213, Lot: 328. Estimate $100. Sold for $89. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SYRIA, Decapolis. Gadara. Gordian III. AD 238-244. Æ 25mm (11.34 g, 12h). Dated CY 303 (AD 240/1). Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Galley right; ΓT (date) in exergue. Rosenberger 90; Spijkerman 93; SNG ANS 1332-8. Near VF, earthen black patina.

At first the glance, the appearance of a galley is an oddity on a coin from a land-locked desert city. But the Gadarenes never forgot their origins as a foundation by the great Roman naval commander Pompey. Other coins refer specifically to the naumachia, or naval games sponsored by the city as a festival located on the nearby Yarmuk river.