ANTONINIANII FROM THE MINT OF ANTIOCH UNDER THE REIGN OF PHILIP THE ARAB (244-249 AD)

AUXILIARY MINT FOR CARPIC CAMPAIGN (AD 247)

It seems difficult to deal with antoniniani from Antioch without talking about the case of antoniniani of Philip II as Caesar and Otacilia Severa with reverses IOVI CONSERVAT and IVNO CONSERVAT, since those coins are often attributed to the mint of Antioch - the RIC having sown confusion -, or to the mint of Rome as in Sear III. So it appeared useful to me to present a synthesis of the actual knowledge about these issues.

Concerned types

If there is an obvious link between IVNO CONSERVAT (Cohen 20, RIC 127) and IOVI CONSERVAT (Cohen 13, RIC 213) coins, the link it is less evident for the Philip II AETERNIT IMPER type (Cohen 6, RIC 226) - often attributed to the mint of Rome - which nevertheless can be attributed to this same group. Indeed, the engraving style for the bust as well as for the letters constituting the legends (have a look at the excellent stylistic study from Jyrki Muona) is similar to that of IOVI CONSERVAT coin. These three types as well as their rare variants with long reverse legend IVNO CONSERVATRIX (Cohen 21, RIC 128) and IOVI CONSERVATORI (described by H. Cohen under number 13a, then copied in the Roman Imperial Coinage under number 214) thus form an issue that can not be stylistically attributed to the mint of Rome.

But of course it is hardly imaginable that such a voluminous issue do not include any type for Philip the Arab, so one can think a common antoninianus of Philip I usually attributed to the mint of Rome could also come from this mint. The question of the attribution of the Philip I VICTORIA AVGG type depicting Victoria standing left (Cohen 235, RIC 51) to another mint than Rome was raised for the first time by Samuel K Eddy in 1967 ("The Minting of Antoniniani AD 238-249 and the Smyrna Hoard" , New York, American Numismatic Society, Numismatic Notes & Monographs n° 156) who proposed Viminacium as the emitting mint. If this hypothesis cannot be retained on stylistic grounds, it seems on the other hand that this type can be associated to the previously described coins. According to Curtis Clay (Harlan J Berk Ltd), this hypothesis is supported by the fact that no gold or bronze coins - Sestertius, As or Dupondius - present this exact reverse (Victoria is depicting walking left on AE coins with reverse VICTORIA AVGG), and J. Muona's stylistic analysis also seems to support this hypothesis that this type was not minted in Rome.

Dating and identification of the mint

As the legend M IVL PHILIPPVS CAES was used in Rome between mid-244 and mid-247, and because the Otacilia Severa legend M OTACIL SEVERA AVG only appeared in Rome mint at the beginning of AD 247, the beginning of this issue can be dated without any risk to the first half of AD 247. In the same way, the end of this issue can be dated to the 2nd half of AD 247, the long legend of Philip II as Augustus IMP M IVL PHILIPPVS AVG having been used only for a short period by Rome mint towards mid-247, quickly replaced by the short late legend IMP PHILIPPVS AVG. Even if a gap in the use of those legends between the mint of Rome and this external mint is possible, the relatively "low" quantity of coins with this long legend tends to confirm the end of this issue before the end of the year AD 247. It should be noted that the victory of Philip I over Carps will be celebrated in Rome by a rare special issue with explicit reverse VICTORIA CARPICA (Cohen 238, RIC 66) also dated AD 247.

The question of the identification of the mint remains open, and I do not claim to bring here a precise answer to it. What is certain is that these coins were not minted in Rome nor Antioch, but nevertheless they present some common characteristics with the Rome mint style. According to Curtis Clay, these coins could have been minted during Carpic Campaign (AD 245-247) by an auxiliary mint of the mint of Rome. Consequently, one can imagine either an itinerant mint that followed the displacements of the armies of Philip to provide it with currencies, or the establishment of this mint in an unidentified provincial city probably located near the area occupied by the armies.