Peer-Reviewed Journal Details
Mandatory Fields
Woods, David
2020
December
Numismatic Chronicle
Commodus, Phaethon, and Ovid?
Published
()
Optional Fields
Commodus Phaethon Ovid Sol Tellus Medal Argaeus Cappadocia
180
133
142
It is argued that the reverse of a newly-discovered medallion of Commodus has nothing to do with Mt Argaeus in Cappadocia despite some superficial similarities between its depiction of a mountain and the standard depiction of Mt Argaeus on the coinage of Caesarea in Cappadocia. On the contrary, it probably depicts Phaethon in the chariot of the sun as he descends too near the earth, an interpretation supported by the fact that the brief reverse legend seems to abbreviate a half-line from Ovid’s description of that event.
London, UK
0078-2696
Grant Details