Sale: CNG 69, Lot: 1266. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 8 June 2005.  Sold For $310. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

JUDAEA, Gaza. Hadrian. 117-138 CE. Æ 24mm (10.37 gm, 11h). Dated CY 192; Epidemia 3 (132 CE). Laureate and draped bust right / Tyche standing left, holding sceptre and cornucopiae; lowing heifer standing at feet left; Marnas symbol in right field; dates in legend. Rosenberger II 61; Hendin 865 var. (placement of CY date); SNG ANS 917. Good VF, desert patina. Much better than the published specimens. ($200)

Hadrian visited Gaza more than once, and it was upon such a visit in 130 AD that an additional reckoning date, that of the epidhmia, or imperial visit. During one such visit, the great temple of Zeus-Marnas may have been founded, as it is first represented on the coins of Hadrian himself. The presence of the heifer, associated in classical mythology with Io, one of Zeus' many lovers and the distant ancestress of Hercules, may refer to an incarnation of the Egyptian goddess Hathor, whom the ancient Philistines, founders of the city, worshipped.