The Famed Theophanes of Mytilene

374, Lot: 376. Estimate $100. Sold for $700. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LESBOS, Mytilene. Divus Theophanes, with Diva Archedamis. Died 44-36 BC. Æ (20mm, 5.36 g, 12h). Commemorative issue. Struck under Augustus, circa AD 5. ΘЄOC ΘЄOΦANHC, bare head of Divus Theophanes right / ΘЄA APXЄΔAMIC, draped and veiled bust of Diva Archedamis right. RPC I 2342; BMC 158-9; SNG Copenhagen 405. Fine, green patina. Rare.

According to Plutarch (Vit. Pomp. 42), the historian and politician Theophanes of Mytilene was a friend and political ally of Pompey. Such was the influence of Theophanes that he was able to secure in 62 BC the independence of Mytilene from the triumvir. Following his death, sometime between 44 and 36 BC, Theophanes, along with Archedamis (presumably his wife), were accorded divine honors in recognition for their benefaction. The date of this coinage is uncertain, but it was probably issued circa AD 5 when M. Pompeius Theophanes, a descendent of the earlier Theophanes and a friend of Tiberius was procurator of Asia, but certainly the coins predate AD 33, when Tiberius ordered the execution of Theophanes’ remaining descendents, and forbade any public reference to the now-outlawed family (Tac. Ann. 6.18).