Gephyra (Nov 2020)
Breaking the Tradition. The Exceptional Coinage in the Name of Claudius Hestiaios and its Relationship to the first Neocorate of Cyzicus
Abstract
No name of the officials mentioned on the coins of Cyzicus in Roman imperial period caused such problems in research as that of Claudius Hestiaios: Thus, three different issues can be identified for this name, which, roughly dated, fall within a possible time frame of AD 138-169. It is uncertain in historical research if this one name, which has a different public designation in each of these coin series, refers to different persons or only to one. Up to now, researchers had assumed two identities, but it is also conceivable, that there are three or only one single Claudius Hestiaios. Since each of these issues not only represented the same name with a new official designation, but also an iconographic innovation for the mint of the city of Cyzicus, they deserve additional attention. Some of those new coin iconographies were subsequently established, some remained unique. A precise and comparative analysis of the style and inscription of the three series shall enable a more precise dating, which then, in comparison with epigraphic and historical evidence, allows further conclusions to be drawn about the identity/identities of the person responsible for minting the coins and the actual minting occasion.
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