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Dr Crom

9 Jun, 10 tweets, 6 min read

Ancient Coin of the Day: As today is quite the Neronian anniversary, let’s take a look at an interesting series of coins he issued, the Decursio sestertii of AD 62-68. #ACOTD #Nero #Decursio

Image: RIC Nero 170; Münzkabinett Berlin (18220881). Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.1(…

These coins form a novel and innovative series in the final years of Nero's reign and have provoked much discussion through their martial imagery, not least because they are very much at odds with the typical Neronian depictions.

Nero is not famed for his military coinage, being for more keen to advertise peace, such as on this aureus of AD 64-65 with a Reverse featuring the Temple of Janus.

Image: RIC Nero 50; British Museum (R.6525). Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.1(…

The Obverse of the coin shows a laureate portrait of Nero, interestingly with what is thought to be an aegis at his neck, with a Legend of NERO CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG GER P M TR P IMP P P – ‘Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, Pontifex Maximus...

'...with Tribunician Power, Victorious Commander, Father of the Fatherland’. The aegis in particular marks this out as a martial representation.

The Reverse shows a cuirassed Nero mounted on a horse with his cloak flying behind him, accompanied by a mounted soldier carrying a vexillum, the Legend ‘DECVRSIO’ – ‘Military Exhibition’ - appearing in exergue.

While it may be possible to connect the series with the construction of the Trimphal Arch for Corbulo's victories over the Parthians, this is perhaps not as convincing as other interpretations.

Image: RIC Nero 147; Münzkabinett Berlin (18226550). Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.1(…

The representation on these coins may in fact be a form of theatrical performance, which perhaps better fits with the typical Neronian attitudes to both military endeavour and public spectacle.

Image: RIC Nero 105; Münzkabinett Berlin (18220895). Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.1(…

One particular inspiration for such a performance could be the ‘lusus Troiae’ informed by the passage of Virgil’s ‘Aeneid’ (V.545-605) where a mock battle was performed as part of the anniversary games for the death of Anchises.

For more on this interpretation, see:

SMITH, DEREK R. “The DECVRSIO Sestertius Types of Nero and the Lusus Troiae.” The Numismatic Chronicle (1966-), vol. 160, 2000, pp. 282–289.

jstor.org/stable/42668274

#ACOTD #Nero #Decursio

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More from @DocCrom

Dr Crom

@DocCrom

8 Jun

Ancient Coin of the Day: Today we go niche with coins commemorating Diadumenian, the son of the short-reigning emperor Macrinus, from AD 217-218. #ACOTD #Diadumenian #Macrinus

Image: RIC IV Macrinus 101; Münzkabinett Berlin (18200735). Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.4.…

Macrinus, the Praetorian Prefect, was alleged to have had been the instigator of the conspiracy against Caracalla, but interestingly this tradition may have owed more to subsequent emperors, such as Elagabalus, who sought to blacken Macrinus' image for their own benefit.

Born 14 September 208, named Marcus Opellius Diadumenianus, the son of Macrinus was a potentially valuable dynastic tool for the new emperor with this coin suggesting early intentions in that regard.

Read 12 tweets

Dr Crom

@DocCrom

8 Jun

#EpigraphyTuesday - Kicking off with a bit of Nero and Poppaea graffiti from Pompeii, with these verse inscriptions from the House of Gaius Julius Polybius (IX.13.1-3). #AGOTD #Graffiti

Image: Authors photograph of Année Epigraphique (1985) 283 and 204 (2004: 404)

The inscriptions themselves would seem to commemorate gifts offered by Poppaea and Nero to the goddess Venus, perhaps at the time of the emperor's visit to Pompeii in AD 64.

The first records a gift of Poppaea:

"munera Poppaea misit Veneri sanctissimae berullum helenumque / unio mixtus erat"

'Poppaea sent as gifts to most sacred Venus a beryl, an ear-drop pearl - oh, and a bloody big pearl besides!'

Read 7 tweets

Dr Crom

@DocCrom

7 Jun

Ancient Coin of the Day: Heading east today, to take a quick gander at some of the gorgeous coins produced by the Arcasids of Parthia, starting with this silver drachm of Arcases I, ca. 220-215 BC. #ACOTD #Parthia #Arcasid

Image: ANS 1991.65.1. Link - numismatics.org/collection/199…

The Arsacids were the ruling dynasty of Parthia from the mid-3rd Century BC until AD 224, taking their name from their founder Arsaces, who conquered Parthia ca. 238 BC, following its secession from the Seleucid kingdom.

Although autonomous coins were rapidly issued by the new dynasty, they necessarily owe much to the existing Seleucid coins, but yet were keen to communicate an idiosyncratic identity in order to distinguish the Arcasids.

Read 15 tweets

Dr Crom

@DocCrom

7 Jun

#LatinForTheDay - 7 June

"Urbem neque pro maiestate imperii ornatam et inundationibus incendiisque obnoxiam excoluit adeo, ut iure sit gloriatus marmoream se relinquere, quam latericiam accepisset."

Suetonius, Divus Augustus 28.3

'As the City was not architecturally grand enough for the dignity of the empire - and was moreover prone to both fire and flooding - he beautified it to such a degree that he could rightly boast that he left marble what had been mere brick when it had come to him.'

One of those oft-quoted snippets about Augustus' urban development of Rome, which perhaps disguises the fact that his reorganisation of the city was a key means of his exerting both conscious and subconscious control over its inhabitants.

Read 4 tweets

Dr Crom

@DocCrom

8 Mar

Ancient Coin of the Day: A lovely Siculo-Punic silver tetradrachm, ca. 320-310 BC, showing a fusion of Sicilian and Carthaginian elements. #ACOTD #Sicily #Carthage

Image: ANS 1967.152.696. Link – numismatics.org/collection/196…

The Obverse bears a portrait of the nymph Arethusa, surrounded by dolphins, in a scene that would be familiar from the Fifth Century BC coinage of Syracuse.

Indeed the image of Arethusa was one of the defining elements of Syracusan coin issues, as on this glorious dekadrachm from Syracuse, Sicily, ca. 470-460 BC.

Image: British Museum: 1841,0726.287. Link - britishmuseum.org/collection/obj…

Read 8 tweets

Dr Crom

@DocCrom

8 Mar

#LatinForTheDay - 8 March

"par volucer superis, stellas qui vividus aequat
durando membrisque terit redeuntibus aevum,
non epulis saturare famem, non fontibus ullis
adsuetus prohibere sitim; sed purior illum
solis fervor alit ventosaque pabula potat...

"Tethyos, innocui carpens alimenta vaporis.
arcanum radiant oculi iubar. igneus ora
cingit honos. rutilo cognatum vertice sidus
attollit cristatus apex tenebrasque serena
luce secat."

Claudian, Shorter Poems 27 (XLIV).11-20

'That bird is akin to the gods, whose lifespan equals the
Stars and whose renewing limbs wear away the ages.
No food is needed to sate its hunger, nor is its thirst
Quenched by any spring. Rather the bright ray of the
Sun is its nourishment, the spray of the sea its drink....

Read 5 tweets

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