Enigmatic Type

302, Lot: 228. Estimate $100. Sold for $300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THRACE, Bizya. Marcus Aurelius. As Caesar, AD 139-161. Æ (26mm, 11.10 g, 6h). Bare head right / Banquet scene: male reclining left on couch at the end of which sits a female, her feet resting on a stool; oval shield above figures, table before couch; to left, small male figure standing right, placing hand on amphora, below a tree with cuirass hanging from a limb; to right, forepart of horse left, with foreleg raised;. Jurukova, Bizye 18; Varbanov 1435 (R6). Good Fine, dark grayish-green patina, roughness. Rare and interesting.

This coin has an intriguing reverse scene which also appears, albeit with some minor changes in details, on issues of at least two other emperors. While sometimes thought to depict the local myth of King Tereus being served the corpse of his son in revenge for his crimes against his sister-in-law, a serpent-entwined staff below the female figure seated on the couch on a later issue certainly depicting the same scene has led some to interpret the central figures as Asclepius and Hygeia. While obviously of great local significance, a fuller understanding of this scene unfortunately eludes us.