I just received this nice
Romae Aeternae with the "
eros"
mintmark, and wanted to show it off!
Obv: CONST-ANTINVS
AVGRev: ROMAE A-ETERNAE
Exe: R
eros T (
aka R "squiggle C" T,
per Helvetica)
Minted by
Constantine I in
Rome c. 320
The basic
ROMAE AETERNAE type was first issued in 318-319 during the
Rome P-R (Populi Romani?) in-field control mark, at the same time as
SAECVLI FELICITAS and
PAX PERPETVA, and seems to belong together with that group in terms of the rather generic feel-good
legend probably chosen to reassure the public about the refound stability after the civil war between
Constantine and Licinius which
had occured c. 316 and been followed by the acclamation of the new Caesars
Crispus,
Constantine II and
Licinius II in 317. The
types would then be followed by
BEATA TRANQVILLITAS echoing the same theme.
The
ROMAE AETERNAE does serve the double purpose of also commemorating Constantine's 15th
anniversary (quindecennalia) via the XV inscribed on the
shield being held by
Roma, and this occasion may perhaps have been the impetus for issuing these
types celebrating the endless, happy and peaceful times.
The real interest of this coin is the famous "
eros"
mintmark - an odd occurence of what appears to be a greek script control mark appearing on a
Roman coin (although perhaps not so odd when you consider that greek
officina numbering was also in use). The
eros mintmark, and lack of P-R in
field, dates this particular coin to c. 320, the beginning of the
VOT XX series, with the
ROMAE AETERNAE type having outlived the other
types that were issued alongside it.
I've put together the graphic below to illustrate the common interpretation of this control mark.
The initial ligature/squiggle is believed to be the two greek letters epsilon and rho, followed by an upstroke which isn't a letter in of itself, but rather transforms the entire
ligature into the letter omega. The "C" following the
ligature is the greek letter sigma. The entire mark therefore reads epsilon rho omega sigma spelling
eros (note greek e-r-o-s phonetic spelling).
Now we might stop there and just consider it as
eros (used for whatever unknown reason), or you can interpret it further and note that
eros (love) in latin is "
amor", and that
amor spelt backwards is
roma -
Rome!
Eros thus becomes a secret word for
Rome.
Ben