Through the Eyes of a Historian - Notes on Coins of the Emerging Auctions 376-378
11. October 2022 14:23
One of these top pieces is an aureus of Galba
which shows a very nice bust portrait of the civil war general, who was Roman emperor from April 68 to January 69. He does not wear a laurel wreath, which is supposed to indicate that he wanted to be the restorer of freedom (Liberias) of the Roman state after the reign of the tyrant Nero. The full hair flatters him, because in reality Galba, then 73 years old, was bald (cf. G. Morgan, 69 A.D. The Year of four Emperors, Oxford 2006, 34). On the coin he wears the aegis ('goatskin') over his armor, which was actually an attribute of Jupiter. It reminds us that Galba traced his family tree back to Jupiter (Suetonius, Galba 2). But it is also a sign of imperial rule given by the gods. According to ancient beliefs, a storm arose and lightning struck the enemy when the aegis was shaken. Above the aegis is the Gorgoneion, at the sight of which enemies were said to be petrified. The depiction of the deified Livia, wife of Augustus, is a reminder that Galba was distantly related to her and had visited her frequently while he was still a young man. Livia had in return promoted his career. In her will, Livia, who died in 29 AD, had offered Galba a bequest of 50 million sesterces, but Livia's son and main heir, the emperor Tiberius, did not pay out this sum. Only under Caligula did Galba receive this bequest. In this respect, this beautiful and extremely rare aureus (Calicò R4!) tells an interesting episode from the imperial history of Rome.
There is another magnificent piece of this type with a more conventional portrait
at a much lower price; and finally, there is a lesser well-preserved piece
which, however, may still be the eye-catcher of a collection of Roman aurei, not least because of its rarity.
A similarly rare coin is the aureus of Pertinax,
which not only shows a very beautiful portrait of the emperor, who did not even reign for a full three months, but also has a much-discussed reverse. Depicted is the Providentia Deorum, i.e. Divine Providence, which, as the coin would like to make believe, had led to the seizure of power by Pertinax. On December 31, 192, Emperor Commodus had been assassinated. Thus, his reign of terror of the last years had come to an end. But since Pertinax, the son of a Ligurian freedman, did not come from the imperial family, he did not miss any opportunity to legitimize his rule. One way was to portray the change of government as being willed by the gods. Since a comet had appeared shortly before Commodus' death, this celestial phenomenon could be interpreted not only as a sign of Commodus' downfall, but also as a celestial confirmation for the appearance of a new ruler. The event is reminiscent of the comet at the birth of Jesus, which the magi from the Orient ('The Holy Three Kings') and the frightened King Herod saw as a sign of the birth of a new king (for further reading cf. J.-P. Martin, Providentia Deorum. Aspects religieux du pouvoir romain, Rome 1982, 371-376 and C. de Ranieri, Providentia Deorum: Investitura divina e carisma della dinastia nella propaganda iniziale di Commodo, QuadTic 26, 1997, 311-337, esp. 318 n. 37).
The first Punic emperor, Septimius Severus, very often referred to as Hannibal's late revenge on the Romans, also desired the protection of the gods. Septimius Severus professed his origins in Leptis Magna (in present-day Libya). Patron gods of the city were Melkart (identified with Hercules) and Shadrapa (equated with Dionysus/Bacchus/Liber pater). A magnificent and very rare aureus (lot 5029) from AD 194 shows these two personal patron gods of Septimius Severus with the legend DIS AVSPICIBVS (Dedicated to the Patron Gods). The two gods were also program for the politics of Septimius Severus. With him began the period of the soldier emperors and his reign was filled with wars for which Heracles could be a symbol. On the other hand, Septimius Severus wanted to bring up a new Golden Age with his reign. This new era could find its expression especially in festivals that the wine god Dionysus could well evoke (cf. C. Rowan, Under Divine Auspices. Divine Ideology and the Visualisation of Imperial Power in the Severan Period, Cambridge 2013).
Septimius Severus, as a Punic African, promoted his homeland. Thus, in 203, he granted the African metropolis of Carthage the ius Italicum, which legally placed a city outside Italy as if it were on the soil of Italy.
A very beautiful aureus
shows on the obverse a magnificent portrait of Septimius Severus and on the reverse the image of Dea Caelestis, the patron goddess of Carthage, riding in a lady's seat on a lion. Greeks and Romans identified this goddess with Hera or Iuno. The legend explains the coin’s image, which is difficult to understand outside Carthage: INDVLGENTIA AVGG(ustorum) IN CARTH(aginem)/Grace of the Emperors for Carthage (cf. I. Mundle, Dea Caelestis in der Religionspolitik des Septimius Severus und der Julia Domna, Historia 10, 1961, 228-237; J.-M. Carrié, La ‹munificence› du prince. Les modes tardifs de désignation des actes impériaux et leurs antécédents, in: M. Christol – S. Demoguin – Y. Duval – C. Lepelley – L. Pietri (ed.), Institutions, Société et vie politique dans l’empire romain au IVe siècle ap. J.-C. Actes de la table ronde autour de l’œuvre d’A. Chastagnol (Paris, 20-21 janvier 1989), Paris 1992, 411-430, bes. 421 f).
After the civil wars that lasted from 193 to February 197 Septimius Severus wanted to restore greater stability to Rome through the unchallenged rule of his family. Two top pieces in the auctions allude to these ambitions:
The one of these
propagates the elevation of Caracalla, probably on April 4, 197, to princeps iuventutis. The princeps iuventutis had the honorable task of leading the annual parade of young Roman knights. Whether the just 9 year old prince, who held the title of Caesar since April 4, 196, actually rode in the parade seems questionable, because on the coin he holds the silver lance of the princeps iuventutis, also wears riding boots, but does not carry the rider shield (parma) used at these parades. Instead, he holds only a command staff, which could be an indication that he gave his orders to the squadrons from a safe place.
A little later, probably already at the end of AD 197, Septimius Severus elevated his elder son Caracalla to co-emperor and granted him the title of Augustus.
On a beautiful aureus
he wears the laurel wreath of a full emperor. The reverse depicts his younger bareheaded brother Geta, who was simultaneously granted the title of Caesar (cf. M. Horster, Princeps Iuventutis. Concept, realisation, representation, in: St. Benoist et al.. (ed.): Figures d'empire, fragments de mémoire. Pouvoirs et identités dans le monde romain impérial IIe s. av. n. è - VI s. de n. è. Lille 2011, 73–103).
Comments could be made on almost each of the aurei offered in the auction, but it may suffice in the following to address only a few fields.
Since the reign of Caracalla the worship of the sun god increased steadily, until finally, in the late 3rd century and in the 4th century, Sol became one of the most important deities of the Imperium Romanum. Christianity, which was gaining more and more followers, did not know how to help itself other than to place the feast of the birth of Jesus on the feast of the invincible sun god, in order to substitute it in this way. Two beautiful Sol-Aurei (lot 4105 with Caracalla and lot 5051 with Probus) are witnesses of this sun worship.
The expansion of the Roman Empire by means of war is reflected in many coins, for example
– the conquest of the Alpine region under Augustus: On an aureus,
rare in this condition, Tiberius and Drusus (or their deputised soldiers) present the laurels of victory to Augustus, who is seated on the sella curulis placed on a tribunal. Both commanders, relatives of the emperor, had subdued the Raetians and Vindelicians (centred around Augsburg) and earned Augustus the 10th imperatorial proclamation (cf. R. Wolters, Die Okkupation Germaniens im Licht der numismatischen Quellen, R. Aßkamp – T. Esch (ed.), IMPERIUM – Varus und seine Zeit. Beiträge zum internationalen Kolloquium des LWL-Römermuseums am 28. und 29. April 2008 in Münster, Münster 2010, 105-114; J. Rageth – W. Zanier, Crap Ses und Septimer: Archäologische Zeugnisse der römischen Alpeneroberung 16/15 v. Chr. aus Graubünden, Germania 88, 2010, 241-284).
– the Germanic campaigns of Drusus, from whom his son, the emperor Claudius, inherited the victory title Germanicus. T the emperor had a commemorative aureus (lot 4924)
minted on him;
– the Jewish War of Vespasian and Titus,
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| Lot number 4941 | Lot number 5724 | Lot number 5765 |
which ended with a triumph in Rome
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| Lot number 4942 | Lot number 5746 |
and the dedication of the Temple of Pax,
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| Lot number 4066 | Lot number 5763 |
in which the most important spoils of the Jewish War, the table of showbread, the menorah and the trumpets, were exhibited;
– Trajan's wars in Germany
and in Dacia;
– the disastrous eastern campaign of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, which led to the spread of plague throughout the Roman Empire (lot 5011, 5019, 5020, 5885, 6635, 5021);
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| Lot number 5011 | Lot number 5019 | Lot number 5020 |
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| Lot number 5885 | Lot number 6635 | Lot number 5021 |
– an invocation of the power of Rome’s armies by Decius, who, however, was the first Roman emperor to fall in a battle against invaders
– two aurei of the Aurelian invoking the Roman Mars
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| Lot number 4132 | Lot number 5050 |
Aurelian was able to win back the Palmyrene and Gallic empires for Rome and to secure the existence of the Roman Empire within its borders;
– finally, a grandiose triumphant scene of the able soldier-emperor Probus
and rare depictions of Victoria by Carus and Carinus
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| Lot Number 4136 | Lot number 4138 |
Interesting are also the reverses of coins of imperial women: They were mainly associated with fertility (Ceres coins of the elder Faustina)
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| Lot number 5002 | Lot number 5854 | Lot number 5855 |
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| Lot number 6611 | Lot number 6612 |
beauty (dove of Venus of the younger Faustina:
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| Lot number 5006 | Lot number 5859 |
Venus Victrix of Lucilla:
and of Julia Domna,
motherhood (peacock of Juno of the elder Faustina:
also a deification symbol for empresses) and with peaceful family life (Concordia of Otacilia Severa,
Of interest to medical history are the many coins reflecting the plague under Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus: In AD 166 the victorious armies of the Parthian campaign carried an epidemic (perhaps bubonic plague) into the Roman Empire. Estimates suggest that a third of the empire's population died at that time. The consequences of the epidemic, which lasted more than ten years, were catastrophic and contributed to the crisis of the 3rd century. It was the lack of people and money that put the Roman Empire under enormous pressure. The many SALVS coins under Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus and Faustina the Younger reflect the hopes of the imperial family to overcome the plague.
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| Lot number 5863 | Lot number 5017 | Lot number 5018 |
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| Lot number 5873 | Lot number 6627 | Lot number 5883 |
