BITHYNIA. Nicomedia. Philip I, 244-249. Weight of 1 Litra (Lead, 93x99 mm, 507.65 g, 12 h), L. Egnatius Victor Lollianus, legatus pro praetore of Pontus and Bithynia, Titus Marcus Caesilius Aquila Cornelianus, logistes, and Marcus Ulpius Pius, Bithyniarch and agoranomos, RY 5 = 247/248. ETOYΣ•E•TΩN KY/PIΩN MON AYTOK/PATOPΩN•M•I૪ΛIΩN / ΦΙΛΙΠΠΩN ΣEBAΣΤΩ/N YΠATEYONTOΣ THΣ EΠA/PXEIAΣ Λ[...]IKTOP ΛO/ΛΛIANOY ΠΡEΣBEYT/૪ KAI ANTIΣΤPATI/ΓO૪ TΩN ΣEBAΣ/TΩN ΛITPA. Rev. KAI ΛOΓIΣTE/YONTOΣ•TOY KPAT/IΣΤOY•TITI૪•M•KAI/ΣIΛIOY A[KYΛ]A KOP/NHΛIAN[OY AΓ]OPAN/MOYNTO[Σ M]APKOY / OYΛΠIOY ΠIOY B/EIΘYNIAPXOY. Öztürk, H. S.: The Re-Evaluation of a New Weight from Nicomedia, in: Phaselis V (2019), pp. 251-256 var. (slightly differing legends and lacking the weight unit). Of the highest rarity, the second known example and the first of this variety. Pierced, otherwise, very fine.


This weight mentions three key magistrates in the civic life of Nicomedia: firstly, the Roman governor of the province of Pontus and Bithynia, L. Egnatius Victor Lollianus; secondly, the logistes (a fiscal officer), Titus Marcus Caesilius Aquila Cornelianus, and thirdly, Marcus Ulpius Pius, who held the offices of Bithyniarch and agoranomos. The exact nature of the office of Bithyniarch (or, for that matter, the Asiarch, Galatiarch or Lyciarch in the provinces of Asia, Galatia and Lycia) is unclear, but he likely presided over the koinon, the provincial assembly, and was perhaps expected to finance the public games in honor of the gods and the emperor. As agoranomos, Pius was also the market overseer of Nicomedia and thus responsible for the production of standardized market weights such as this piece. It is worth noting that, unlike the example published by Öztürk, our example does mention the weight unit, a litra.

As for the legate, L. Egnatius Victor Lollianus, his career is very impressive. Entering public life under the later Severans, he became the governor of Galatia in 218 and suffect consul sometime between 225 and 230. In the 230s, Lollianus served as the corrector of Achaea and perhaps as legate of Pannonia Inferior, and in 242-244, he was the proconsul of Asia. Furthermore, our weight shows that he continued his successful career under Philip I, as he served as legate of Pontus and Bithynia in the later 240s. It is also believed that Lollianus was the brother of Egnatia Mariniana, Valerian's wife. Mariniana most likely died before her husband's bid for power in 253, but her deification and the extensive coinage struck in her name attests her significance to Valerian's imperial self-representation. As Gallienus' mother, she played a crucial role in the propagation of a new dynastic rule in Rome, destined to bring peace and prosperity to the crisis-ridden empire. As the emperor's brother-in-law and Gallienus' uncle, Lollianus was kept in high regard at the court and his career culminated in becoming the Praefectus urbi of Rome in 254.