The Certamina Sacra Capitolia Oecumenica Iselastica Heliopolitana

301, Lot: 202. Estimate $200. Sold for $260. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SYRIA, Coele-Syria. Heliopolis. Gallienus. AD 253-268. Æ (26mm, 17.42 g, 6h). Capitolia Oecumenica Iselastica Heliopolitana Games issue. 8th emission, AD 256/7. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Three prize crowns, each containing two palm fronds, set on ground line; CERT • SACR •/CAP • OEC •/ISE • HEL • in three lines in exergue. Sawaya – (D–/R231 [unlisted obv. die]); CNG 88, lot 1042 (same dies). Near VF, earthen green patina.

Many cities throughout the eastern portion of the Roman Empire periodicially held smaller versions of the four Iselastic Games of Greece (so called because victors in the ceremonies were granted iselasticum, the right to enter their native cities in triumph following the games) – the Pythian, Olympian, Isthmian, and Nemean. Like the Greek originals, these smaller versions included a number of athletic contests, as well as music and poetry competitions. Often such events were associated with important civic cults of each city. At Heliopolis (modern Baalbek), the site of a massive temple complex dedicated to Jupiter-Zeus-Baal-Hadad, Venus-Aphrodite-Astarte, and Bacchus-Dionysus, these games were known as the Certamina Sacra Capitolia Oecumenica Iselastica Heliopolitana (the “Sacred Capitoline Ecumenical Iselastic Games of Helipolis”). Here, celebrations were held in honor of Jupiter-Zeus-Baal-Hadad, not only associating this god with his counterpart at Rome, but also the city with the Empire as a whole.