Sabinius Modestus, consular legate
Moesia Inferior, Nicopolis ad Istrum
238-244 CE
Æ 28mm, 13.06 gm, 6h
Obv: Radiate and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: Hermes standing left, foot on rock (helmet?), holding winged caduceus and purse.
Varbanov 4203. HrHJ (2018) 8.36.10.2
I must admit I’m very tentative about this attribution. I made it based on the supposition that it certainly looks like a statue, and was minted by a city very fond of depicting statues on its coinage. So, I looked through the literature and found the following as a best match in Pausanias.
“Not far from the offering of the Pheneatians is another image, Hermes with a herald’s wand. An inscription on it says that Glaucias, a Rhegian by descent, dedicated it, and Gallon of Elis made it.”
The herald’s wand, more commonly called caduceus, is depicted on this coin. However, Hermes was commonly shown with it, so the attribution is tenuous at best. That being said, the athletic pose would go well with a place like Olympia.
Although the statue is long gone, and I found no example in any collection that is similar to mine, we do still have the base of the statue mentioned by Pausanias, but I could find no decent photo that could suggest whether mine may be correct.
Glaukias was originally from Aegina and active at the beginning of the 5th century BCE. That may put my attribution in doubt, since the style seems a bit off, but we have very little remaining from him. He’s most well-known for carving a bronze of the chariot of Gelon and had several other sculptures of athletes at Olympia. I wish I’d paid more attention when visiting the museum, but little did I think at the time that I would begin a numismatic sculpture collection.