CNG 90, Lot: 946. Estimate $500. Sold for $300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THRACE, Philippopolis. Commodus. AD 177-192. Æ Diassarion (20mm, 4.63 g, 12h). Laureate and draped bust right / View of the Mount of the Dryad Nymphs (mod. Dzhendem tepe): Hill surmounted by large bronze statue of Apollo; at base, statute of Apollo Cendrisseus within two story tetrastyle temple façade . Mouchmov, Phillipopolis -; Mouchmov -; Varbanov 1069 var. (bust type); Lanz 112, 565 (same dies). Near EF, green patina, light smoothing, details enhanced. Very rare.

The Mount of the Dryad Nymphs (mod. Dzhendem tepe) was the largest and the highest of the seven hills of ancient Philippopolis (mod. Plovdiv). During the Greco-Roman period, the site contained a large bronze statue of Apollo and a temple dedicated to Apollo Cendrisseus. In the fourth century AD, the temple was converted into a church.