New coin: Roman silver antoninianus "double denarius" of the emperor Pupienus, who ruled jointly with fellow ex-senator Balbinus for just 3 months in 238 AD. The clasped hands on the reverse intend to convince Romans of the harmony between their co-emperors... #numismatics
Pupienus is shown around the age of 70, wearing a radiate crown as is usual on antoniani portraits. In April 238 the senate chose to elevate two of their own, Pupienus and Balbinus, in revolt against the thuggish ruler Maximinus Thrax, a move that would anger the Praetorians...
The reverse shows the emperors’ clasped hands and proclaims their CARITAS MVTVA – “mutual charity/goodwill”. Other reverses in the same series also assure Romans of their co-rulers’ mutual love (amor), faith (fides) and pietas (duty/devotion).
Despite his advanced age, upon his accession Pupienus quickly gathered his forces and marched north to confront Maximinus who was besieging the city of Aquileia. As they drew near, the unpopular Maximinus and his son were assassinated and beheaded by their own bodyguards.
Returning to Rome, the city had fallen into chaos under Balbinus. The co-emperors argued and even had to live separately in different wings of the palace. By July the Praetorians had tired of the bickering rulers and instead put their lot in with the 13 year-old Gordian III.
As was a common occurrence in these centuries, the emperors Pupienus and Balbinus were seized by their own Praetorians who dragged them naked through the streets to their camp where they were tortured and hacked to death. Pupienus and his partner had ruled for just 99 days.
The coin is from the renowned "Benito Collection" formed by the Spanish ambassador Ramón Sáenz de Heredia y Alonso, who passed away in 2016. #roman#numismatics#coins#collecting
Marcus Clodius Pupienus Maximus Augustus looking wonderful in hand.
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1) The massive Trier Gold Hoard: 2,516 Roman aurei coins weighing 18.5 kg, unearthed in 1993 in the cellar of a Roman administrative building of ancient Augusta Treverorum. The hoard was deposited during the Antonine Plague or 'Plague of Galen' in the late 2nd century AD..
2) The gold hoard was unearthed by chance during the excavation of an underground parking garage in Trier. Sadly, hundreds of coins were stolen before the hoard could be secured by authorities, but an estimated 95% was preserved – the largest surviving Roman imperial gold hoard.
3) Study has shown the Trier hoard was first deposited in 167 AD at the height of the Antonine Plague: a catastrophic pandemic that may have killed upwards of 10 million people across the Roman Empire including, in all likelihood, the Roman emperor Lucius Verus..
1) Cato the Younger took his own life, rather than submit to Julius Caesar, on this day in 46 BC. Seneca writes:
'Cato drove the sword into his sacred breast, but the wound was not well aimed or mortal. I am inclined to think there was good reason for this...
2) 'The gods were not satisfied with seeing Cato die once. His courage was kept in action and recalled to the stage, so that it might be displayed even more powerfully – for it needs a greater mind to return a second time to death...
3) 'Cato therefore reached into himself and tore out his own vitals, and with that one hand cleared for himself a broad path to freedom. Men are raised to the level of the gods by such a death, which even their worst enemies cannot help but admire.'
1) An extraordinary Roman bust thought to represent Mark Antony, carved in rare Egyptian basanite from the Wadi Hammamat quarries in the Eastern Desert – among the most highly prized stones used in ancient sculpture, known for replicating the metallic appearance of aged bronze..
2) The commanding late-Republican portrait was discovered near the Egyptian city of Alexandria in around 1780, where Mark Antony was based with Cleopatra in their final years waging war against Octavian..
3) Though the identification of Mark Antony cannot be certain, the robust features, prominent chin, and aquiline nose do resemble Antony's appearance on coinage; here compared to a denarius from my collection. Basanite stone was also reserved for the most important sitters..
1) Having taken a leading role in the assassination of Julius Caesar on this day in 44 BC, aided by as many as sixty fellow conspirators, Brutus would commemorate the events of the Ides of March with this, the most infamous and enigmatic of all coins from the ancient world...
2) The coin shows the weapons and the motive of the assassins, with two daggers flanking a pileus cap of liberty, placed on the heads of those being freed from slavery. The blades of the Liberatores had, in the eyes of Brutus, released the Republic from a tyrant's stranglehold..
3) Rather than a lone dagger, the coin depicts a pair of blades that viewers would have most likely understood to represent the weapons of both Marcus Junius Brutus and his fellow assassin, Gaius Cassius Longinus – now the leaders of the Republican cause in the East.
1) Climbing the 124 steps to the Basilica of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli 'the Altar of Heaven' – especially hallowed ground for Roman coin enthusiasts, as the most probable site of the Temple of Juno Moneta, where for much of Rome's history the coins of state were struck into being.
2) Legend said that during the Gallic siege of Rome in 390 BC, the sacred geese of Juno honked the alarm when they spotted some sneaky Gauls scaling this northern spur of the Capitoline. Juno Moneta 'the Warner' would thereafter be worshipped in a temple on the lofty citadel..
3) The temple-workshop of Juno Moneta would soon become the home of the Roman Republic's mint, with Juno as protectress of the wealth of the state. Through Moneta, the Latin verb monere 'to warn' therefore gave us our modern word 'money' ..and me the title of my upcoming book!
1) On 10 May 1889, a pair of marble sarcophagi were unearthed on the banks of the Tiber during construction of Rome's Palace of Justice. Concerned the contents of the graves might be destroyed during transport to the Capitoline, archaeologists chose to open the coffins on site...
2) Two days later, a large crowd of curious Romans gathered to witness the opening of the sarcophagi. Deep in the construction pit, the famed archaeologist Rodolfo Lanciani gave permission for his assistants to cut the clamps sealing the first coffin and pull aside the lid...
3) The workmen and onlookers closest to the marble coffin jumped back in astonishment at the sight before them. The sarcophagus was filled with Tiber water that over time had filtered in through the tiniest gap under the lid, and through the veil of clear water they gazed upon...