Etenna (AD 218-225) AE 31 - Julia Maesa

Julia Maesa, Augusta, 218-224/5 AD. AE31 (18.26g, 6h). IOVΛIA MAICA CЄB, draped bust right / Є-TЄ-N-N-ЄΩN, cult monument with relief decoration, flanked by a statue of Hercules, holding patera, lion skin, and club to the left and a statue of a bearded male figure, holding patera and uncertain object to the right, each set on base. EF, green patina with earthen highlights. Extremely rare, only two known to von Aulock.

The exact nature of the unusual monument on the reverse, which serves as a recurring type on the coinage of Etenna, is uncertain. While some coins show an abstract design on the face of the monument (see, for example, von Aulock 588) others clearly show a series of facing busts (see especially von Aulock 541-2). We might suppose that this was a pantheistic monument honoring the principal deities of Etenna.