I had a dream at one time of collecting only Antony and his descendants. That didn't last, mainly because nice Antony's are expensive! I did manage to get quite a few though and I'm always looking for more...
Kudos for having collected two score Antonys, and more than a dozen
legionary denarii.
Makes for quite a
gallery. Having seen your
LEGIO COHORTIS SPECVLATORVM wiki, I also saw the wiki entry for
CHORTIS SPECULATORUM from the Dictionary on
Roman Coinage. I made a stab at transcribing (from scan to txt). It's tough sledding, especially with the Greek characters, among which I may have mistaken one or another.
See the page here:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=CHORTIS%20SPECULATORUMCHORTIS SPECULATORUM —Three
military ensigns (or, more properly speaking, spears), ornamented with crowns, and fixed in the prows of vessels. — On the
obverse ANTonius AVGur
IIIVIR.
Rei Publicæ Constituendæ. A pretorian vessel. — Gold. — British Museum.
These legends and
types appear on gold and silver of the
Antonia family, struck by order of
Mark Antony, during
his triumvirate. — On the subject of the ancient
Speculatores Eckhel gives, in an abridged form, the result of
Christian Schwart’s industrius and admirable researches, to the following purport—
“The functions of the
speculatores, and the meanings of the term, were very various. They corresponded to explorers, called by the
Greeks ϖτακουσται and έποπται (ear and eye-witnesses),
and their services were in requisition, not only for
military purposes in the discovery of an enemy’s designs, but also in civil matters, when they differed in no respect from the delatores, or informers. —Varro says: “A
speculator is one whom we send before us, to nte such particulars as we wish to ascertain.” For a similar reason, the word was
applied to persons of a curious and prying disposition. In
military affairs those also were called
speculatores, who, stationed on towers or other elevated positions, watched the movements and approaches of an enemy, and, kept a vigilant look out (speculabantur), giving intelligence by beacon-fires. The
Greeks termed them κατάςκοποι and διοπτηρες, andas it was
part of their business to convey important information post haste, they were also called ημερόδρομοι, that is to say, runners over a certrain distance in a day, as Livy informs us (xxxi. Ch. 24) — Again, to use the words of Fesus (in Explorare): “A
speculator differs from an explorator (spy) in this respect, the the former silently observes the movements of the enemy in war, whilst the latter loudly proclaims the doings of others in time of
peace.” During the imperial government, the speculators were a kind of apparitors and bodyguard; from which circumstance
Tacitus joined together two corps of pretorian cohorts and
speculatores (Hist. ii. Ch. 33); and Suidas explains Σπεκουλατωρ, by ό δορύϕορος (the spear-man or body-guard.) Hence we often observe, on marbles, the
speculatores mixed up with the pretorian cohorts, as for example SPEC.
COH. IIII. PR. See also SPEC. LEG. II.
Col Antiqua, i. p. 127.
Text continues:
Speculatores...
