Philip II Roman Caesar & Serapis 244AD Mesembria Thrace Homonoia Coin i50915

Item: i50915

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Philip II
  –
Roman Caesar
: 244-249 A.D. –  

Bronze 24mm (11.28 grams)

Thrace
Reference: Karayotov II 444 (O38/R111); Varbanov 4289
M AP IOVΛIOC ΦIΛIΠΠOC KAICAP, Bare-headed, draped and cuirassed bust of Philip
II right vis-a-vis laureate and draped bust of Serapis, left wearing kalathos.
MECAMBPIANΩN,
Homonoia
standing left, holding patera and cornucopia.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

Homonoia was a minor goddess of concord, unanimity, and oneness of mind in

classical Greek

culture.  Her opposite number was

Eris (Strife)

. She is associated with

Praxidike

the goddess of judicial

punishment
,

the exacter of vengeance. Praxidike’s daughters were

Arete

(a goddess personifying

virtue
) and

Harmonia

(the very spirit of concord). As such Homonoia was probably closely

identified with the Theban Goddess-Queen

Harmonia

.

Nesebar (pronounced

[neˈsebər]
,

Bulgarian

: Несебър, Nesebar;

Thracian

: Menebria;

Greek

: Μεσήμβρια, Mesimvria, previously known as Mesembria;

other spellings include Nessebar and Nesebur) is an ancient city

and a major seaside resort on the

Black Sea

coast of Bulgaria

, located in

Nesebar municipality

,

Burgas Province

. Often referred to as the “Pearl of the Black Sea”

and “Bulgaria’s

Dubrovnik
“,

Nesebar is a rich city-museum defined by more than three millennia of

ever-changing history.

It is a one of the most prominent tourist destinations and

seaports on the Black Sea, in what has become a popular area with several large

resorts—the largest,

Sunny

Beach
, is situated immediately to the north of Nesebar.

Nesebar has on several occasions found itself on the frontier

of a threatened empire, and as such it is a town with a rich history. The

ancient part of the town is situated on a peninsula (previously an island)

connected to the mainland by a narrow man-made

isthmus
, and

it bears evidence of occupation by a variety of different civilisations over the

course of its existence. Its abundance of historic buildings prompted

UNESCO
to

include Nesebar in its list of

World Heritage Sites

in 1983.

Originally a

Thracian

settlement known as Menebria, the town became a

Greek colony

when settled by

Dorians
from

Megara
at the

beginning of the 6th century BC, and was an important trading centre from then

on and a rival of Apollonia (Sozopol).

It remained the only

Doric colony

along the Black Sea coast, as the rest were typical

Ionic
colonies.

Remains from the

Hellenistic

period include the

acropolis
,

a temple of Apollo
,

and an agora
. A

wall which formed part of the fortifications can still be seen on the north side

of the peninsula. Bronze and silver coins were minted in the city since the 5th

century BC and gold coins since the 3rd century BC.

The town fell under

Roman

rule in 71 BC, yet continued to enjoy privileges such as the right to mint its

own coinage. It was one of the most important strongholds of the

Byzantine Empire

from the 5th century AD onwards, and was fought over by

Byzantines

and

Bulgarians
,

being captured and incorporated in the lands of the

First Bulgarian Empire

in 812 by

Khan Krum

after a two week siege only to be ceded back to Byzantium by Knyaz

Boris I

in 864 and reconquered by his son Tsar

Simeon the Great

. During the time of the

Second Bulgarian Empire

it was also contested by Bulgarian and Byzantine

forces and enjoyed particular prosperity under Bulgarian tsar

Ivan Alexander

(1331–1371) until it was conquered by

Crusaders

led by

Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy

in 1366. The Slavic^[citation

needed] version of the name, Nesebar or Mesebar, has

been attested since the 11th century.

Monuments from the

Middle

Ages
include the 5–6th century Stara Mitropoliya (“old bishopric”;

also

St Sophia

), a

basilica

without a transept

; the 10th century

church of the Virgin

; and the 11th century Nova Mitropoliya (“new

bishopric”; also

St Stephen

) which continued to be embellished until the 18th century. In the

13th and 14th century a remarkable series of churches were built:

St Theodore

,

St Paraskeva

,

St Michael St Gabriel

, and

St John Aliturgetos

.

The capture of the town by the

Turks

in 1453 marked the start of its decline, but its architectural

heritage remained and was enriched in the 19th century by the construction of

wooden houses in style typical for the

Bulgarian Black Sea Coast

during this period. It was a kaza centre in

İslimye
sanjak

of

Edirne Province

before 1878^[1].

After the

Liberation of Bulgaria

from Ottoman rule in 1878, Nesebar became part of the

autonomous Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia as a kaza centre in

Burgaz
sanjak

until it

united

with the Principality of Bulgaria in 1886.

Around the end of the 19th century Nesebar was a small town

of Greek

fishermen and vinegrowers, but developed as a key Bulgarian seaside resort since

the beginning of the 20th century. After 1925 a new town part was built and the

historic Old Town was restored.

Serapis
(Latin spelling, or Sarapis in Greek) was a
syncretic

Hellenistic
–Egyptian
god in
Antiquity
. His most renowned temple was the
Serapeum of Alexandria
. Under
Ptolemy Soter
, efforts were made to integrate
Egyptian religion with that of their Hellenic rulers. Ptolemy’s policy was to
find a deity that should win the reverence alike of both groups, despite the
curses of the Egyptian priests against the gods of the previous foreign rulers (i.e
Set
who was lauded by the
Hyksos
).
Alexander the Great
had attempted to use

Amun for this purpose, but he was more prominent in
Upper

Egypt,
and not as popular with those in
Lower Egypt
, where the Greeks had stronger
influence. The Greeks had little respect for animal-headed figures, and so a
Greek-style
anthromorphic
statue was chosen as the
idol
, and proclaimed as the equivalent of the
highly popular
Apis
. It was named Aser-hapi (i.e.
Osiris-Apis), which became Serapis, and was said to be
Osiris
in full, rather than just his
Ka
(life force).

 History

The earliest mention of a Serapis is in the disputed death scene of
Alexander (323 BC). Here, Serapis has a temple at
Babylon
, and is of such importance that he
alone is named as being consulted on behalf of the dying king. His presence in
Babylon would radically alter perceptions of the mythologies of this era, though
fortunately it has been discovered that the unconnected Babylonian god Ea (Enki)
was titled Serapsi, meaning king of the deep, and it is possibly
this Serapsi which is referred to in the diaries. The significance of this
Serapsi in the Hellenic psyche, due to its involvement in Alexander’s death,
may have also contributed to the choice of Osiris-Apis as the chief
Ptolemaic god.

According to Plutarch
, Ptolemy stole the
cult statue
from
Sinope
, having been instructed in a dream by
the
unknown god
, to bring the statue to
Alexandria
, where the statue was pronounced to
be Serapis by two religious experts. One of the experts was of the
Eumolpidae
, the ancient family from whose
members the hierophant
of the
Eleusinian Mysteries
had been chosen since
before history, and the other was the scholarly Egyptian priest
Manetho
, which gave weight to the judgement
both for the Egyptians
and the Greeks.

Plutarch may not however be correct, as some Egyptologists allege that the
Sinope in the tale is really the hill of Sinopeion, a name given to the site
of the already existing
Serapeum
at
Memphis
. Also, according to
Tacitus
, Serapis (i.e. Apis explicitly
identified as Osiris in full) had been the god of the village of
Rhakotis
, before it suddenly expanded into the
great capital of Alexandria.

The statue suitably depicted a figure resembling
Hades
or
Pluto
, both being kings of the Greek
underworld
, and was shown enthroned with the
modius
, a basket/grain-measure, on his
head, since it was a Greek
symbol
for the land of the dead. He also held a
sceptre
in his hand indicating his rulership,
with Cerberus
, gatekeeper of the underworld, resting
at his feet, and it also had what appeared to be a
serpent
at its base, fitting the Egyptian
symbol of rulership, the
uraeus
.

With his (i.e. Osiris’) wife

Isis, and their son (at this point in history)
Horus
(in the form of
Harpocrates
), Serapis won an important place in
the Greek world, reaching
Ancient Rome
, with
Anubis
being identified as Cerberus. In Rome,
Serapis was worshiped in the Iseum Campense, the sanctuary of the goddess

Isis located in the
Campus Martius
and built during the
Second Triumvirate
. The Roman cults of Isis and
Serapis gained in popularity late in the first century thanks to the god’s role
in the miracles that the imperial usurper
Vespasian
experienced in the city of
Alexandria
, where he stayed prior to his return
to Rome as emperor in
70 AD
. From the
Flavian Dynasty
on, Serapis sometimes appeared
on imperial coinage with the reigning emperor. The great cult survived until
385, when a Christian mob destroyed the
Serapeum
of Alexandria, and subsequently the
cult was forbidden by the
Theodosian decree
.

The early Alexandrian Christian community appears to have been rather
syncretic in their worship of Serapis and Jesus and would prostrate themselves
without distinction between the two. A letter inserted in the
Augustan History
, ascribed to the Emperor
Hadrian
, refers to the worship of Serapis by
residents of Egypt who described themselves as
Christians
, and Christian worship by those
claiming to worship Serapis, suggesting a great confusion of the cults and
practices:

The land of Egypt, the praises of which you have been recounting to me,
my dear Servianus, I have found to be wholly light-minded, unstable, and
blown about by every breath of rumour. There those who worship Serapis are,
in fact, Christians, and those who call themselves bishops of Christ are, in
fact, devotees of Serapis. There is no chief of the Jewish
synagogue
, no
Samaritan
, no Christian
presbyter
, who is not an
astrologer
, a
soothsayer
, or an anointer. Even the
Patriarch
himself, when he comes to Egypt,
is forced by some to worship Serapis, by others to worship Christ.

Marcus

Julius Philippus Severus, also known as Philippus II, Philip II

and Philip the Younger (238 – 249) was the son and heir of the

Roman

Emperor

Philip the Arab

by his wife Roman Empress

Marcia Otacilia Severa

. According to numismatic evidence, he had a sister

called Julia Severa or Severina, whom the ancient Roman sources do not mention.

When his father became emperor in 244 he was appointed

Caesar

. Philippus was

consul
in 247

and 248. His father was killed in battle by his successor

Decius
in 249.

When news of this death reached Rome, he was murdered by the

Praetorian Guard

. He died in his mother’s arms. When he died, he was eleven

years old.