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Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 
339, Lot: 274. Estimate $100.
Sold for $90. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SYRIA, Coele-Syria. Heliopolis. Valerian I. AD 253-260. Æ (24mm, 10.82 g, 12h). Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / COL IVL AVG HEL/ CERT/ SACRV/ CAPET/ OEC ISE/ HEL above prize urn with palms. Sawaya 692-5 (D105/R256); SNG Copenhagen 438 var. (arrangement of rev. legend); BMC 27-8 var. (same). Near VF, earthen green and brown patina.


Although the main Pythian Games were held at Apollo’s sanctuary at Delphi, many other cities throughout the eastern portion of the Roman Empire periodically held smaller versions of this event. Like their Delphic original, these smaller versions included a number of athletic contests, as well as music and poetry competitions. Often such events were associated with other deities, based on the 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. 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. It is possible that these games were held in the presence of Valerian himself while he was in the east preparing for his war against the Sasanians.