CARIA. Antiochia ad Maeandrum. Pseudo-autonomous issue. Hemiassarion (Bronze, 15 mm, 3.54 g, 12 h), time of Trajan and Hadrian, 98-138. ΝΑΡΒΙϹ Turreted and draped bust of the city-goddess to right. Rev. ΑΝΤΙΟΧΕΩΝ Athena standing front, head to left, placing her right hand on shield set on ground and holding spear in her left. RPC III 2245. SNG von Aulock 2420. Very rare. Good very fine.


Antiochia ad Maeandrum was founded by the Seleukid king, Antiochos I, through a synoikism of the two cities, Symmaithos and Kranaos, whose eponymous heroes were subsequently venerated in the newly founded city. It has been suggested that the enigmatic name of Narbis on the obverse of the present issue may refer to another native Carian settlement of that name, that may have been incorporated into Antiochia ad Maeandrum in the 2nd century BC. If this is true, the bust on the obverse should be identified as the eponymous city-goddess of that settlement, which became the third mother city of Antiochia.