TYPE Greek Imperial, Elagabalus (218-222 AD), brass AE26 of Nikopolis (Moesia Inferior) under legate Novius Rufus DESCRIPTION . Obv: Radiate draped bust of Elagabalus to right; Greek legend: AVT K MAVR [ANTONINOS] Rev: Youthful local mountain god Haemus (Haimos) sitting on rock left, reclining on tree, hands above head; stag behind him jumping right, bear emerging from cave below, Greek legend: YP NOVIOU ROUFOU NIKOPOL[ITON] / PROS ISTR / ON, 'A' in left field REFERENCE: AMNG 1953, Mu 1471, Var 3084 GRADING: F / F+, reverse pitting, dark green-black patina, rare ORDER INFO: G3229, $65 Scarce and interesting mythological type, commemorating the local demi-god and mythological king of Thrace, son of the god of northern winds Boreas and nymph Orithya, whose prominence in the broader Hellenistic pantheon became apparent to us mainly through Ovid's Metamorphoses. Haemus and and his consort queen Rhodope - in their vanity and pretentiousness - assumed at one point the roles and names of Zeus and Hera, and for this they were punished by the "real" couple, who turned them into eponymous local mountain ranges. The Haemus range - stretching from southeast Serbia through all of Bulgaria east to the Black Sea - later came to be known as the Balkan range (giving eventually that name to the whole peninsula), though today it is mostly known simply as "Stara Planina" ("old mountain" in Bulgarian and Serbian). The present specimen shows limited wear but considerable pitting on reverse; some elements of the complex scene are hard to discern (stag, bear, tree), but the head and graceful contours of the youthful deity (as well as most of the legend) are unmistakably present.