Patrophilos (Seleucia on the Tigris)

Seleucia on the Tigris

8 Denarii

Copper alloy (bronze or brass)

Cast

Square

2.00 cm

1.90 cm

1.00 cm

Mass (g)	Mass (grain)	Date of measurement	Reference	fragmented	cleaned	reference weight
29.50	-	-	McDowell 1935	No	No	Yes

Symbol	Technique	Direction	Position	Number	Synecdoche

McDowell 1935: There was found a rectangular object of bronze weighing 29.5 grams and having dimensions of 20 × 19 × 10 millimeters. On one face is incised de monogram {Α+Π+Ρ}; on the other, the letters ΧΗ. Around the four edges runs the legend: Πατρο|φίλου | Ἔτους | ΕΠΤ. On the basis of the Seleucid Era and the Babylonian calendar the date corresponds to 74/75 A.D. [...] The inscription on the weight from Seleucia appears to be the work of two different hands. The alpha of the monogram has a straight cross bar; that of the name, a V-shaped bar. The execution of the name and the date is noticeably more crude than that of the lettering on the two faces. If the monogram and the name referred to the same individual, there would have been no point in inscribing both on the one weight. […] The monogram can be explained satisfactorily only on the assumption that it represents an official who, though the inscription of his monogram, attested the accuracy of the weight. Patrophilus, however, must be presumed to have been the owner of the weight.

No

Language	Technique	Legend type
Greek	Incised	Authority, Date, Denomination

Monogram {Α+Π+Ρ}

ΧΗ

ΠΑΤΡΟ    ΦΙΛΟΥ   ΕΤΟΥΣ   ΕΠΤ

{Πατροφίλου} || (δηνάρια) η´. || Πατρο|φίλου. Ἔτους | επτ´.

GREEK , ROMAN

FROM 74 TO 75

S.E. 385 = 74/75 CE (McDowell 1935).

Name	Date of acquisition	Inventory number
Kelsey Museum of Archaeology – University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)	None	KM18513 [Seleucia C3038]

Reference	Page/Column	Reference (number)	Plate / Figure	Comment
McDowell 1935	256–258	None	None	None
IK Estremo Oriente	None	85	None	(non vidi)
Brélaz 2005	400, n. 119	None	None	(non vidi)
Moreau 2011	84–86	None	None	None

McDowell 1935: The characters ΧΗ on one face must be read as the unit of weight with the number of units. The former was employed to denote the chalkos [sic] as a unit of weight. Our bronze, therefore, represents eight chalkoi (one obol). On the basis of the effective weight of the bronze the chalkos involved was one of 3.69 grams. […] It is noteworthy that the most common Parthian bronze coin found at Seleucia has an average weight very close to that of the chalkos established by our weight, 3.69 grams. […]
Identification of the monogram {Α+Π+Ρ} as παρ(αφύλαξ): F. E. Brown, American Journal of Archaeology 42 (1938), p. 617. Contra, Brélaz 2005, p. 400, n. 119.
Identification of the denomination as 8 chalkoi: McDowell 1935 and subsequent scholars.