Medallions with Mithras from Trapezus

TNMM 553

Medallion of Mithras and Trajan[1]

Trajan, AE32 of Trapezus, Pontus. AD 98-117. 16.15 g.

AYTO KAIC NEΡ TΡAIANOC CEB, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust left. / TΡAΠEZOYNTIωN ETOYC N, draped bust of Mithras right, wearing Phrygian cap.

RecGen 4; Paris 452; Wojan 1-3; Arslan (1992) 27; BMC G730; RPC III 2929.

Medallion of Mithras and Caracalla

Caracalla AE28 of Trapezus, Pontus. Dated local year 135. 16.62 g.

[AYT K] M AYΡ ANT[ωNEINOC CEB], laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. / [TΡAΠEZO]YNTIωN ETOYC around, ELΡ below, draped bust of Mithras right, wearing radiate Phrygian cap, beside forepart of horse right.

RecGen 21 corr (date); Wojan 41-42.

Leu Numismatik AG - Web Auction 5, Lot 476, Sept 2018

Bust of Mithras on a horse in a coin from Trapezus, Pontus.

Medallion with Mithras as rider from the Royal Museum of Mariemont[2]

This bronze medallion associates the image of Caracalla with that of Mithras as a rider. On the right, the emperor"s laureate, draped and cuirassed bust is surrounded by the titulature AYT KAI M AYP ANTΩNEINOC CEB ("Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus"). On the reverse, Mithras, wearing a Phrygian cap, rides a horse advancing towards the right. Behind him stands a tree; before him have been erected a flaming altar and tall column on which a raven is perched. Around this scene runs the legend TPAΠΕZOYNTIΩN, signifying that the object was issued in the name of "the citizens of Trapezus". The date is inscribed as ΕT PNΓ, which corresponds to "year 153" of the city, or 216/217 C.E.

Situated on the south coast of the Black Sea, in the Roman province of Pontus, the city of Trapezus issued a civic coinage, essentially for regional use, over more than a century. The iconographic type most frequently used is the figure of Mithras. At first represented as a bust, sometimes with the headstock of a horse, he appeared in the form of rider god beginning in Severan times, as early as 194/195 C.E. If he could be shown as a hunter in painted or sculpted scenes at Mithraea, here he rides a horse, in the mould of certain Thracian and Anatolian divinities.

This singular image of the god on the coinage indicates the existence of a public cult at Trapezus, probably different in form from the private cults devoted to him in the West. With that said, this medallion attests to a second life of this monetary object that, inserted into a wearable setting, became a personal jewel, one that was unique, and undoubtedly served as an object of religious devotion.

Bronze de Trapézonte (216/2017) [Wojan, 2006][3]

The provincial coinage of Trapezonte, in Pontus, repeatedly uses the image of a Mithra equitans. On several series from the Severan period, the reverse shows Mithra on a horse going right; behind him, a tree and Cautopates raising his torch; in front of him, a column on top of which a raven (?) is perched; at the foot of the column, Cautopates lowering his torch towards a flaming altar, an animal sitting behind him. But there is no question of hunting here, and the motif seems to be partly inspired by the "western" iconography of Mithra and Micrasiatic representations of horsemen gods such as Men.

Medallion of Mithras and Elagabalus

Elagabalus, AE of Trapezus, Pontus. Dated year 158, AD 221-222.

AY K M AY ANTΩNEINOC, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. / TΡAΠEZOYNTIΩN around, date ET ΠNH (NH ligate) below, Mithras on horseback riding right, altar to right.

RecGen 30; Wojan.

Elagabalus and Mithras on a horse in a coin from Trapezus, Pontus.