ECG021. Greek inscription on bronze medal from Mtskheta

Material: Bronze

Object type: Medal

Decoration:

Text: AS has the ornament of the nobleman, the Greek inscriptions along both of the sides. RS has the ornament of Hermes with a shepherd’s crook, an ox on his side with its head down, a plant in front of him and a star above his head. On this side of the medal we also have Greek inscriptions along the ornament. cm

Letters:

The 1st inscription is clear, the 2nd one is damaged.

Date: the first half of II (lettering)

Findspot: Samtavro, Mtskheta The medal was found in the district of Samtavro during the archaeological excavations.

Original location: Samtavro, Mtskheta

Current repository: Unknown

Last recorded location(s): National Museum of Georgia 2–23/25

Summary: Donating

Editor(s): Tinatin Kaukhchishvili

Publication details: Ilia State University, Institute of Linguistic Studies; დოკუმენტი ვრცელდება Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 ლიცენზიით.

Interpretive

1
Ἀντίνοον θεόν ἡ πατρίς
2
Ἁδριαν(scil. ο)ῦ Βιθυνι[έ]⸢ω⸣ν

Diplomatic

1
ΑΝΤΙΝΟΟΝΘΕΟΝΗΠΑΤΡΙΣ
2
ΑΔΡΙΑΝ(scil. Ο)ΥΒΙΘΥΝΙ[.]ΟΝ

Translation

To Antinoe, the God, from the homeland of Adriane from Bitvinion.

Commentary

According to historical and paleographic data (usage of o instead of ω) the inscription can be dated to the 1st half of the II century. Antinoe from Bitvinion passed away in 130, Adriane glorified him by founding a city after his name, by building the temples and statues, he also minted the coin after his name (mostly 134–137 years) and named one of the stars after his name. Adriane with his and Bitvinion’s homeland dedicated this medal to godelike Antinoe.

Bibliography:

თინათინ ყაუხჩიშვილი, საქართველოს ბერძნული წარწერების კორპუსიbibliography.xmlb130, 267

Images

   Fig. 1. Medal from Samtavro, 1920 (As)

   Fig. 2. Medal from Samtavro, 1920 (Rs)