MESSENIA. Mothone. Septimius Severus, 193-211. Assarion (Bronze, 22 mm, 3.17 g, 7 h), circa 198-208. ΛΟΥ CЄΠ CЄOYHPOC ΠEP Laureate and cuirassed bust of Septimius Severus to right, cuirass decorated with gorgoneion. Rev. MOΘΩNAIΩN Tyche standing front, head to left, holding rudder in her right hand and cornucopiae in her left. BCD Peloponnesos 804 (same obverse die). BMC 1. NCP -. Very rare and exceptionally well preserved. Somewhat rough and with minor traces of corrosion, otherwise, good very fine.



Mothone, an ancient Messenian harbour town, lay at the south-western tip of the Peloponnese’s western 'finger.' Its strategic value was apparent as early as 431 BC, when Athens failed to capture it during the Peloponnesian War, and again shortly before Actium, when Agrippa took the settlement - then heavily fortified by Mark Antony - and cut his opponents’ supply line to the East. The imposing Venetian fortifications still attest to Mothone’s later importance: together with Koroni farther east, it was famed as one of 'the eyes of Venice,' overseeing maritime traffic from the Aegean into the Ionian Sea and the Adriatic.