The coins in the name of Sura more

COINS OF MACEDONIA AND ROME: ESSAYS IN HONOUR OF CHARLES HERSH Edited by Andrew Burnett, Ute Wartenber: and Richard Witschonke SPINK London 1998 The coins in the name of Sura FRANCOIS DE CALLATAY [plates 10-11] The activity of Q. Bruttius Sura in Macedonia, at the time of the First Mithridatic War, is attested in literary, epigraphic and numismatic sources. Two texts (Appian and Plutarch),1 two honorific inscriptions (a statue base from Larissa and a decree of Thespiae)2 and two coinages (rare varieties of the Macedonian tetradrachms in the name of Aesillas and of the tetradrachms of the island of Thasos) make reference to him. According to Appian and Plutarch, Mithridates' general Archelaus invaded Greece in 87 BC and, based at Athens, he set out north to Thessaly where he was opposed by Bruttius Sura, whom Plutarch describes as JipeoBevTris uev S)v Xevrfou tou aTparryvoG t-rjs MctKeSovias = (as the coins discussed below show) legiatus) pro q(uaestore) of C. Sentius, the praetor who was governor of Macedonia. Sura won a number of victories, at land and sea, and thereby checked the invasion (although Plutarch and Appian disagree about the nature and outcome of the main engagement in Boeotia), although C. Sentius subsequently lost Macedonia. Sura's successes were no doubt the reason why honorific inscriptions were set up to him. Sura's name also appears somewhat fleetingly on two otherwise large issues of silver coins minted at this time in Macedonia (Aesillas) and Thasos. The appearance of his name has long been noted,3 but so far the coins have not been closely studied. Recently the Cabinet des Medailles in Brussels has had the good fortune to acquire important coins of Aesillas and of Thasos that bear on this topic. The details of the new Brussels tetradrachm of Aesillas are: Obverse: MAKEAOMQN (below, left to right). Head of deified Alexander the Great facing right, with the horns of Ammon and hair flowing free to the rear. Behind the nape: 0. In front of the neck and under the chin: S I. Reverse: AESILLAS (above, left to right). Vertical club between fiscal cista to left (fiscus) and quaestor's chair to right (sella). In the field top right, above the sella: Q. Around, olive crown. Brussels, Cabinet des Medailles, inv. II, 82.896 (16.65 g, 32 mm, 12 h) bought at Rauch (Vienna), Sale 57, 11-12 April 1996, no. 44 (Plate 10,6). Were it not for the letters SI on the obverse, we would be dealing after all with a banal example of the most common type, on which appear the legends MAKEAON^IN in Greek on the obverse and AESILLAS in Latin on the reverse. Almost 950 of some 1,000 examples recorded in my card-index belong to this type.4 1 Plutarch Sulla 11.6-8; Appian Mithridales 29. 2 Larissa: G. Fougeres, 'Inscriptions dc Thcssalic', BCII 13 (1889), pp. 388-91 = IG IIX2 613 (p. 164); see also A.-J. Reinach, 'Delphes et les Bastarnes', BCH 34 (1910), p. 318. Thespiae: A. Plassan, 'Decrcts de Thespies'. in Melanges Ch. Heard II (Paris, 1949), pp. 830-2 (Thebes Museum, inv. 1471). ! D. Seslini, Descriptio Numorum Velerum (Leipzig, 1796), p. 85, no. 12, and B. Borghesi, Qiuvres completes de Bariolemeo Borghesi II (Paris, 1864), pp. 239-42 (he was the first to associate the SVVRA on the coins with the Sura of the texts). 4 In an article published in 1996 but written in 1985 and revised in 1987 I presented a die-study of 554 tetradrachms (F. de Callatay, 'Les Monnaies au nom d'Aesillas', in T. Hackens, G. Moucharte (eds), Italian! Falo Profugi: Numismatic Studies Dedicated to Vladimir and Elvira Eliza Clain-Stefanelli (Louvain-la-Neuve, 1996), pp. 113-51). Subsequent research has almost doubled the number of specimens recorded in my card-index. francois de callatay There are also, however, two important variations of the coins in the name of Aesillas. One is rare without being exceptional: I know of 38 examples. On it the word MAKEAONflN on the obverse is preceded by the letters CAE-PR in Latin, referring to a Cae(sar) pr(aetor). The other is very rare, and is relevant here. Only five examples are known, all struck from the same pair of dies. In this issue the name AESILLAS on the reverse is replaced with the legend SVVRALEG/PRO Q: Sura, leg(atus) pro q{uaestore). This appearance of the names of the two Roman magistrates, Caesar and Sura, is of great importance for establishing the chronology of the coinage in the name of Aesillas, but this is not the place to enter into the long and vexed debate of this issue.5 The coin now in the Cabinet in Brussels demands, however, that we reconsider the five specimens in the name of SVVRA. As H. Gaebler and O. M0rkholm had at different times already noted, the obverse die used to strike these five coins was also used to issue some coins of the most common type (MAKEAONflN/AESILLAS), and both thought that the coins in the name of Aesillas preceded those in the name of SVVRA.6 This supposition was logical insofar as it allowed the simplest reconstruction of the pattern of striking: an abundant striking of tetradrachms in the name of Aesillas first, completed by a small issue in the name of Sura.7 The coin in Brussels, however, weakens this hypothesis. Struck from the same obverse die as coins of Aesillas, it bears clear traces of a marked deterioration of the die. One can note in particular two small linear chips, the first behind the nape, just above the M of MAKEAONflN, the second at eye-level, parallel with the nose. This second flaw in particular, clearly visible on the Brussels tetradrachm, does not appear on any coins known previously, whether in the name of Sura or of Aesillas. Study of the dies reveals, on the contrary, that coins in the name of Aesillas were issued just after those in the name of Sura.8 The die-study of coins known to me with this obverse is as follows:9 1. Coins with SVVRA 01 Rl (a) Berlin 479/1875 (16.68 g) (see Beschreibung der antiken Miinzen II (Berlin, 1889), p. 21, pi. II no. 14; H. Gaebler, Die antiken Miinzen Nord-Griechenlands. Die antiken Miinzen Makedonia und Paionia II (Berlin, 1935), p. 9 [16.90 gj, pi. Ill no. 15 and F. de Callatay, op. cit, pi. 2: D19-Rla) (Plate 10,1) (b) London, BM, RPK A5, p. 91 (16.06 g, 32 mm, 12 h) (see B.V. Head, BMC Macedonia (London, 1879), p. 20 [drawing]; H.B. Mattingly 'L. Julius Caesar, Governor of Macedonia', Chiron 9 (1979), pi. 4 no. 2 and F. de Callatay, op cit., D19-Rlc) (Plate 10,2) (c) New York, ANS (16.22 g, 12 h) = Hess-Leu (Lucerne-Zurich) 24, 16 April 1964, 150 (see R.S. Fisher, Two notes on the Aesillas tetradrachms: mint attribution and a die control system', ANSMN 30 (1985), pi. 31, no. O80-R160 and F. de Callatay, op. cit., D19-Rlb) (Plate 10,3) 5 See F. de Callatay, op. cit. (n. 4), pp. 113-15 and 148-51, as well as the long-awaited study of the same subject by R.A. Bauslaugh. 6 14. Gaebler, 'Zur Miinzkunde Makedoniens', ZfN 23 (1902), p. 171: 'Ein im Besilz des Herrn E. Briining (Berlin) befindlichcs Tctradrachmon mit Stempclgleicher Vf., abcr AESItLAS Q auf der Rf. beweist nun, dass Sura als unmittelbarer Nachfolger des Aesillas die Quaestur in Makedonien verwaltete.' O. Morkholm, 'The Chronology of the New Style Coinage of Athens', ANSMN 29 (1984), p. 37: 'Only one die was used by Sura, and this had already- served Aesillas'. 7 See also H. Gaebler, Die antiken Miinzen Nord-Griechenlands. Die antiken Miinzen Makedonia und Paionia 1 (Berlin, 1906), p. 73; R.S. Fisher, 'Two notes on the Aesillas tetradrachms: mint attribution and a die control system', ANSMN 30 (1985), pp. 69-88, pi. 30-1 (esp. p. 70). s We recall here that F. Imhoof-Blumer had in his day implied (hat the collection of J.-P. Six contained a coin in the name of Aesillas overstruck on Sura (F. Imhoof-Blumer, Monnaies grecques (Paris, Leipzig, 1883), p. 60 n. 3: 'Un cxcmplairc au nom d'Aesillas, dans la collection de M. Six, est surfrappe sur un tetradrachme de Sura, a ce qu'il parait'). 9 The British Museum has a sixth example in the name of Sura (London, BM, 1974-1-2-3 [13.83 g, 29 mm, II h], see enlargement Plate 11, A). This is a fake, as is shown by its weight (13.83 g), the aberrant style of the head of Alexander on the obverse, the fact that it is plated, and, to cap it all, the presence of a nail through the centre of the coin in order to demonetise it. Elsewhere, certain authors (G. Kacarova and A. Rogalski: see infra) mention the existence of a coin in the name of Sura in the coin collection in Gotha. This coin doubtless disappeared in 1945. In any case, it no longer appears in the collection, as its curator Mrs U. Wallenstein has kindly confirmed to me (letter of 29 July 1996). THE COINS IN THE NAME OF SURA (d) Pozzi collection = Ars Classica (Geneva) 1, 4 April 1921, 1005 (15.45 g) (F. de Callatay, op. cit., D19-Rld) (Plate 10,4) (e) Ars Classica (Geneva) 13, 27-29 June 1928, 571 (16.47 g-32 0) (F. de Callatay, op. cit., D19-Rle) (Plate 10,5) 2. Coins with AESILLAS Ol Rl (a) Berlin 22 (see E. Schonert-Geiss, 'Imitationen maroneiischer Miinzen', Klio 66 (1984) no. 21 and F. de Callatay, op. cit., D19-R90a) (Plate 10,6) Ol R2 (a) Toronto, ROM 949 x 15.315 (16.65 g, 31 mm, 12 h) (Plate 10,7) Ol R3 (a) Bonhams & Vecchi (London) 6, 14-15 Sep. 1981, 122 (16.31 g) (F. de Callatay, op. cit., D19-R88a) (Plate 10,8) Ol R4 (a) Kurpfalzische Miinzhandlung (Mannheim) 31, 18-19 Dec. 1986, 70 (F. de Callatay, op. cit., D19-R89a) (Plate 10,9) Ol R5 (a) Brussels, Inv. II, 83.553 (16-01 g, 31 mm, 12 & overstruck) = Classical Numismatic Group (Lancaster-London) 41, 13 March 1997, 339)10 (Plate 11,16) Ol R6 (a) Brussels, Inv. II, 82.896 (16.65 g, 32 mm, 12 h) = Rauch (Vienna) 57, 11-12 April 1996, 44 (16.65 g) (Plate 10, 10) The reverse of the Brussels specimen confirms that this coin was struck after, and not before, the brief issue of tetradrachms in the name of Sura. In fact one can discern, in the upper left field of the reverse, just under the letters AES of the legend AESILLAS, traces of correction. It appears that one or two letters previously engraved to the left were erased, whereas what resembles an S can clearly be seen to the right." It looks as if the engraver changed his mind in the course of his work, when he was busy incising a different legend, presumably PRO. Finally, one can see that the surface of the obverse of the Brussels coin is not smooth. The centre of the die seems to have been recut a little more deeply, thereby creating a sort of central foot on the obverse of the coin. The coins in the name of Sura appear then as a brief episode inserted into the middle of a series of coins, in this case with the name of Aesillas. A similar phenomenon can be observed in the case of the coins of Thasos. There is a very rare variant of the Thasian tetradrachms with 'Heracles the Saviour' which have, in the left field of the reverse, the letters SVR or, on two lines, Q/SVR. Again, the Cabinet des Medailles in Brussels has recently had the chance to acquire one of these exceptional coins, only the fifth specimen known. With this new specimen the die corpus is as follows: Obverse: Head of Dionysos facing right, crowned with a wreath of vine-leaves. Reverse: HPAKAEOYI (right, top to bottom) ZHTHPOZ (left, top to bottom) 0AII.QN (in the exergue, left to right). Heracles naked and standing, facing left. He holds a lion skin wrapped around his left arm and the top of a club in his right hand. Q/SVR or SVR in lower left field. Coin with SVR Ol Rl (a) Cambridge SNG Fitzwilliam 1828 (16.32 g, 12 h) (attributed in error to London by G. Kacarova, Novi danni za datirovkata na tetradrahmite na ostrov Tasos ot vtori period na monetoseceneto mu i na trakijskite tetradrahmi ot I v. pr. n. e. (in Bulgarian, summary in English), in Bulletin de I'Institut Archeologique Bulgare XXVII (1964), pp. 131-52, at p. 148 pi. 4]) (Plate 11,11) 10 This study had been finalised when 1 was able to acquire, for the >' it probably was not an S that the engraver meant to engrave. Brussels collection, this new specimen with traces of overstrikiiig. FRANCOIS DE CALLATA Y Coins with O SVR 01 Rl (a) Brussels, Inv. II 82.788 (16.78 g, 33 mm, 12 h) = Rietdijk (Hague) 360, 1 Dec. 1995, 1365. The coin is overstruck, and visible traces of the undertype can be seen in the upper right field on the obverse: a series of locks, perhaps belonging to the hair of the head of the deified Alexander on a tetradrachm of Aesillas or a posthumous Lysimachus struck at Byzantium, or of the head of Heracles on a posthumous Alexander of Odessos or Mesembria (Plate 11, 12) (b) Nova Zagora, Padarevo hoard 3 (16.85 g, 30 mm, 1 h) (see G. Kacarova, 1964, p. 133 and 148, pi. 4) (Plate 11,13) Ol12 R2 (a) Paris, BN 2072 (16.25 g, 31 mm, 12 h) (see G. Kacarova, op. cit., p. 149, pi. 5, and G. Le Rider, 'Les Monnaies thasiennes' in Guide de Thasos (Paris, 1967), p. 190, pi. IV no. 52) (Plate 11,14) 02 R3 (a) Private Bulgarian collection (16.53 g, 32 mm) (see A. Rogalski, 'Redki moneti ot castni svirki' f'Monnaies rares des collections privees'] (in Bulgarian, summary in French) in Numizmatika 1976 (1-2), pp. 12-13 and 19) (Plate 11,15) In addition to this small corpus, we should note the existence of a modern Bulgarian counterfeit, probably the work of the well-known Slavej Athanassov (see Plate 11, B),13 and of what appears to be a ancient forgery kept in the National Museum of Rumanian History at Bucharest (Plate 11, C).14 In 1964 Kacarova made an important point when she remarked that the obverse die Ol, which was used to strike four of the five specimens, was also used for Thasian letradrachms of the most common type, of which one specimen, which she illustrates, appears in the Popina find (Plate 11, D).15 The discovery that the dies are identical is facilitated and confirmed by the unusual presence of a monogram behind the nape of Dionysos' neck (A), best seen on the Paris specimen (01-R2a: Plate 11,14).16 Thus Sura's name appears twice in only a very brief period (the phenomenon affects only one obverse die of Aesillas and two, apparently, of Thasos). It is not clear why his name appears in this way. It seems unlikely that its appearance is honorific, although Sura was indeed successful in averting a danger which threatened the very existence of the province of Macedonia. But there is no parallel for the appearance on coins of the names of others who, like Sura, had gloriously distinguished themselves. It seems more likely to me that Sura's name appears because he was, in fact, the initiator of the issue, though for some reason that remains obscure to us.17 Something must also be said about the quantity of these issues. We have already noted how small they are: one obverse die for Aesillas, two for Thasos, though if these dies were fully used, they could have produced a considerable number of letradrachms.18 This is not the place to re-enter the debate about estimating die- and mint-output; suffice it to say that we might be dealing with a substantial amount of silver, which could have been minted to pay the troops serving with Sura, perhaps, as the 12 The obverse die has been re-engraved wilh. mosl notably, the addition or the monogram A behind the nape of Dionysos. 15 See Bulletin on Counterfeits 17 (2) (1992/3), p. 27 no. 6a. M Bucharest. MNHR no. 4457 (13.51 g-35 0. 12 h). Apart from its clearly insufficient weight, this coin has a particularly soapy relief which. Co judge from the photograph, leaves it uncertain whether the coin was struck. In his recent work - sadly very lacunose and imperfect on this question - Ivo Lukanc addresses this coin-issue, of which he knows only the Bucharest specimen (1. Lukanc, Les Imitations des monnaies a"Alexandre le Grand el de Thasos (Wctteren, 1996), pp. 32-3 and 120, no. 1930, pi. 169). To give an idea of the very fragmentary nature of the material collected by Lukanc, compare the three specimens that he attributes (wrongly, in my opinion) to Aesillas (nos. 1927-9 in his catalogue) with the 21 collected by I. Prokopov and myself with a view to publication in the near future. 13 G. Kacarova, op. cit., pp. 140 and 149, no. Z (16.35 g, 33 mm. 12 h). Sec also I. Prokopov and I.E. Bacvarov, "Monclno sakrovisce ot s. Popina. Silistrensko", Numizmatika 24 (1) (1990), p. 6 (no. AA1). 16 The interpretation of this monogram as distinguishing the district of Amphaxitis (AM<t>l seems to me no more than an ingenious hypothesis; on Amphaxitis sec B V. Head. Historia Numorum 2 (Oxford, 1911), p. 242. 17 Conceivably Sura was somehow the owner of the metal to be coined. Some years later Pompey, who was then in Spain lighting Sertorius, wrote to Rome to announce thai his personal fortune had been expended on the upkeep of his troops (Plutarch Pompey 20.1). 18 Between 23,333 and 47,250 coins per obverse die for the Amphictionic League at Delphi according, to P. Kinns, 'The Amphictionic coinage reconsidered', NC 143 (1983), pp. 1-22. On the average number of coins struck per die sec F. de Callatay. 'Calculating ancient coin production: seeking a balance', NC 155 (1995), pp. 296-302 (with reference to earlier literature). the coins in the name of sura 117 coins suggest, a mixed force of Roman troops and Thracian auxiliaries: an inscription from Chaeronea thanks a Thracian named Amatokos, son of Teres, who came at the head of 1,000 cavalry and lent assistance to Sulla during winter 87/86 or 86/85 BC.19 Indeed hoards show how the coins of Aesillas circulated primarily in the interior of the province of Macedonia, while Thasian tetradrachms moved north, specifically into Thrace. The distribution patterns of these two coinages do not overlap, but complement each other to a remarkable extent. Consequently, it is tempting to suppose that the Roman soldiers were paid in tetradrachms in the name of Aesillas and Thracian auxiliaries were paid in tetradrachms of Thasos. See M. Holleaux, 'Deeret de Cheronee relatif a la premiere guerre de Mithridatc", REG 32 (1919), pp. 320-37 plate 10 aesillas de callatay, coins in the name op sura plate II thasos de callatay, coins in the name of sura