DOMITIAN with TITUS Rare Poss UNPUBLISHED Amphipolis Roman Coin Europa i48855

Item: i48855

 Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Domitian – Roman Caesar: 69-81 A.D.
Emperor
: 81-96 A.D. –
Bronze 29mm (16.49 grams) of

Amphipolis in

Macedonia
Reference: Possibly unpublished or unique type!
ΔΟΜΙΤΙΑΝΟC ΚΑΙC, Titus and Domitian standing facing
each other, one passing the torch to the other.
ΑΜΦΙΠΟΛΤΩΝ,
Artemis
Tauropolos (possibly
Europa
) riding bull right.

* Numismatic Note: Although most attribute the reverse type to
Artemis Tauropolis or Artemis the bull-rider, I have come to a conclusion that
it is a depiction of Europa or certainly looks like it.

You are bidding on the exact
item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime
Guarantee of Authenticity. 

In
Greek mythology

Europa was
a Phoeniciann
woman of high lineage, from whom
the name of the
continent

Europe
has ultimately been taken. The story of
her abduction by Zeus
in the form of a white bull was a
Cretan
story; as
Kerényi
points out “most of the love-stories
concerning Zeus
originated from more ancient tales
describing his marriages with goddesses. This can especially be said of the
story of Europa”.

Europa’s earliest literary reference is in the
Iliad
, which is commonly dated to the 8th
century B.C. Another early reference to her is in a fragment of the
Hesiodic

Catalogue of Women
, discovered at
Oxyrhynchus
. The earliest vase-painting
securely identifiable as Europa, dates from mid-7th century B.C.

Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek
deities. Some scholars believe that the name, and indeed the goddess herself,
was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera,
Potnia Theron
< Artemis of the wildland,
Mistress of Animals”. In the classical period of
Greek mythology
, Artemis (Greek:
(nominative)
Ἄρτεμις, (genitive)
Ἀρτέμιδος) was often
described as the daughter of

Zeus and Leto
, and the twin sister of
Apollo
. She was the Hellenic goddess of the
hunt, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth, virginity and young girls, bringing
and relieving disease in women; she often was depicted as a huntress carrying a
bow and arrows. The deer
and the
cypress
were sacred to her. In later
Hellenistic times, she even assumed the ancient role of
Eileithyia
in aiding childbirth.

Artemis later became identified with
Selene
, a
Titaness
who was a Greek moon goddess,
sometimes depicted with a crescent moon above her head. She was also identified
with the Roman goddess
Diana
, with the
Etruscan
goddess
Artume
, and with the Greek or
Carian
goddess
Hecate

was an
Amphipolisancientnt

Greek

city
in the region once inhabited by the
Edoni
people in the present-day
periphery
of
Central Macedonia
. It was built on a raised
plateau overlooking the east bank of the
river

Strymon
where it emerged from Lake Cercinitis,
about 3 m. from the
Aegean Sea
. Founded in 437 BC, the city was
finally abandoned in the 8th century AD. The present municipality Amfipoli,
named after the ancient city, occupies the site. Currently, it is a municipality
in the
Serres Prefecture
,
Central Macedonia
with a population of 3,623
(2001 census).

 Origins

Archaeology
has uncovered remains at the site
dating to approximately 3000 BC. Due to the strategic location of the site it
was fortified from very early.
Xerxes I

of Persia
passed during his invasion of Greece
of 480 BC and buried alive nine young men and nine maidens as a sacrifice to the
river god. Near the later site of Amphipolis
Alexander I

of Macedon
defeated the remains of Xerxes’ army
in 479 BC.

Throughout the 5th century BC,
Athens
sought to consolidate its control over
Thrace, which was strategically important because of its primary materials (the
gold and silver of the
Pangaion hills
and the dense forests essential
for naval construction), and the sea routes vital for Athens’ supply of grain
from Scythia
. After a first unsuccessful attempt at
colonisation in 497 BC by the
Miletian

Tyrant

Histiaeus
, the Athenians founded a first colony
at Ennea-Hodoi (‘Nine Ways’) in 465, but these first ten thousand colonists were
massacred by the
Thracians
. A second attempt took place in 437
BC on the same site under the guidance of
Hagnon
, son of
Nicias
.

The new settlement took the name of Amphipolis (literally, “around the
city”), a name which is the subject of much debates about
lexicography
.
Thucydides
claims the name comes from the fact
that the Strymon flows “around the city” on two sides; however a note in the

Suda (also given in the lexicon of
Photius
) offers a different explanation
apparently given by
Marsyas
, son of
Periander
: that a large proportion of the
population lived “around the city”. However, a more probable explanation is the
one given by
Julius Pollux
: that the name indicates the
vicinity of an isthmus
. Furthermore, the
Etymologicum Genuinum
gives the following
definition: a city of the Athenians or of Thrace, which was once called Nine
Routes, (so named) because it is encircled and surrounded by the Strymon river.
This description corresponds to the actual site of the city (see adjacent map),
and to the description of Thucydides.

Amphipolis subsequently became the main power base of the Athenians in Thrace
and, consequently, a target of choice for their
Spartans
adversaries. The Athenian population
remained very much in the minority within the city. An Athenian rescue
expedition led by strategist (and later historian) Thucydides had to settle for
securing Eion
and could not retake Amphipolis, a failure
for which Thucydides was sentenced to exile. A new Athenian force under the
command of Cleon
failed once more in 422 BC during a
battle
at which both
Cleon
and
Brasidas
lost their lives. Brasidas survived
long enough to hear of the defeat of the Athenians and was buried at Amphipolis
with impressive pomp. From then on he was regarded as the founder of the city
and honoured with yearly games and sacrifices. The city itself kept its
independence until the reign of the king
Philip II
despite several other Athenian
attacks, notably because of the government of
Callistratus

of Aphidnae
.

 Conquest
by the Romans

In 357 BC, Philip removed the block which Amphipolis presented on the road to
Macedonian control over Thrace by conquering the town, which Athens had tried in
vain to recover during the previous years. According the historian
Theopompus
, this conquest came to be the object
of a secret accord between
Athens
and Philip II, who would return the city
in exchange for the fortified town of
Pydna
, but the Macedonian king betrayed the
accord, refusing to cede Amphipolis and laying siege to Pydna.

After the conquest by Philip II, the city was not immediately incorporated
into the kingdom, and for some time preserved its institutions and a certain
degree of autonomy. The border of Macedonia was not moved further east; however,
Philip sent a number of Macedonians governors to Amphipolis, and in many
respects the city was effectively ‘Macedonianized’. Nomenclature, the calendar
and the currency (the
gold stater
, installed by Philip to capitalise
on the gold reserves of the Pangaion hills, replaced the Amphipolitan
drachma
) were all replaced by Macedonian
equivalents. In the reign of
Alexander
, Amphipolis was an important naval
base, and the birthplace of three of the most famous Macedonian
Admirals
:
Nearchus
, Androsthenes^[6]
and
Laomedon
whose burial place is most likely
marked by the famous lion of Amphipolis.

Amphipolis became one of the main stops on the Macedonian royal road (as
testified by a border stone found between
Philippos
and Amphipolis giving the distance to
the latter), and later on the ‘Via
Egnatia’, the principal
Roman Road
which crossed the southern Balkans.
Apart from the ramparts of the low town (see photograph), the gymnasium and a
set well-preserved frescoes from a wealthy villa are the only artifacts from
this period that remain visible. Though little is known of the layout of the
town, modern knowledge of its institutions is in considerably better shape
thanks to a rich epigraphic documentation, including a military ordinance of
Philip V
and an
ephebarchic
law from the gymnasium. After the
final victory of
Rome
over Macedonia in a
battle
in 168 BC, Amphipolis became the capital
one of the four mini-republics, or ‘merides’, which were created by the Romans
out of the kingdom of the
Antigonids
which
succeeded
Alexander’s Empire in Macedon. These
‘merides’ were gradually incorporated into the Roman client state, and later
province, of Thracia
.

 Revival
in Late Antiquity

During the period of
Late Antiquity
, Amphipolis benefited from the
increasing economic prosperity of Macedonia, as is evidenced by the large number
of Christian Churches
that were built.
Significantly however, these churches were built within a restricted area of the
town, sheltered by the walls of the
acropolis
. This has been taken as evidence that
the large fortified perimeter of the ancient town was no longer defendable, and
that the population of the city had considerably diminished.

Nevertheless, the number, size and quality of the churches constructed
between the fifth and sixth centuries are impressive. Four
basilicas
adorned with rich
mosaic
floors and elaborate architectural
sculptures (such as the ram-headed
column
capitals – see picture) have been
excavated, as well as a church with a hexagonal central plan which evokes that
of the
basilica
of
St. Vitalis
in
Ravenna
. It is difficult to find reasons for
such municipal extravagance in such a small town. One possible explanation
provided by the historian
André Boulanger
is that an increasing
‘willingness’ on the part of the wealthy upper classes in the late Roman period
to spend money on local
gentrification
projects (which he terms ‘’évergétisme’’,
from the Greek verb εύεργετέω,(meaning ‘I do good’) was exploited by the local
church to its advantage, which led to a mass gentrification of the urban centre
and of the agricultural riches of the city’s territory. Amphipolis was also a
diocese
under the
suffragan
of
Thessaloniki
– the Bishop of Amphipolis is
first mentioned in 533 AD.

 From
the reduction of the urban area to the disappearance of the city

The
Slavic invasions
of the late 6th century
gradually encroached on the back-country Amphipolitan lifestyle and led to the
decline of the town, during which period its inhabitants retreated to the area
around the acropolis. The ramparts were maintained to a certain extent, thanks
to materials plundered from the monuments of the lower city, and the large
unused cisterns of the upper city were occupied by small houses and the
workshops of artisans. Around the middle of the 7th century AD, a further
reduction of the inhabited area of the city was followed by an increase in the
fortification of the town, with the construction of a new rampart with
pentagonal towers cutting through the middle of the remaining monuments. The
acropolis, the Roman baths
, and especially the Episcopal
basilica were crossed by this wall.

The city was probably abandoned in the eighth century, as the last bishop was
attested in 787. Its inhabitants probably moved to the neighbouring site of
ancient Eion
, port of Amphipolis, which had been
rebuilt and refortified in the
Byzantine period
under the name “Chrysopolis”.
This small port continued to enjoy some prosperity, before being abandoned
during the
Ottoman period
. The last recorded sign of
activity in the region of Amphipolis was the construction of a fortified tower
to the north in 1367 by
Grand Primicier
Jean and the
Stratopedarque
Alexis to protect the land that
they had given to the monastery of Pantokrator on
Mount Athos
.

 Archaeology

The site was rediscovered and described by many travellers and archaeologists
during the 19th century, including E. Cousinéry (1831) (engraver), L. Heuzey
(1861), and P. Perdrizet (1894–1899). In 1934, M. Feyel, of the
École française d’Athènes
, led an
epigraphical mission
to the site and uncovered
the remains of a funeral lion (a reconstruction was given in the, a publication
of the EfA which is available on line). However, excavations did not truly begin
until after the Second World War. The
Greek Archaeological Society
under D. Lazaridis
excavated in 1972 and 1985, uncovering a necropolis, the rampart of the old town
(see photograph), the basilicas, and the acropolis.

 Amphipolitans

• Demetrius of Amphipolis
  , student of Plato’s
• Zoilus
  (400 BC-320 BC), grammarian, cynic
  philosopher
• Pamphilus (painter)
  , head of
  Sicyonian
  school and teacher of
  Apelles
• Aetion
  , sculptor
• Philippus of Amphipolis
  , historian
• Nearchus
  , admiral
• Erigyius
  , general
• Damasias
   ^{[disambiguation
  needed]} of Amphipolis 320 BC
  Stadion
  Olympics
• Hermagoras of Amphipolis
  (c. 225 BC), stoic
  philosopher ,follower of
  Persaeus
• Xena
  , the Warrior Princess of Amphipolis.

Titus Flavius Domitianus
(24 October 51 –
18 September 96), known as Domitian, was a
Roman Emperor

who
reigned from 14 September 81 until his death. Domitian was the third and last
emperor of the
Flavian dynasty
, the house which ruled the
Roman Empire
between 69 and 96 and encompassed
the reigns of Domitian’s father
Vespasian
(69–79), his older brother
Titus
(79–81), and that of Domitian himself.

Domitian’s youth and early career were largely spent in the
shadow of his brother Titus, who gained military renown during the
First Jewish-Roman War
. This situation
continued under the rule of Vespasian, who became emperor on 21 December 69
following the civil war
known as the
Year of the Four Emperors
. While Titus
effectually reigned as co-emperor with his father, Domitian was left with
honours but no responsibilities. Vespasian died on 23 June 79 and was succeeded
by Titus, whose own reign came to an unexpected end when he was struck by a
fatal illness on 13 September 81. The following day Domitian was declared
emperor by the
Praetorian Guard
, commencing a reign which
lasted fifteen years—longer than any man who had governed Rome since
Tiberius
.

As emperor, Domitian strengthened the economy by revaluing
the Roman coinage
, expanded the border defenses of
the Empire, and initiated a massive building programme to restore the damaged
city of Rome
. Significant wars were fought in Britain,
where
Gnaeus Julius Agricola
expanded the Roman
Empire as far as modern day
Scotland
, and in
Dacia
, where Domitian was unable to procure a
decisive victory against king
Decebalus
. Domitian’s government nonetheless
exhibited
totalitarian
characteristics. As emperor, he
saw himself as the new
Augustus
, an enlightened despot destined to
guide the Roman Empire into a new era of Flavian renaissance. Religious,
military, and cultural
propaganda
fostered a
cult of personality
, and by nominating himself
perpetual
censor
, he sought to control public and private
morals. As a consequence, Domitian was popular with the people and the army but
despised by members of the
Roman Senate
as a tyrant.

Domitian’s reign came to an end on 18 September 96 when he
was assassinated by court officials. The same day he was succeeded by his friend
and advisor Nerva
, who founded the long-lasting
Nerva-Antonine dynasty
. After his death,
Domitian’s memory was
condemned to oblivion
by the Roman Senate,
while senatorial authors such as
Tacitus
,
Pliny the Younger
and
Suetonius
published histories propagating the
view of Domitian as a cruel and paranoid tyrant. Modern history has rejected
these views, instead characterising Domitian as a ruthless but efficient
autocrat, whose cultural, economic and political programme provided the
foundation of the peaceful 2nd century.

Domitia Longina (b. 53 – c. 130) was an Empress and wife to the
Roman
Emperor Domitian
. She was the youngest daughter of the
general and
consul

Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo
. Domitia divorced her
first husband Lucius Aelius Lamia in order to marry Domitian in 71. The
marriage produced only one son, whose early death is believed to have been the
cause of temporary rift between Domitia and her husband in 83. She became
Empress of Rome upon Domitian’s accession in 81, and remained so until his

assassination in 96. She is believed to have died sometime between
126 and 130.

 Family

Domitia Longina was born sometime between 50 and 55, as the youngest daughter
to the family of Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo
and Cassia Longina.^[1]
Through her mother (a great-great-great granddaughter of Augustus), Domitia
Longina was a direct descendant of
Augustus Caesar
and one of the last remaining
members of the Julian lineage. Her paternal aunt was Milonia
Caesonia
, Roman Empress to
Caligula.
Her elder sister, Domitia Corbula
, married the senator Lucius
Annius Vinicianus. Domitia’s father Corbulo had been one of Rome’s most
respected Senators and generals, serving as
consul
under Caligula, and conducting military
campaigns in Germania
and
Parthia
under
Claudius and Nero
.^[1]
Following the failed Pisonian conspiracy
against Emperor
Nero
in 65 however, Corbulo was disgraced when his family was brought in connection
to the conspirators. Corbulo himself was forced to commit
suicide,
while Annius Vicinianus and his brother Annius Pollio, were executed in the
ensueing purges.^[2]

Little is known about the life of Domitia before her marriage to Domitian,
but sometime before 70, Domitia was married to
Lucius Aelius Plautius Lamia Aelianus
, a man of
senatorial
rank.^[3]

 Marriage
to Domitian

 Reign
of Vespasian and Titus

The Triumph of Titus, by Sir
Lawrence Alma-Tadema
(1885). The
composition alludes to the rumoured love affair between Titus (back
left) and Domitia Longina (left, next to Domitian).^[4]

Following Nero’s suicide on June 9, 68, the Roman Empire plunged into a year
long
civil war known as the
Year of the Four Emperors
, which saw the
successive rise and fall of the Emperors
Galba,
Otho
and
Vitellius. The crisis came to an end with the accession of
Vespasian,
who re-established peace in the Empire and founded the short-lived

Flavian dynasty. In 71, Vespasian attempted to arrange a dynastic
marriage between his youngest son Domitian, and the daughter of his eldest son
Titus,
Julia Flavia.^[5]
By this time however, Domitian had already met and fallen in love with Domitia
Longina, and managed to persuade Lamia to divorce her, so that Domitian could
marry her himself.^[5]
Despite its initial recklessness, the alliance was very prestigious for both
families. The new marriage rehabilitated Corbulo’s family, while serving the
broader Flavian propaganda
of the time, which sought to
diminish Vespasian’s political success under the less reputable emperors of the
Julio-Claudian dynasty
. Instead connections to
Claudius and Britannicus were emphasised, and Nero’s victims, or those otherwise
disadvantaged by him, rehabilitated.^[2]

In 73, Domitia and Domitian’s only attested son was born. It is not known
what the boy’s name was, but he died in childhood sometime between 77 and 81.^[6]
During this time, Domitian’s role in the Flavian government was largely
ceremonial
. While his elder brother Titus
shared almost equal powers with his father, Domitian was left with honours but
no responsibilities.^[7]
This situation remained unchanged when Titus succeeded Vespasian as Emperor on
June 23, 79, leading both ancient and modern authors to suggest a mutual
animosity between the two brothers. In 80, Titus granted a
suffect consulship
to Domitia’s former husband
Aelius Lamia, according to Gsell as a personal insult against Domitian.^[8]
On another occasion, when Titus urged Lamia to marry again, Lamia asked whether
“he too was looking for a wife”.^[9]

After barely two years in office, Titus unexpectedly died of brain fever on
September 13, 81. His last words were reported to have been: “I have made but
one mistake”.^[10]
The contemporary historian Suetonius
speculated on the possible
involvement of Domitian in his brother’s death, attributing his final words to a
popular rumour of the time, which held that Titus had carried on an affair with
Domitia Longina. However even he dismisses the story as highly unlikely.^[6][10]

On September 14, the Roman Senate
confirmed Domitian as Titus’
successor, granting tribunician power, the office of

Pontifex Maximus, and the titles of
Augustus
, and
Pater
Patriae. Consequently, Domitia Longina became Empress of Rome.

 Empress
of Rome

Shortly following his accession as Emperor, Domitian bestowed the honorific
title of
Augusta
upon Domitia, while their late son
was deified
. Both appeared on Domitian’s coinage
during this time. Nevertheless, the marriage appears to have faced a significant
crisis in 83. For reasons unknown, Domitian briefly
exiled
Domitia, and then soon recalled her,
either out of love or amidst rumours he was carrying on a relationship with his
niece Julia Flavia.^[11]
According to Suetonius, Domitia was exiled because of an affair with a famous
actor named
Paris
. When Domitian found out, he allegedly
murdered Paris in the street, and promptly divorced his wife. Suetonius further
adds that, once Domitia was exiled, Domitian took Julia as his mistress, who
later died during a failed abortion
.^[12]

Modern historians consider this highly implausible however, noting that many
of these stories were propagated by hostile senatorial authors, who condemned
Domitian as a tyrant
after his death. Malicious rumours, such
as those concerning Domitia’s alleged infidelity, were eagerly repeated, and
used to highlight the hypocrisy
of a ruler publicly preaching a
return to Augustan
morals, while privately indulging in
excesses and presiding over a corrupt
court.^[13]
Domitian did exile his wife, but Jones argues that most likely he did so for her
failure to produce an
heir
.^[6]
Nevertheless, rumours regarding Domitia’s alleged misconduct with Paris
circulated even in Domitian’s time, and he did not take insults directed at his
marriage lightly. Not long after his accession, Aelius Lamia was put to death
for the joking remarks made earlier during the reign of Titus.^[14]
In 93, a son of Helvidius Priscus
was executed for having
composed a
farce satirizing Domitian’s separation from his wife. Stories of
Domitian’s affair with Julia were likely an invention of post-Domitianic writers
however.^[15]
She died a natural death, and was subsequently deified by Domitian.^[11]

By 84, Domitia had returned to the palace,^[16]
where she lived for the remainder of Domitian’s reign without incident.^[17]
Little is known of Domitia’s precise activities as Empress, or how much
influence she wielded in Domitian’s government, but it seems her role was
largely limited to ceremonial appearances. From Suetonius, we know that she at
least accompanied the Emperor to the
theatre
, while the
Jewish
writer
Josephus
speaks of benefits he received from
her.^[18]
Despite the crisis of 83, their relationship appears to have been happy.
Domitian never married another woman in his life.

 Later
years

On September 18, 96, Domitian was assassinated in a palace conspiracy
organized by court officials. His body was carried away on a common
bier,
and unceremoniously
cremated
by his nurse Phyllis, who mingled the
ashes with those of his niece Julia at the Flavian temple.^[19]
The same day, he was succeeded by his friend and advisor,
Marcus Cocceius Nerva
. Ancient sources have
implicated Domitia in the conspiracy against Domitian, either by direct
involvement, or advance awareness of the assassination. The historian
Cassius
Dio, writing more than a century after the assassination, claimed
that Domitia chanced upon a list of courtiers Domitian intended to put to death,
and passed the information to his chamberlain

Parthenius.^[20]
The story is most likely apocryphal however, with
Herodian
attributing a similar tale to the assassination of
Commodus.
According to Jones, the evidence suggests that Domitia remained devoted to
Domitian, even after his death.^[18]
Twenty-five years after her husband’s assassination, and despite the fact that
his
memory had been damned
by the Senate, she still
referred to herself as “Domitia, wife of Domitian”.^[18][21]

Sometime between 126 and 140, a temple dedicated to Domitia was erected in
Gabii.
She died peacefully.