LOT 2942

Valerian I AE 26mm of Heliopolis, Seleucis and Pieria. AD 253-260.

IMP CAES P LIC VALERIANVS P AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to right / COL IVL AVG FEL HEL, three prize crowns, the central crown containing two palm fronds, those flanking only one; CERT SACR CAP OECV ISE HEL in three lines below. RPC X Online unassigned ID 63822; BMC -; SNG Copenhagen 440; SNG München -. Near Very Fine.(11.35gr, 26mm, 12h.).

Private collection, acquired 1980–1985.

Although the main Pythian Games were held at Apollo's sanctuary at Delphi, many other cities in the east of the Roman Empire periodically held smaller versions of this event. Often such events were associated with other deities, based on the important civic cults of each city. At Heliopolis, the site of a massive temple complex dedicated to Jupiter-Zeus-Baal-Hadad, Venus-Aphrodite-Astarte, and Bacchus-Dionysus, these games were known as the Certamina Sacra Capitolia Oecumenica Iselastica Heliopolitan, as noted on the reverse of the coin.