NM·16

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Coin
Coin type
Coin type:	Lejeune C2
Description:	obverse: left-facing head of Apollo, reverse: left-facing horse in gallop and legend
Material (main component):	silver
Average diameter:	1.45 cm0.571 in <br />
Average thickness:	unknown
Average weight:	2.3 g0.0023 kg <br />0.00507 lb <br />
Workmanship:	cast
Archaeological culture:	unknown
Date:	first half of 2nd c. BC
Date derived from:	typology
Number of known pieces:	17
Area of circulation:	Lower Rhône valley
Mint / Main site:	unknown
Coordinates (approx.):	none
Coin legend
Idealised transliteration:	iazus
Idealised original script:
Variant reading:	·azus
Position:	back, top
Orientation:	0°
Direction of writing:	dextroverse
Script:	North Italic script
Letter height:	00 cm <br />0 in <br />
Number of letters:	4 - 5
Number of words:	1
Number of lines:	1
Inscription type:	minting authority
Language:	Celtic
Meaning:	'Iazus' or 'Azus'
Alternative sigla:	Whatmough 1933 (PID): 333
Sources:	Lejeune 1971: 130 f.

Images

Silver coin (BN 2903) of type NM·16 with iazus legend

Silver coin (BN 2906) of type NM·16 with iazus legend

Commentary

Min. 17 specimens of the coin type are known; the following list comprises merely a selection of localisable specimens:
1. Département des monnaies, médailles et antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), inv. no. 2901: 2.12 g, 13.6x16.4 mm; image in the Gallica catalogue: ]
2. Département des monnaies, médailles et antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), inv. no. 2902: 2.04 g, 14.7x15.2 mm; image in the Gallica catalogue: ]
3. Département des monnaies, médailles et antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), inv. no. 2903: 2.28 g, 13.4x15.2 mm; image in the Gallica catalogue: ]
4. Département des monnaies, médailles et antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), inv. no. 2904: 1.94 g, 13.7x14.9 mm; image in the Gallica catalogue:
5. Département des monnaies, médailles et antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), inv. no. 2905: 2.27 g, 13.8x14.2 mm; image in the Gallica catalogue:
6. Département des monnaies, médailles et antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), inv. no. 2906: 2.21 g, 14.4x14.7 mm; image in the Gallica catalogue:
7. Département des monnaies, médailles et antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), inv. no. 2907: 2.19 g, 12.6x13.8 mm; image in the Gallica catalogue: ][
8. Département des monnaies, médailles et antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), inv. no. 2908: 2.17 g, 13.8x16 mm; image in the Gallica catalogue:
9. Département des monnaies, médailles et antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), inv. no. 2909: 2.07 g; image in the Gallica catalogue:
10. Département des monnaies, médailles et antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), inv. no. 2910: 2.32 g, 11.8x14.3 mm; image in the Gallica catalogue:
11. Département des monnaies, médailles et antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), inv. no. 2911: 2.3 g, 13.3x14.9 mm; image in the Gallica catalogue:
12. Geiser et al. 2012: 104, fig. 41; 14 mm; private collection:

Further images in Mommsen 1853: Taf. III.38A–D (drawings of legends = Pauli 1885: Taf. I.3A–D), Pautasso 1976: tav. XI.33 (photo of no. 3), XI.34 (photo of no. 8), XI.35 (photo of no. 6), XI.36 (photo of no. 10), XI.37 (photo of no. 4), Brenot 1998: 24, fig. 10 (photo of no. 3) and 11 (photo of no. 6).

The coin type belongs with group C (type IIa) of coin legends written in the Lepontic alphabet, represented by legends on silver coins with primary distribution in the lower Rhône valley and lower Isère valley, associated most commonly with the Allobroges (see Numismatics). The dating follows Brenot 1998: 29 f. and Geiser et al. 2012: 104, 106. Obverse left-facing head of Apollo with laurel wreath, reverse left-facing galloping horse and the dextroverse legend above between head and croup. Found in Laveyron (2 pieces), Hostun (1 piece), Moirans (3 pieces), Revel-Tourdan (5 pieces), Cadenet (1 piece), Lagnes (1 piece), Aix-en-Provence (2 pieces), Pont-Saint-Esprit (1 piece) and Les Andelys (1 pieces) (Brenot 1998: 28, tab. 1, Colbert de Beaulieu 1966: 446).

The legend appears in fairly homogeneous form, with variation only in the execution of sigma. The reading iazus was established by Colbert de Beaulieu 1966: 446 and Lejeune 1971: 130 f.; see the previous literature for obsolete readings (ianas, senos, etc.). Marinetti & Prosdocimi 1994: 47 f. consider the possibility that is the result of a copying error (cf. their position on NM·15) for nu or even , but no preserved coin specimens support such a view, the letter being consistently executed as . This form of zeta is not otherwise attested in the Lepontic alphabet, but fairly common in the Venetic Este alphabet at both Este and the sanctuaries of the Cadore, where it represents /d/. As recorded in Colbert de Beaulieu 1966: 446, n. 3, Lejeune was initially unsure whether zeta in the legend should be taken to denote /d/ or a complex dental sound as in Lepontic; he had settled on the latter by 1971: 130, where he compares zeta in CO·48. In consequence, though iazus finds good comparanda in Transalpine Gaulish iassus (see the word page), Lejeune prefers to compare the base assu-/astu- on account of the fit between tau gallicum and the spelling with zeta. The initial vertical stroke, so Lejeune, could be explained through a sound change di-astu- > i̯atsu- (see the word page) or by interpreting it as a punct comparable to those in NM·15 – thus ·azus. The stroke in question is always short and situated in the upper part of the line; though Pautasso's (1976: 493) assertion that the stroke is long on specimens where the horse motif leaves enough space is incorrect, its shortness may well be conditioned by the layout. As in NM·15, the possible punctuation seems to again point to influence from the Venetic alphabet, as does inverted upsilon, which is occasionally attested in the Lepontic, but the standard form in the Venetic alphabet. An interpretation of the stroke as a syllabic punct in the Venetic sense is, however, more difficult than in NM·15, since no specimen shows any indication of a punctuation of final sigma.

See also Mommsen 1853: 214, no. 38, 254, CII no. 63, Pauli 1885: 4 f., no. 3, 76–78, Blanchet 1905: 149, 257, Herbig 1906: 193 f., n. 3, PID: 141 f., no. 331, Pautasso 1976: 492 f., Brenot 1998: 27.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Blanchet 1905	Adrien Blanchet, Traité des monnaies gauloises. Vol. I, Paris: 1905.
Brenot 1998	Claude Brenot, "A propos des monnaies à légendes lépontiennes de Transalpine", in: Fondazione "Andrea Pautasso" per gli studi di numismatica (ed.), Forme di contatto tra moneta locale e moneta straniera nel mondo antico. Atti del Convegno internazionale, Aosta 13-14 ottobre 1995. A cura di Giovanni Gorini, Padova: Esedra Editrice 1998, 23-37.
CII	Ariodante Fabretti, Corpus inscriptionum italicarum antiquioris aevi. Ordine geographico digestum et glossarium italicum, in quo omnia vocabula continentur ex umbricis, sabinis, oscis, volscis, etruscis aliisque monumentis quae supersunt, Augusta Taurinorum: 1867.
Colbert de Beaulieu 1966	Jean-Baptiste Colbert de Beaulieu, "Légendes monétaires de Gaule en caractères dérivés de l'Étrusque", in: —, Actes du 90e congrès national des sociétés savantes, Nice, 1965. Section d'archéologie, Nice: 1966, 445–450.