Rare Architectural Type

331, Lot: 153. Estimate $200. Sold for $450. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MOESIA INFERIOR, Nicopolis ad Istrum. Septimius Severus. AD 193-211. Æ (25mm, 12.10 g, 8h). Aurelius Gallus, legatus consularis. Struck AD 201-203. Laureate head right / City gate with ornate colonnade above; small tetrastyle temple seen in distance through doorway. H&J 8.14.46.1 (R7); Varbanov 2733 (R6); Price & Trell 45, fig. 26. VF, bluish-green patina, numerous cleaning scratches. Rare.

A complex piece of architectural design on a small scale, and an interesting glimpse into the civic life of Nicopolis. What appears at first glance to be a monumental city gate is in reality the juxtaposition of three different pieces of civic architecture. The imposing brick city gate with arched doorway is the centerpiece, and through the doorway can be seen in the far distance a tetrastyle temple. The “superstructure” of the gate is actually a third building, most likely a colonnaded stoa or sanctuary, and probably the same structure seen on another type of Septimius from Nicopolis, also struck under Aurelius Gallus (see Varbanov 2716).