Diadumenian 218AD Kotiaion in Phrygia Very Rare Ancient Roman Coin Wreath i28075

Description

Item:
i28075
Authentic Ancient Coin of:
Diadumenian - Roman Caesar: 218 A.D.
Bronze 18mm (1.67 grams) of Kotiaion in Phrygia
Reference: SNG von Aulock 3783
ΔΙΑΔΟVΜЄΝΙΑNOC KA, Bare-headed,
draped
bust right, drapery over far left shoulder.
KOTI /
AЄΩN
in two lines within wreath.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
Marcus Opellius Antoninus Diadumenianus
or
Diadumenian
(208–218) was the son of the Roman Emperor Macrinus, and served his father briefly as Caesar (May 217–218) and as Augustus (in 218). Diadumenian was born in 14th of September 208 a.C or according to Historia Augusta in 19th of September 208 a.C because he shared the same birthday with the emperor Antoninus Pius. His mother was Empress Nonia Celsa, although her existence remains dubious, because she was only mentioned by the Historia Augusta. He was born Marcus Opellius Diadumenianus, but his name was changed and added Antoninus to solidify connection to the family of Marcus Aurelius as done by Caracalla.
Diadumenian had little time to enjoy his position or to learn anything from its opportunities because the legions of Syria revolted and declared Elagabalus ruler of the Roman Empire. When Macrinus was defeated on June 8, 218, at Antioch, Diadumenian followed his father's death.
In antiquity,
Phrygia
(
Greek
:
Φρυγία
,
Ancient Greek:
[pʰryɡía]
)
Turkish
:
Frigya
) was a kingdom in the west central part of
Anatolia
, in what is now modern-day
Turkey
, centered around the
Sakarya River
.
The
Phrygians
are most famous for their legendary kings of the
heroic age
of
Greek mythology
:
Gordias
whose
Gordian Knot
would later be untied by
Alexander the Great
,
Midas
who turned whatever he touched to gold, and
Mygdon
who warred with the
Amazons
. According to
Homer
's
Iliad
, the Phrygians were close allies of the
Trojans
and participants in the
Trojan War
against the
Achaeans
. Phrygian power reached its peak in the late 8th century BC under another, historical
King Midas
, who dominated most of western and central Anatolia and rivaled
Assyria
and
Urartu
for power in eastern Anatolia. This later
Midas
was however also the last independent king of Phrygia before its capital
Gordium
was sacked by
Cimmerians
around 695 BC. Phrygia then became subject to
Lydia
, and then successively to
Persia
,
Alexander
and his
Hellenistic
successors,
Pergamon
,
Rome
and
Byzantium
. Phrygians were gradually assimilated into other cultures by the early medieval era, and the name Phrygia passed out of usage as a territorial designation after the
Turkish
conquest of Anatolia.
Origins
Inscriptions found at
Gordium
make clear that Phrygians spoke an
Indo-European
language with at least some vocabulary similar to
Greek
, and clearly not belonging to the family of
Anatolian languages
spoken by most of Phrygia's neighbors.
According to one of the so-called
Homeric Hymns
, the
Phrygian language
was not mutually intelligible with Trojan.
[3]
According to ancient tradition among Greek historians, the Phrygians anciently migrated to
Anatolia
from the
Balkans
.
Herodotus
says the Phrygians were called
Bryges
when they lived in Europe.
[4]
He and other Greek writers also recorded legends about King
Midas
that associated him with or put his origin in
Macedonia
;
Herodotus
for example says a wild rose garden in Macedonia was named after
Midas
.
[5]
The Phrygians were also connected by some classical writers to the
Mygdones
, the name of two groups of people, one of which lived in northern Macedonia and another in
Mysia
. Likewise the
Phrygians
have been identified with the
Bebryces
, a people said to have warred with
Mysia
before the
Trojan War
and who had a king named
Mygdon
at roughly the same time as the Phrygians were said to have had a king named Mygdon. The classical historian
Strabo
groups Phrygians,
Mygdones
,
Mysians
,
Bebryces
and
Bithynians
together as peoples that migrated to Anatolia from the
Balkans
.
[6]
This image of Phrygians as part of a related group of northwest Anatolian cultures seems the most likely explanation for the confusion over whether
Phrygians
,
Bebryces
and Anatolian
Mygdones
were or were not the same people.
The apparent similarity of the
Phrygian language
to Greek and its dissimilarity with the
Anatolian languages
spoken by most of their neighbors is also taken as support for a European origin of the Phrygians.
Some scholars have theorized that such a migration could have occurred more recently than classical sources suggest, and have sought to fit the Phrygian arrival into a narrative explaining the downfall of the
Hittite Empire
and the end of the high Bronze Age in Anatolia.
[7]
According to this recent migration theory, the Phrygians invaded just before or after the collapse of the
Hittite Empire
at the beginning of the 12th century BC, filling the political vacuum in central-western Anatolia, and may have been counted among the "
Sea Peoples
" that Egyptian records credit with bringing about the Hittite collapse. The so-called Handmade Knobbed Ware found in Western Anatolia during this period has been suggested to be an import connected to this invasion.
However, most scholars reject such a recent Phrygian migration and accept as factual the
Iliad
's account that the Phrygians were established on the
Sakarya River
before the
Trojan War
, and thus must have been there during the later stages of the
Hittite Empire
, and likely earlier. These scholars seek instead to trace the Phrygians' origins among the many nations of western Anatolia who were subject to the
Hittites
.
[8]
This interpretation also gets support from Greek legends about the founding of Phrygia's main city
Gordium
by
Gordias
and of
Ancyra
by
Midas
,
[9]
which suggest that Gordium and Ancyra were believed to be date from the distant past before the
Trojan War
. Some scholars dismiss the claim of a Phrygian migration as a mere legend, likely arising from the coincidental similarity of their name to the
Bryges
.
No one has conclusively identified which of the many subjects of the
Hittites
might have represented early Phrygians. According to a classical tradition, popularized by the Jewish-Roman historian
Flavius Josephus
, the Phrygians can be equated with the country called
Togarmah
by the ancient Hebrews, which has in turn been identified as the Tegarama of Hittite texts and Til-Garimmu of Assyrian records.
Josephus
called
Togarmah
"the Thrugrammeans, who, as the Greeks resolved, were named Phrygians". However, the Greek source cited by
Josephus
is unknown, and it is unclear if there was any basis for the identification other than name similarity. Scholars of the
Hittites
believe Tegarama was in eastern Anatolia - some locate it at
Gurun
- far to the east of Phrygia. Some scholars have identified Phrygia with the
Assuwa
league, and noted that the
Iliad
mentions a Phrygian (Queen
Hecuba
's brother) named
Asios
.
[10]
Another possible early name of Phrygia could be Hapalla, the name of the easternmost province that emerged from the splintering of the Bronze Age western Anatolian empire
Arzawa
. However, scholars are unsure if Hapalla corresponds to Phrygia or to
Pisidia
, further south.
A further claim made by
Herodotus
is that Phrygian colonists founded the
Armenian
nation.
[11]
This is likely a reference to a third group of people called
Mygdones
living in northern
Mesopotamia
who were apparently allied to the Armenians;
Xenophon
describes them in his
Anabasis
in a joint army with the
Armenians
. However, little is known about these eastern
Mygdones
and no evidence of
Phrygian language
in that region has been found.
History
Around the time of the Trojan war
The
Iliad
describes the homeland of the Phrygians on the
Sangarius River
, which would remain the center of Phrygia throughout its history. According to the
Iliad
, Phrygia was famous for its wine and had "brave and expert" horsemen.
According to the
Iliad
, before the
Trojan War
, a young king
Priam
of
Troy
had taken an army to Phrygia to support it in a war against the
Amazons
. Homer calls the Phrygians "the people of
Otreus
and godlike
Mygdon
.
[12]
According to
Euripides
,
Quintus Smyrnaeus
and others, this Mygdon's son,
Coroebus
, fought and died in the
Trojan War
; he had sued for the hand of the Trojan princess
Cassandra
in marriage.
According to the
Bibliotheca
, the Greek hero
Heracles
slew a king Mygdon of the
Bebryces
in a battle in northwest Anatolia that if historical would have taken place about a generation before the
Trojan War
. According to the story, while traveling from
Minoa
to the
Amazons
, Heracles stopped in
Mysia
and supported the
Mysians
in a battle with the
Bebryces
.
[13]
According to most interpretations,
Bebryces
is an alternate name for Phrygians and this Mygdon is the same person mentioned in the
Iliad
.
King
Priam
married a Phrygian princess,
Hecuba
,
[14]
and maintained a close alliance with the Phrygians, who repaid him by fighting "ardently" in the
Trojan War
against the Greeks.
There are indications in the Iliad that the heart of the Phrygian country was further north and downriver than it would be in later history. The Phrygian contingent arrives to aid
Troy
coming from
Lake Ascania
in northwest Anatolia, and is led by
Phorcys
and
Ascanius
, an apparent eponym. The
Iliad
calls the Phrygians "the people of
Otreus
and godlike Mygdon": the name Otreus could be an eponym for
Otrea
, a place on the Ascanian Lake in the vicinity of the later
Nicaea
, and the name Mygdon is clearly an eponym for the
Mygdones
, a people said by
Strabo
to live in northwest Asia Minor, and who appear to have sometimes been considered distinct from the
Phrygians
.
[15]
However,
Pausanias
believed that Mygdon's tomb was located at
Stectorium
in the southern Phrygian highlands, near modern
Sandikli
.
[16]
In one of the so-called
Homeric Hymns
, Phrygia is said to be "rich in fortresses" and ruled by "famous
Otreus
".
[17]
Peak and destruction of the Phrygian kingdom
Detail from a reconstruction of a Phrygian building at Pararli, Turkey, 7th–6th Centuries BC; Museum of Anatolian Civilizations,
Ankara
. A griffin, sphinx and two centaurs are shown.
During the 8th century BC the Phrygian kingdom with its capital at
Gordium
in the upper
Sakarya River
valley expanded into an empire dominating most of central and western Anatolia and encroaching upon the larger
Assyrian Empire
to its southeast and the kingdom of
Urartu
to the northeast.
According to the classical historians
Strabo
,
[18]
Eusebius
and
Julius Africanus
, the king of Phrygia during this time was another
Midas
. This historical
Midas
is believed to be the same person named as Mita in Assyrian texts from the period and identified as king of the
Mushki
. Scholars figure that Assyrians called Phrygians "Mushki" because the Phrygians and
Mushki
, an eastern Anatolian people, were at that time campaigning in a joint army.
[19]
This Midas is thought to have reigned Phrygia at the peak of its power from about 720 BC to about 695 BC (according to
Eusebius
) or 676 BC (according to
Julius Africanus
). An Assyrian inscription mentioning "Mita", dated to 709 BC, during the reign of
Sargon of Assyria
, suggests Phrygia and
Assyria
had struck a truce by that time. This
Midas
appears to have had good relations and close trade ties with the Greeks, and reputedly married an Aeolian Greek princess.
A system of writing in the
Phrygian language
developed and flourished in Gordium during this period, using a Phoenician-derived alphabet similar to the Greek one. A distinctive Phrygian pottery called Polished Ware appears during this period.
However, the Phrygian Kingdom was then overwhelmed by
Cimmerian
invaders, and
Gordium
was sacked and destroyed. According to Strabo and others,
Midas
committed suicide by drinking bulls' blood.
Tomb at
Midas
City (6th century BC), near
Eskişehir
A series of digs have opened
Gordium
as one of Turkey's most revealing archeological sites. Excavations confirm a violent destruction of
Gordium
around 675 BC. A tomb from the period, popularly identified as the "Tomb of Midas," revealed a wooden structure deeply buried under a vast tumulus, containing grave goods, a coffin, furniture, and food offerings (Archaeological Museum, Ankara).
As a Lydian province
After their destruction of
Gordium
, the Cimmerians remained in western Anatolia and warred with
Lydia
, which eventually expelled them by around 620 BC, and then expanded to incorporate Phrygia, which became the Lydian empire's eastern frontier. The
Gordium
site reveals a considerable building program during the 6th century BC, under the domination of Lydian kings including the proverbially rich King
Croesus
. Meanwhile, Phrygia's former eastern subjects fell to
Assyria
and later to the
Medes
.
There may be an echo of strife with Lydia and perhaps a veiled reference to royal hostages, in the legend of the twice-unlucky Phrygian prince
Adrastus
, who accidentally killed his brother and exiled himself to
Lydia
, where King
Croesus
welcomed him. Once again,
Adrastus
accidentally killed
Croesus
' son and then committed suicide.
As a Persian province
Some time in the 540s BC, Phrygia passed to the
Persian Empire
when
Cyrus
conquered
Lydia
. After Darius became Persian Emperor in 521 BC, he remade the ancient trade route into the Persian "Royal Road" and instituted administrative reforms that included setting up satrapies. The Phrygian satrapy lay west of the
Halys River
(now
Kızıl River
) and east of
Mysia
and
Lydia
. Its capital was established at
Dascylium
, modern
Ergili
.
Under Alexander and his successors
Alexander the Great
passed through
Gordium
in 333 BC, famously severing the
Gordian Knot
in the temple of Sabazios ("
Zeus
"). According to a legend, possibly promulgated by Alexander's publicists, whoever untied the knot would be master of Asia. With
Gordium
sited on the
Persian Royal Road
that led through the heart of Anatolia, the prophecy had some geographical plausibility. With Alexander, Phrygia became part of the wider
Hellenistic
world.
In the chaotic period after Alexander's death, northern Phrygia was overrun by
Celts
, eventually to become the province of
Galatia
. The former capital of
Gordium
was captured and destroyed by the Gauls soon afterwards and disappeared from history. In 188 BC, the southern remnant of Phrygia came under the control of the
Attalids
of
Pergamon
. However, Phrygian language survived, now written in the
Greek alphabet
.
Under Rome and Byzantium
The two Phrygian provinces within the Diocese of Asia, c. 400 AD
In 133 BC, the remnants of Phrygia passed to
Rome
. For purposes of provincial administration the Romans maintained a divided Phrygia, attaching the northeastern part to the province of
Galatia
and the western portion to the province of
Asia
. During the reforms of
Diocletian
, Phrygia was divided anew into two provinces: "Phrygia I" or Phrygia Salutaris, and Phrygia II or Pacatiana, both under the
Diocese of Asia
. Salutaris with
Synnada
as its capital comprised the eastern portion of the region and Pacatiana with
Laodicea on the Lycus
as capital the western portion. The provinces survived up to the end of the 7th century, when they were replaced by the
Theme system
. In the
Byzantine
period, most of Phrygia belonged to the
Anatolic theme
. It was overrun by the Turks in the aftermath of the
Battle of Manzikert
(1071). The Byzantines were finally evicted from there in the 13th century, but the name of
Phrygia
remained in use until the collapse of the Byzantine Empire in 1453. The last mentions of the Phrygian language date to the 5th century and it was likely extinct by the 7th century.
[20]
Culture
The Phrygian
goddess
Cybele
with her attributes
It was the "Great Mother",
Cybele
, as the Greeks and Romans knew her, who was originally worshiped in the
mountains
of Phrygia, where she was known as "Mountain Mother". In her typical Phrygian form, she wears a long belted dress, a
polos
(a high cylindrical headdress), and a veil covering the whole body. The later version of Cybele was established by a pupil of
Phidias
, the
sculptor
Agoracritus
, and became the image most widely adopted by Cybele's expanding following, both in the
Aegean
world and at
Rome
. It shows her humanized though still enthroned, her hand resting on an attendant lion and the other holding the
tympanon
, a circular frame drum, similar to a
tambourine
.
The Phrygians also venerated
Sabazios
, the sky and father-
god
depicted on horseback. Although the Greeks associated Sabazios with
Zeus
, representations of him, even at Roman times, show him as a horseman god. His conflicts with the indigenous Mother Goddess, whose creature was the
Lunar Bull
, may be surmised in the way that Sabazios' horse places a hoof on the head of a bull, in a
Roman relief
at the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
.
Phrygian costumes
Phrygia developed an advanced
Bronze Age
culture. The earliest traditions of
Greek music
derived from Phrygia, transmitted through the Greek colonies in Anatolia, and included the
Phrygian mode
, which was considered to be the warlike mode in ancient Greek music. Phrygian
Midas
, the king of the "golden touch", was tutored in music by
Orpheus
himself, according to the myth. Another musical invention that came from Phrygia was the
aulos
, a reed instrument with two pipes.
Marsyas
, the
satyr
who first formed the instrument using the hollowed
antler
of a
stag
, was a Phrygian follower of Cybele. He unwisely competed in music with the
Olympian
Apollo
and inevitably lost, whereupon Apollo flayed Marsyas alive and provocatively hung his skin on Cybele's own sacred tree, a
pine
.
Phrygia retained a separate cultural identity. Classical Greek iconography identifies the
Trojan
Paris
as non-Greek by his Phrygian cap, which was worn by
Mithras
and survived into modern imagery as the "
Liberty cap
" of the American and
French revolutionaries
. The Phrygians spoke an
Indo-European language
. (
See
Phrygian language
.
) Although the Phrygians adopted the
alphabet
originated by the
Phoenicians
, only a few dozen inscriptions in the Phrygian language have been found, primarily funereal, and so much of what is thought to be known of Phrygia is second-hand information from Greek sources.
Mythic past
The name of the earliest known mythical king was Nannacus (aka Annacus).
[21]
This king resided at Iconium, the most eastern city of the kingdom of Phrygia at that time; and after his death, at the age of 300 years, a great flood overwhelmed the country, as had been foretold by an ancient oracle. The next king mentioned in extant classical sources was called Manis or Masdes. According to Plutarch, because of his splendid exploits, great things were called "manic" in Phrygia.
[22]
Thereafter the kingdom of Phrygia seems to have become fragmented among various kings. One of the kings was
Tantalus
who ruled over the north western region of Phrygia around
Mount Sipylus
. Tantalus was endlessly punished in
Tartarus
, because he allegedly killed his son
Pelops
and sacrificially offered him to the Olympians, a reference to the suppression of
human sacrifice
. Tantalus was also falsely accused of stealing from the lotteries he had invented. In the mythic age before the
Trojan war
, during a time of an
interregnum
,
Gordius
(or Gordias), a Phrygian farmer, became king, fulfilling an oracular
prophecy
. The kingless Phrygians had turned for guidance to the oracle of Sabazios ("Zeus" to the Greeks) at
Telmissus
, in the part of Phrygia that later became part of
Galatia
. They had been instructed by the oracle to acclaim as their king the first man who rode up to the god's temple in a cart. That man was Gordias (Gordios, Gordius), a farmer, who dedicated the ox-cart in question, tied to its shaft with the "
Gordian Knot
". Gordias refounded a capital at Gordium in west central Anatolia, situated on the old trackway through the heart of Anatolia that became
Darius
's Persian "Royal Road" from
Pessinus
to
Ancyra
, and not far from the
River Sangarius
.
The Phrygians are associated in Greek mythology with the
Dactyls
, minor gods credited with the invention of iron smelting, who in most versions of the legend lived at
Mount Ida
in Phrygia.
Gordias
's son (adopted in some versions) was
Midas
. A large body of myths and legends surround this first king Midas.
[23]
connecting him with a mythological tale concerning
Attis
.
[24]
This shadowy figure resided at Pessinus and attempted to marry his daughter to the young Attis in spite of the opposition of his lover Agdestis and his mother, the goddess
Cybele
. When Agdestis and/or Cybele appear and cast madness upon the members of the wedding feast. Midas is said to have died in the ensuing chaos.
The famous king Midas is said to have associated himself with
Silenus
and other satyrs and with
Dionysus
, who granted him the famous "golden touch".
Man in Phrygian costume,
Hellenistic
period (3rd–1st century BC),
Cyprus
In one version of his story, Midas travels from Thrace accompanied by a band of his people to Asia Minor to wash away the taint of his unwelcome "golden touch" in the river
Pactolus
. Leaving the gold in the river's sands, Midas found himself in Phrygia, where he was adopted by the childless king Gordias and taken under the protection of Cybele. Acting as the visible representative of Cybele, and under her authority, it would seem, a Phrygian king could designate his successor.
The Phrygian
Sibyl
was the priestess presiding over the
Apollonian oracle
at Phrygia.
According to
Herodotus
,
[25]
Herodotus), the Egyptian pharaoh
Psammetichus II
had two children raised in isolation in order to find the original language. The children were reported to have uttered
bekos
which is Phrygian for "bread", so Psammetichus admitted that the Phrygians were a nation older than the Egyptians.
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