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| Gemini, LLC > Auction V | Auction date: 6 January 2009 |
| Lot number: 295 | |
| Lot description: Philip I, Apameia by Mount Ararat, Noah's Ark. (244-249 AD). Bronze, 35 mm (20.46 gm). Phrygia, Apameia. AVT K IOVΛ ΦIΛIΠΠOC AVΓ, bust laureate, draped, cuirassed right / EΠ M AVP AΛEZANΔP around, OV B APXI AΠAMEΩN in two lines in exergue, chest or ark, inscribed [NΩE], with open lid, floating on waves; within it, upper parts of Noah and his wife looking left; a dove stands on the lid of the ark, and another flies towards it, holding branch; to left, full figures of Noah and his wife standing left, raising their right hands. SNG von Aulock 3510 (this coin). Hendin 922, pl. 37 (same dies). BMC Phrygia 182. Berk, 100 Greatest Ancient Coins, p. 100 Porous surfaces as is usual for this issue. Very fine. Ex SNG Aulock 3510. After his conquest of Coele Syria in the Fifth Syrian War (202-198 BC), the Seleucid king Antiochus III established a military colony of Jewish soldiers at Apamea in Phrygia. The Jewish colonists identified their new home with the place where Noah's Ark first came to rest on dry land. This tradition became so important to local identity that in the third century AD the city of Apamea portrayed the tale of Noah on its bronze coinage. The coins depict several phases of the Biblical story. On the right, the Ark is shown adrift on the water, with Noah and his wife within. Above are the two birds they sent out, at intervals, to search for land. On the left, Noah and his wife stand on dry land, raising their hands in prayer as they thank God for their deliverance. Estimate: US$10000 |  |
