Type 13: The Eros of Parium

The Eros by Praxiteles in Parium (Mysia) was one of the most admired artworks of the ancient world, and almost as renowned as the same artist’s statue of Eros in Thespiae. Pliny the Elder in his Natural History recounts how a Rhodian man named Alcetas was so besotted with the statue that he subjected it to indecent assault—a fate supposedly also once suffered by the artist’s even more famous Cnidian Aphrodite. No reliable copy has survived (was the statue so homoerotically sensual that its copies attracted particularly destructive attention from the early Christians?), though the Eros Borghese in the Louvre, Paris, and the Eros from Nicopolis ad Istrum (illustration), now in the Sofia Archaeological Museum, may be related variants. We can safely assume that the Eros displayed on coins of Parium and (unusually) also named on the coins (DEO CUPIDINI) is intended to represent the city’s most treasured possession. The epigram by Palladas (in the Greek Anthology) on a statue of Eros shown holding a flower and a dolphin, perhaps symbolising his power over both land and sea, presumably refers to a different statue. 

* Parium in Mysia, coins of Antoninus Pius (small module), also large module (not illustrated), Commodus, Caracalla, Severus Alexander, Philip II, Otacilia Severa, Aemilian (large and small modules), Cornelia Supera, and Gallienus (not illustrated). 
Eros stands facing, but with his head turned upwards and backwards (“in erotic yearning”, as the Realencyclopädie puts it!), with a chlamys over his l. shoulder or l. arm, his r. hand extended over a small herm, and his l. held against his hip. The type is clearest on coins of Commodus, and we have included two specimens once in major private collections (Righetti, Lindgren), plus a rare variant where Eros’s hand is extended not over a herm, but a prow or prow-shaped altar. 
Inspired by Pliny’s comment that the marble statue was naked, earlier scholars such as the author of the article in Roscher’s Lexikon (I, 1884-86) described the chlamys as a supporting column. But the coins seem to contradict this interpretation (and the chlamys on the statue may have “hidden” a support not shown on the coins). 
The Latin legends are often rendered inaccurately, as though the die-cutters were not fully familiar with the language.

Æ 16 (small module), 6 h, 2.32 g. Obv. AVG… ANTONINVS AVG. Laureate head of Antoninus Pius r. Rev. [C G] I H P. Eros facing, with a chlamys over his l. shoulder and a small herm to the l. at his feet. 

Æ 24, 7 h, 9.22 g. Obv. IMP CA[E] Λ [Greek letter] AV COMODVS [sic]. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Commodus with light beard r. Rev. DEO CVPIDINI COLON IVL HAD PA. Eros standing facing, looking back, with a chlamys over his l. shoulder, his r. hand extended over a small herm at his feet and his l. held against his hip.

  


Æ 22, 1 h, 6.77 g. Similar, Commodus has a heavier beard, and the obverse legend ends -DV.

Æ 25, 7 h, 5.83 g. Similar.

Æ 25, 6 h, 9.39 g. Similar (Private collection, photos by permission).

Æ 24, 7.61 g. Similar, but prow or prow-shaped altar instead of the herm  (Photos courtesy of Classical Numismatic Group, Inc., www.cngcoins.com). 

Æ 23, 1 h, 8.36 g. Obv. ANTONIN-VS PIVS AV. Laureate bust of Caracalla draped and cuirassed r. Rev. DEO CVPIDINI COL G IVL H PA. Standard type with herm.   

Æ 21, 2 h, 5.94 g. Obv. IMP SEV ALEXANDER AVG. Radiate bust of Severus Alexander r. Rev. DEO CUPIDINI COL.... Similar.

6.08 g. Obv. IMP C M AVR SEV ALEXAND AVG. Laureate bust of Severus Alexander r. Rev. DEO CUPIDINI COL IC IVL RIA. Similar (Photos courtesy of Lübke & Wiedemann KG) .

Æ 21, 8.14 g. Obv. IMP C M AVR SEV ALEXAND AVG. Laureate bust of Severus Alexander r. Rev. DEO CUPIDININ (N reversed) COL IC IVL [?] PA. Similar (Photos courtesy of Numismatik Naumann GmbH) . 

Æ 21, 12 h, 4.27 g. Similar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Æ 19, 1 h, 3.95 g. Similar.

 

 

 

 

 
 

Æ 21, 2 h, 5.65 g. Obv. IMP CAES L SEV SEV ALEXANDER (the S is written in reverse). Laureate, cuirassed bust of Severus Alexander r. Rev. DEO CUPISINI C G I A PAR. 

Æ 25, 6.37 g. Similar (Photos courtesy of Numismatik Naumann GmbH). 

Æ 21, 7 h, 4.79 g. Similar, but the obverse bust is draped (and cuirassed?) and seen from behind.

Æ 23, 6 h, 6.32 g. Obv. PHILIPPVS ∙ PIVS ∙ A. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Philip II r. Rev. DEO CVPIDINI C G I H PA. Similar reverse type.

Æ 22, 7 h, 3.97 g. Obv. OTAC SEVERA AVG. Diademed and draped bust of Otacilia Severa r. Rev. [D]EO CVDISHII C G I H [PA]. Similar reverse type.

Æ 21, 6 h, 4.61 g. Obv. [IMP?] ∙ M ∙ AEM ∙ AEMILIANVS ∙ [?]. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Aemilian r. Rev. C G I H P. Similar reverse type (Photos courtesy of Classical Numismatic Group, Inc., www.cngcoins.com).

 

 

Æ 31, 7 h, 11.90 g. Obv. IMP ∙ M ∙ AEM ∙ AEMILIANO ∙ AVG. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Aemilian r. Rev. C G I H P. Similar reverse type, but behind Eros is a small winged figure (another Eros?) running r., holding an uncertain object (a bow?) in his outstretched l.

 

 

 

 

Æ 21, 5 g. Obv. CORN ∙ SVPERA AVG. Diademed and draped bust of Cornelia Supera r. Rev. C G I H PAR. Similar (Photos courtesy of Numismatik Naumann GmbH).

CATALOGUE

Parium / Antoninus Pius (small module, variants)
Reference: RPC IV, 2, 627*, 11250*
Rarity: Scarce

Parium / Antoninus Pius (large module)
Reference: RPC IV, 2, 9179*
Rarity: RRR

Parium / Commodus (with herm)
References: RPC IV, 2, 626*, 3151*, 10921*
Rarity: Common

Parium / Commodus (with prow)
Previously unpublished?
Rarity: RRR

Parium / Caracalla
Reference: Mionnet Supplement V, 760
Rarity: RRR

Parium / Severus Alexander (with radiate bust)
Reference: RPC VI, 3886*
Rarity: RR

Parium / Severus Alexander (with laureate bust) 
Reference: RPC VI, 3884*, 30446*
Rarity: RR-RRR

Parium / Severus Alexander (with laureate, cuirassed bust)
Reference: RPC VI, 3873*
Rarity: Common

Parium / Severus Alexander (with laureate, draped bust seen from behind)
Reference: RPC VI, 3879*
Rarity: RR

Parium / Otacilia Severa
References: RPC VIII, 20079*
Rarity: Common

Parium / Philip II 
Reference: RPC VIII, 20072*
Rarity: RRR

Parium / Aemilian (small module)
Reference: RPC IX, 377
Rarity: Scarce

Parium / Aemilian (large module)
Previously unpublished?
Rarity: RRR

Parium / Cornelia Supera
RPC IX, 385D*
Reference: Rarity: RR

Parium / Gallienus
Reference: ISEGRIM
Rarity: RRR