Commemorating the Pythian Games

227, Lot: 269. Estimate $500. Sold for $320. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THRACE, Philippopolis. Caracalla. AD 198-217. Æ Medallion (37mm, 26.95 g, 7h). Struck AD 215. Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind / Table surmounted by prize urn containing two palms; below, amphora and balls. Varbanoc 1423. Good Fine, green patina. Rare.

The reverse of this medallion is one of many similar types struck by Philippopolis to commemorate the Pythian Games (τὰ Πύθια), one of the four Greek Panhellenic Games that occurred in the second year of each four-year Olympic cycle. Held in honor of Apollo, the god of arts and “civilization”, these games featured competitions for music and poetry in addition to feats of athletic skill, and were meant to evoke the best of Greco-Roman culture. This particular evnt in AD 215, coming as it did in during Caracalla’s march east to fight the Persians, must have invested the event with further significance: by situating the occurrence of the games at such a crucial moment, the gods had signaled their approval for Caracalla’s enterprise against the “barbarians.”