MESSENIA. Colonides. Caracalla, 198-217. Assarion (Bronze, 24 mm, 2.53 g, 7 h), 198-205. [M] AVP ANTⲰNINOC Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Caracalla to right, seen from behind. Rev. KOΛΩΝΕΙΤΩN Distyle temple; within, statue of Tyche (?) standing front, head to left, holding rudder (?) in her right hand and cornucopiae in her left. BCD Peloponnesos -. BMC -. Lindgren II -. Seyrig, Antiquités Syriennes 65 -. Apparently unpublished and unusually attractive for this mint. Repatinated and with a flan fault on the obverse, otherwise, good very fine.


Like many other minor Peloponnesian cities, Colonides (or Colone) struck its only civic coinage in the early Severan period. The issue includes coins struck for Septimius Severus, Julia Domna, Caracalla and Geta, and is of great rarity today, especially in the case of Caracalla. Our coin reveals a new reverse type, namely a distyle temple containing a statue of Tyche (?).