens (his nos. 22-4) on which he reads BAOA.AIA.Cen.ABrAPOCi and BACIA€YC AIA-AYPHA. C€TT»ABrAPOC. See PI. L. 10, 11. The names Lucius Aelius Aurelius are derived from Commodus, and Septimius from Severus.

(4) A coin with the portraits and names of Caracalla and Abgar, ABr< A>POC [BACI]A€YC (Babelon, no. 33, PL V. 7, here PI. L. 12).

(5) There are also some coins (Babelon, pp. 258 fl'.) which bear on the obverse the bearded portrait of king Abgar (PI. L. 14), and on the reverse a portrait of Ma'nu (MANNOC with beardless bust (PI. XIV. 8, 9), or MANNOC TTAIC with bearded bust, here PI. L. 13). Both persons wear the tiara. It is clear that this Ma'nu was associated in youth with his father Abgar. The question