BITHYNIA. Nicaea. Julia Domna, Augusta, 193-217. Tetrassarion (Orichalcum, 29 mm, 12.18 g, 6 h). ΙΟΥΛΙΑ ΑΥΓΟΥCΤΑ Draped bust of Julia Domna to right. Rev. ΤΟΝ ΚΤΙCTHΝ / ΝΙΚΑΙЄ-ΩΝ Infant Dionysos seated left in cradle (liknon), extending both arms. BMC -. RG -. RPC V.2 online ID 78512 (one example recorded). SNG Copenhagen -. SNG von Aulock -. Of the highest rarity, apparently the second known example of this highly interesting issue. Minor roughness, otherwise, very fine.



The reverse depicts the infant Dionysos as Liknites, seated in a liknon, a winnowing basket that could also serve as a cradle and became an important object in Dionysiac ritual. Plutarch records that the Thyiads at Delphi performed a secret rite in which they 'awakened Dionysos Liknites' (De Iside et Osiride 35), attesting to the association of the divine child with ritual renewal. Particularly significant is the reverse legend ΤΟΝ ΚΤΙΣΤΗΝ ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ, 'the founder of the Nicaeans,' which explicitly presents Dionysos as the city’s divine founder. The type thus combines a specifically local foundation tradition with the wider cult image of the infant Dionysos in his sacred cradle. It represents an unusually explicit expression of Nikaia’s Dionysiac civic identity.