Abstract:

Due to the city’s strategically important geographical position in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, the Caesarean mint remained active for the next three centuries, since AD 17, when Cappadocia was constituted as a Roman Province. The Caesarean coinage is distinct and displays a number of features that justify its significance. As part of this paper, we present a catalogue of selected Roman provincial coins of Caesarea in Cappadocia from the Niğde Museum’s collection, denoting different legend and type combinations on the obverse and reverse of the coins. Later there follows a brief study of the variety of coins issued under the Roman sovereignty of the province from the time of Claudius to Gordianus III. Even though the legends on the coins follow the same order, the designs, particularly those on the reverse of the coins, reveal the broad diversity of the objects. The majority of the types have merely local significance, and any possible variance tends to refer to the local cults pertinent to the city, with Mount Argaeus appearing as the most commonly represented image on the coins of Caesarea. Other types are infrequently used, yet we see imperial symbols making their way into provincial coinage, alluding to historical events and conquests of the Empire.

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