366, Lot: 626. Estimate $200. Sold for $180. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THRACE, Philippopolis. AD 198-217. Æ Medallion (37mm, 22.85 g, 7h). Struck circa AD 215. Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Table surmounted by prize urn containing four balls; palm branch and amphora below. Cf. Mouchmov, Philippopolis 372; Varbanov 1420 (same obv. die). VF, green surfaces, light smoothing.

Ex Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 345 (25 February 2015), lot 399; Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 320 (12 February 2014), lot 277.

The reverse of this medallion is one of many similar types struck by Philippopolis to commemorate the Pythian Games (τὰ Πύθια), one of the four Greek Panhellenic Games that occurred in the second year of each four-year Olympic cycle. Held in honor of Apollo, the god of arts and “civilization,” these games featured competitions for athletics, music, and poetry, and were meant to evoke the best of Greco-Roman culture. This particular event in AD 215, coming as it did in during Caracalla’s march east to fight the Persians, must have invested the event with further significance: by situating the occurrence of the games at such a crucial moment, the gods had signaled their approval for Caracalla’s enterprise against the “barbarians.”