★ Renaming a city: Eiocharax, not Siocharax ★

PHRYGIA. Eiocharax. Septimius Severus, 193-211. Diassarion (Bronze, 23 mm, 7.61 g, 7 h), Philiskos Aidouchos, magistrate. AYT•K•Λ• CЄΠ•CЄOYHPOC Laureate head of Septimius Severus to right. Rev. ЄIOXAPAKЄI/TΩN (sic!) - MOΞЄANΩN / Є-ΠI // ΦΙΛΙCKOY AY/ΔOYX Kybele, veiled, seated to left on throne, holding patera in her right hand and leaning left on tympanon; to left and right, lions seated left. Von Aulock, Phrygien I, 899 ( same dies ). Of the highest rarity, apparently the second and finest known example. Minor scuff on the reverse edge, otherwise, about very fine.

From the collection of G. Plankenhorn (with collector's ticket), ex Müller 53, 26 September 1986, 170.

The most exciting discovery in Mr. Plankenhorn’s collection are lots 1996 and 1997, two extremely rare issues of Septimius Severus and Geta from what was hitherto believed to be the city of Siocharax. When von Aulock published Phrygien I in 1980, only nine coins from this obscure mint were known to him, and although a few additional examples have turned up since, the issues of this small settlement remain extremely rare. However, close inspection of lots 1996 and 1997 reveals that the ethnic does not read CIOXAPAKЄITΩN, but ЄIOXAPAKЄITΩN, an observation that was further corroborated by a re-examination of all other recorded coins from this mint with a legible ethnic by this author. Thus, the name of the city has to be corrected from Siocharax to Eiocharax - a most remarkable discovery, proving the value of inspecting coin inscriptions closely and scrutinizing the most renowned authors even in the 21st century!

It is worth noting that the only reference to Eiocharax we have in historiographical sources comes from Hierokles, the 6th century author of the Synekdemos, a listing of 912 cities in the 64 Eparchies of the Byzantine empire, who calls the city Iucharatax (Hierokles 668.2). Reading Siocharax on the coins, Ramsay and von Aulock believed this to be a blunder by the geographer. With the corrected reading on Mr. Plankenhorn’s coins, however, it now becomes clear that Hierokles was actually right, as vowel shifts such as Eio... to Io... or Iu... (a so-called Iotacism) are a common occurrence in late antiquity.

The most likely explanation for the shift from [...]charax to [...]charatax, on the other hand, is either an error by Heliokles himself, or by a later transcript of his treatise. 'Charax' literally means 'palisaded fort' or ‘entrenchment’. Given the obvious military background of the name, it is not surprising that numerous Greek settlements were called ‘Charax’, the most famous being Charax Spasinou in southern Iraq, a city that even became the eponym (and capital) of the Kingdom of Charakene. Charax Spasinou has a particularly interesting onomastic history. Originally founded as one of the many Alexandrias by Alexander ‘the Great’, the Seleukid King Antiochos IV (175-164 BC) rebuilt and enlarged in the 160s BC following a devastating flood and renamed it Antiochia. Its eventual name Charax Spasinou, however, derives from Hyspaosines, a former Seleukid eparch, who established his own realm in the region following the demise of Seleukid power in the 140s-130s BC. The name means ‘palisaded fort of Hyspaosines’, or more broadly, ‘Hyspaosines’ fortress’, and thus quite accurately describes Charax’ role as Hyspaosines’ seat of power in a turbulent time seeing the breakdown of one empire (the Seleukid) and the birth of another (the Parthian).

With Eiocharax, however, the onomastics are less clear. The name clearly translates as 'the palisaded fort of Eio (?)', but we do not know who this Eio was. It is reminiscent of Io, the Argive princess and lover of Zeus, however, the military connotation of the word χάραξ perhaps points to Eio being a more local (and male) name. Certainly, we can expect the eponymous city to have developed from, or being named after, a fortified camp or stronghold, as was the case with Hyspaosines’ capital Charax Spasinou.