Timesitheus Leads Rome Against the Sasanians

Triton XVII, Lot: 773. Estimate $30000. Sold for $30000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Gordian III. AD 238-244. Bimetallic Medallion (37mm, 65.96 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck AD 243-244. GORDIANVS PIVS FELIX AVG, laureate and cuirassed bust left, wearing balteus, holding spear over shoulder in left hand, in right a shield decorated with emperor on horseback to left, spearing enemy, being trailed by a soldier / PA X AETERNA, Gordian, in military attire, standing left, being crowned by Victory, holding signum in left hand and sacrificing over altar from patera held in right; to left, signum and reclining figures of the Tigris and Euphrates; above and in background, Sol, raising right hand in salutation and holding signum in left, standing facing, head left, in spread quadriga. Gnecchi II, p. 89, 24, pl. 104, 7-8 (same obv. die); Banti 57 (same obv. die); Cohen 172. Good VF, green patina, peripheral roughness. Very rare.

Ex Münzen und Medaillen Washington (7 December 1997), lot 361.

This impressive medallion was struck during the campaigns against the Sasanians led by Timesitheus, praetorian prefect and father-in-law of Gordian III. More specifically, it very likely commemorates the victory of the Romans at the Battle of Rhesaena in AD 243, when the Sasanians were driven back over the Euphrates. Neither Timesitheus nor Gordian III returned from the campaigns, both having died in the east under mysterious circumstances, possibly at the hands of Philip the Arab, although Sasanian sources tell us Gordian III died in battle.

The patinas on bimetallic medallions typically mask the impressive contrast of color that they would have possessed when first struck. Originally, the red, copper rims would have attractively framed the types found on the golden–hued, orichalcum center.