The Usurper Jotapian

CNG 84, Lot: 1302. Estimate $10000. Sold for $23000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Jotapian. Usurper, circa AD 248-249. AR Antoninianus (22mm, 4.10 g, 1h). Nicopolis in Seleucia mint. IM C M F R IOTAPIANVS AVG, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / VICT-ORIA AV-G, Victory advancing left, holding wreath and palm frond. RIC IV 2b var. (obv. legend); Bland 6-7 var. (dies -/iv [unlisted obv. die]); RSC 1b var. (obv. legend); B. Feirstein Collection (Part II, NAC 42), lot 161 (same obv. die). Good VF, toned, usual porosity. Well struck for issue.

Jotapian led a short-lived revolt in Syria in the autumn of AD 249 while Philip I was still emperor. Little is known of Jotapian’s background. It was said that he boasted of a relationship to Severus Alexander, and his unusual name, although otherwise unknown for a man, is attested in its feminine form "Jotape" in the royal houses of Commagene and Emesa. The extreme rarity of his coins indicates that the revolt was brief, and the crude style proves that the revolt was geographically confined, for Jotapian plainly did not control a major Roman mint. His head was brought to Rome and shown to Trajan Decius "as was customary, although Decius had not asked for it" (Aur. Vict., Caes. 29.4). In his corpus of Jotapian's coins, Bland cites 18 antoniniani in total. On this example, one can clearly see the bottom of the last letter in the obverse legend, the G of AVG. No dies are recorded by Bland that end with G, only A and AV. This and the Feirstein coin, from the same obverse die, are the only known examples with this legend variety.