This post has brief notes for an unpublished coin that was identified by CCCRH Research Associate, Sebastian Harris. Sebastian arranged for this coin to be added to the RPC listing and has also prepared the following notes.
As this next unpublished coin was minted in Colossae and we have already talked about Colossae’s history and religious significance, I wanted to focus on the interesting work of the grammateus (secretary), Tiberius Asinius Philopappos, a prolific “coin sponsor” during the reign of Antoninus Pius (138-161 CE).
The Asinia gens (family) were a plebian family from Teate, the chief town of the Marrucini, an Oscan tribe that rose to prominence due to their ancestor’s involvement as a general in the Social Wars of the early first century BCE. The Asinii gained Roman citizenship because of their involvement, the most famous of whom was the historian Gaius Asinius Pollio (75 BCE-4 CE), whose lost history provided “much of the material for the historians Appian and Plutarch.” The Asinii appear to have also held prominent and “notable” roles in Lydia and Phrygia, where Colossae is located, with twelve named individuals holding esteemed position from the Late Republic to the Third Century CE:
| Individual | Position | Time Period | Emperor |
| Gnaeus Asinius | Proconsul of Asia | 34/33 BCE | N/A |
| Gaius Asinius Gallus Saloninus | Proconsul of Asia | 6/5 BCE | Augustus |
| Gaius Asinius Pollio | Proconsul of Asia | 38/9 CE | Caligula |
| Tiberius Asinius Epaphroditus | Notable in Colossae | 1st Cent. CE | Unknown |
| Gaius Asinius Frugi | Moneyer of Alia | 98-116 CE | Trajan |
| Gaius Asinius Rufus | Notable in Lydia | 134-135 CE | Hadrian |
| Tiberius Asinius Philopappos | Grammateus of Colossae | 138-161 CE | Antoninus Pius |
| Gaius Asinius Agreus Philopappos | Archiereus of Asia | 147-160 CE | Antoninus Pius |
| Gaius Asinius Frugi | Archiereus of Asia | 176 CE | Marcus Aurelius |
| Asinius Amiantus | Proconsul of Asia | c. 220s CE | Severus Alexander |
| Gaius Asinius Nicomachus Iulianus | Proconsul of Asia | 225-230 CE | Severus Alexander |
| Marcus Asinius Sabinianus | Proconsul of Asia | 239/40 CE | Gordian III |
*Note: proconsul (‘governor of a Roman province’), archiereus (‘chief priest’) and notable (‘prominent citizen’)
In Colossae specifically, there are two named members of the Asinii: Tiberius Asinius Epaphroditus and Tiberius Asinius Philoppapos. The earlier Epaphroditus is known from a first-century inscription, in which he built a memorial monument to the prominent Roman citizen Marcus Larcius Crispinus. The more relevant figure is Philopappos, who was “perhaps a son or grandson… certainly a relative” of Epaphroditus and grammateus of Colossae. Cadwallader explains it is more likely that “his parents held high hopes for his love of his granddad, or they might just have held a general aspiration of reverence for ancestors,” hence the adoption of the cognomen/family name Philopappos (‘one who loves his grandfather’). Honour was a significant component of Greco-Roman culture, hence the adoption of hundreds of these names, including the personal name ‘Philopappos’ seventeen times. From his name, we also know he rarely referred to his whole name twice (RPC IV.2 1874 and RPC IV.2 25273), and instead opted for his family name which could be interpreted as a statement of kinship to the citizens. With that considered, it is now time to analyse this unique Colossian coin.
This coin depicts a bareheaded, draped and cuirassed bust of Marcus Aurelius with the legend M AVPHΛIOC BHPOC KAICAP (Marcus Aurelius Verus Caesar) on the obverse. On the reverse, it illustrates the Greek version of the Capitoline Triad (Hera/Juno, Zeus/Jupiter, and Athena/Minerva) standing, with the magistrates’ name and Greek legend KOΛOCCHNOIC (to the Colossians). The Capitoline Triad were three prominent Roman deities worshipped atop the Capitoline Hill, but it is likely the worship of these three figures was borrowed from the earlier Etruscans and adopted by the Romans. The coin also suggests that Philoppapos gave the coin to the people and was either paying homage to what was present in Rome on the Capitoline Hill or paying for a statue to be incorporated in the imperial sanctuary there. Similar and unique coins with the same reverse have also been found at Trapezopolis during the reigns of Hadrian (RPC III 2261B) and Antoninus Pius (RPC IV.2 11702).
This coins are now available in the CCCRH Database and in Roman Provincial Coinage Online as RPC IV.2, 25273/1.
References
Angelos, C. 2013. ‘Second Thoughts on Second Names in Aphrodisias,’ in R. Parker, ed. Personal Names in Ancient Anatolia, Proceedings of the British Academy, British Academy Scholarship, 207-230.
Cadwallader, A.H. n.d. Colossae. Bible Odyssey. https://tinyurl.com/mry9adsm.
Cadwallader, A.H. 2023. Colossae, Colossians, Philemon: The Interface, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Drew-Bear, T. 1980. ‘Problèmes de la géographie historique en Phrygie: L’example d’Alia,’ ANRW II.7(2): 932-952.
Kearsley, R.A. 1986. ‘Asiarchs, archiereis, and the archiereiai of Asia,’ Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 27: 183-192.
Lewis, P.E. July 2013. ‘Colossae: The Buried City,’ The Australasian Coin & Banknote Magazine, Accessed 27th July 2024, https://tinyurl.com/yensemxu.
Oxford University. n.d. Φιλόπαππος. Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, https://tinyurl.com/2wvxmrbt.
Ryberg, I.S. 1931. ‘Was the Capitoline Triad Etruscan or Italic?’ The American Journal of Philology 52(2): 145-156.
Strachan, C.C. 2014. Asinius. Roman Nobilitas Prosopography, https://tinyurl.com/yc4np7a9.
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