PISIDIA. Apollonia-Mordiaeum. Pseudo-autonomous issue. Tetrassarion (Orichalcum, 30 mm, 19.10 g, 6 h), time of Caracalla, 211-217. AΛЄΞA KTIC AΠΟΛΛΩNIATΩN Head of Alexander the Great to right, wearing lion skin headdress.
Rev. [IΠΠOΦO]/PAC The river-god Hippophoras reclining to left, holding reed in his right hand and cornucopiae in his left, leaning left on urn from which water flows. SNG von Aulock 4988. Von Aulock, Pisidien II, 51 (
this coin?). Rare and of great historical interest. Very fine.
From the M. Burstein Collection, Peus 366, 29 October 2000, 883 (with collector's ticket).
Apollonia-Mordiaion was the Hellenistic refoundation of an older settlement named Mordiaion. In Severan time, the city issued a series of large bronzes claiming Alexander the Great as its founder, undoubtedly both as a commemoration of its Hellenistic origins as well as in an attempt to please the emperor Caracalla, whose
imitatio alexandri was well known. It is likely that the present example is in fact identical to Von Aulock, Pisidien II, 51, which is not reprodruced but referenced as "M. & M." (i.e. Münzen & Medaillen AG) and recorded with a weight of 19.09 g.
