The Source of the Chrysoroas

427, Lot: 371. Estimate $150. Sold for $180. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

COELE-SYRIA, Damascus. Otacilia Severa. Augusta, AD 244-249. Æ (29mm, 13.76 g, 12h). Draped bust right, set on crescent, wearing stephane / River-god Chrysorrhoas reclining left in grotto, holding branch and cornucopia; above, Marsyas standing left within tetrastyle temple; star and crescent flanking upper portion of grotto, [altar] to lower left of grotto, [Π]ΗΓ[AI] in exergue. De Saulcy 9; Rosenberger 40; Price & Trell fig. 413. Near VF, green and black patina. Rare type.

This highly interesting type explicitly states that the reverse scene depicts the temple located at the source (πηγή) of the Chrysoroas (Barada) River. A related type struck under Macrinus shows the same temple seen in perspective (De Saulcy 2).