Odessus

Odessus, Moesia Inferior minted a few types of coins under Elagabalus. Wikipedia on Odessus, currently Varna in Bulgaria. Odessus was founded as a ancient Greek trading colony about 580 BC. 43° 12' N, 27° 57' E (google satellite map). The Roman city had baths, Thermae, built in the 2nd century CE, that are the largest Roman remains in Bulgaria. It issued coins from the reign of Augustus (27 BC - AD 14) through Gordian III (AD 238-244). Moushmov's page on the coins of Odessus. Moushmov places Odessus in Thrace instead of Moesia Inferior, though according to the map it is in Moesia Inferior. I asked the question and Jochen at forumancientcoins answered (Thank you!). It was originally a part of Thracia and later when it came under Roman authority, the provinces were divided differently. Partially from the web site about Varna http://varna.info.bg/english/antiquity_en.htm (The forum post still exists referencing the site, but the varna.info.bg no longer exists) 'For long years Rome had been trying to conquer the areas south of the Danube River. In 29 B.C. a "reason" was found and the leader of Macedonia Marcus Licinius Crassus conquered an enormous part of Moesia and Skytia Minor. A year later Odessos was also under Roman authority. In the beginning it was attached to the province of Macedonia, and later, in 15 B.C. it is included in the borders of the new province of Moesia.' The Wikipedia article now has "and then in 15 AD annexed to the province of Moesia". Then it was later divided by Domitian into Upper (Superior) and Lower (Inferior, also called Ripa Thracia) Moesia. Below is a cropped portion of the public domain map found here. Odessus can be found right of the center of the map along the coastline under the first O in INFERIOR. Click to view it larger.

The main focus remains the coins of Elagabalus from Markianopolis. My page on Moesia Inferior shows information about the different coin issuing cities in that region. Normally I will have a main coin page showing the coins that I have from a city, then a pages showing all the different types of reverses from a city, and then a page showing the Gods and Goddesses from that city. As there are a lot less type of coins of Elagabalus from Odessus, I will be combining several pages on this one.

Note: I have tried very hard to verify everything on this website, especially the information having to do with the coins of Elagabalus, including references and would like for them to be both complete and correct. However, it is still a learning process for me. As I get new reference materials and as I review the coins, I have found that I've had to update my pages many times. Provincial coins can be quite challenging, which is part of what draws them to me, however there isn't a complete and authoritative reference for them. If you see any issues with the coins that I have posted, whether to their authenticity or to any other information I have on the site, please contact me. You can do so either through the Yahoo! Groups or through my gmail email address which can be found via the url of my pages. I don't post it directly due to spammers. Thank you to anybody and everybody who have helped me along the way.

Most of the Roman Provincial coins used Greek letters in some parts of the legend. Moneta (Unfortunately, they no longer exist and no longer support the program, but I haven't found anything better so I'm still using it.) from http://www.numus.com has a font that allows me to type the legends using both Greek and Latin letters, however this web page doesn't support embedded fonts. If you download and install the Numus Moneta font (subject to their limitations found on their page) you can see the Greek letters properly. I definitely suggest downloading the font. If you are a collector, I strongly suggest purchasing the software itself. After the legend using that font, I will place duplicate legend using the following common substitutions: large L is a lambda, small w is an omega, small p for pi, small e for epsilon, small d for delta, small g for gamma, small f for phi, small x for xi. A great page that shows what the letters look like on actual coins is at snible.

Reverse types of coins of Elagabalus from Odessus

City goddess standing left holding patera and cornucopia; flaming altar at side

Odessus standing facing, head left, wearing kalathos, holding patera over flaming altar and cornucopia (example top above)

Odessus standing facing, head facing, wearing kalathos, holding patera over flaming altar and cornucopia (example bottom above)

Odessus standing facing, head facing, wearing kalathos, holding patera and cornucopia

Homonoia or Harmonia (Concordia) standing facing, head left, holding patera and cornucopia

Roma seated left on cuirass, holding Nike, crowned by City-goddess standing left behind her, holding wreath.

Continue on to my Roman Imperial coins of Elagabalus

Continue to my Elagabalus coins of Markianopolis.

Provincial Roman Coins collage page (contains coins of Odessus and other cities)

Provincial Roman Coins Home page

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