Sale: CNG 69, Lot: 1005. Estimate $400.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 8 June 2005.  Sold For $700. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LYDIA, Silandus. Lucius Verus. 161-169 AD. Æ 37mm (27.50 gm, 6h). Aulus Attalianus, strategus. AU KAI L AVP OVHPOC, laureate and cuirassed bust left, seen from back / EPI•CT A AT[TALI]-ANOV•AP CILAND, DAKIKOC EPIMELE, tetrastyle temple with statue of Dionysus within, globe in pediment. SNG Copenhagen -; Price & Trell fig. 354 (in BM); cf. Imhoof-Blumer, Münzkunde p. 132, 2 (for magistrate) and 3 (for exergual legend). VF, dark olive-green patina, smoothing in fields. Rare. ($400)

According to Imhoof-Blumer, this magistrate's name and office also appears on a coin of the same city struck for Severus Alexander. His suggestion that it is a new cognomen is noteworthy, since it may refer to the family's ultimate point of origin, and reflect some connection with Trajan's Dacian Wars. Given the presence of a Dacicus in a position of such prominence and influence almost five decades apart (whether the same individual or relatives), it is clear that the affluence of the Empire of the second century AD allowed for the rapid advancement of former slaves and freedman, so that they too had the wherewithal to perform the duties indicative of the provincial elite. The possibility that Dacicus is some heretofore unknown office is otherwise unsupported either epigraphically or etymologically.