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Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 

The Metamorphoses of Ambrosia?

291, Lot: 252. Estimate $300.
Sold for $800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SYRIA, Coele-Syria. Damascus. Philip I. AD 244-249. Æ (31mm, 18.56 g, 12h). Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Female figure (Ambrosia?) facing, head right, metamorphosing into grape vine. De Saulcy –; Rosenberger 49 corr. (Philip II). Near VF, dark green patina, earthen deposits.


The figure on the reverse has traditionally been described as Dionysus holding vines, as in Rosenberger, but as the type clearly represents a female this identification can be discounted. For more recent interpretations of this very interesting type, see G. Bijowski, “The myth of Daphne on a coin minted at Damascus,” AJN 15 (2003), pp. 53-9 and K. Butcher, “Ambrosia in Damascus?,” NC 170 (2010), pp. 85-91.