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Offline Jochen

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Re: Coins of mythological interest
« Reply #500 on: September 01, 2023, 08:59:22 am »
The spring nymph Iuturna

The coin:
Roman Republic, Aulus Albinus Sp. f, gens Postumia
AR - denarius, 3.61g, 18.13mm, 180°.
         Rome, auxiliary mint 96 BC.
Obv.: Laureate head of Apollo r., in front of it X (value mark), behind it star 
          below ROMA
Rev.: The Dioscuri, nude, chlamys over shoulders, wearing pileus, standing with
          spears l. beside their horses drinking from the Iuturna fountain, in upper l. field
          crescent moon
           in ex. A ALBINVS SF
Ref.: Crawford 335/10a; Sydenham 612; Albert 1157; BMCRR 518; FFC 1055;
         Postumia 5

Note:
The mintmaster Aulus Albinus Sp. f. was probably the son of Spurius Postumius Albinus Magnus, the Roman consul of 148 BC.

The Battle of Lake Regillus
This coin refers to the Battle of Lake Regillus of early Roman history. The lacus Regillus was located in the Tusculum area. It is probably a crater lake drained in the 19th century, today's "Pantano Secco" near Frascati.

There, at the beginning of the 5th century B.C. (mentioned in 496), the decisive battle in the first Latine war took place, whereby the tradition is strongly legendary. The Latins had formed a confederation and marched against the young Roman Republic. In the process, the Latine cavalry was led by the former Roman king Tarquinius Superbus, who had been chased out of Rome by Brutus shortly before. The Romans were led by the dictator Aulus Postumius P. f. Albus († after 493 BC), who afterwards received the honorary name (agnomen) Regillensis. It is said that when the Romans were in danger of losing the battle, Aulus Postumius Albus made a promise (exoratio) to the Dioscuri, the patron gods of the Latin cavalry, who were worshipped by the Latins, to build them their own temple. In this way he succeeded in drawing them to the Roman side. Then, by a clever maneuver, Albus dismounted his cavalry, threw it against the enemy infantry, and thus raised his own discouraged infantry. This maneuver, with the help of the Dioscuri, decided the battle and the standards were recovered. -

Livius does not know about an intervention of the Dioscuri, this is only due to the poetic imagination of Ovid. He also tells that still on the evening of the battle the Dioscuri appeared at the Iuturna fountain on the forum in Rome and watered their horses there and announced their victory to the Romans (So also Dion. Hal.).

The promised temple was inaugurated in 484 BC. However, the Romans had not succeeded in completely subduing the Latins. The peace treaty (foedus Cassianum) that was negotiated was an equal defense alliance between Rome and the Latins.

Iuturna:
Already in the report of the Battle of Lake Regillus, history and mythology are mixed. Iuturna was worshipped as a spring nymph already in archaic times. Originally she was the nymph of a spring at river Numicius near Lavinium, but was then transferred to Rome (by evocatio?).

The poets of the Augustan period tried to insert the goddess in various ways into the image of Italic legends of gods and heroes that they created.
(1) Vergil reports in his Aeneid that she was the daughter of Daunus and the sister of Turnus, the king of the Rutulians. The similarity of the names probably gave the clue. With Turnus, who possessed a sword hardened in the Styx, Aeneas had to compete in a duel before the escaped Trojans could finally settle in Latium. Iuturna had repeatedly taken the form of a charioteer to help her brother.

(2) Another version, of which we have knowledge only through Arnobius, made her the daughter of the water god Volturnus, the wife of Ianus and mother of Fontus, the god of springs. A deeper mythological content must not be sought in these arbitrary combinations; the nature and essence of the goddess have been correctly designated by Varro in his antiqitates rerum divinarum with the words, "Iuturna inter proprios deos nymphasque ponitur (Iuturna was placed with the typical gods and nymphs)" (Wissowa)

In Virgil the love of Iuppiter for Iuturna is hinted at, by Ovid in his fastes it is painted out. Ovid reports that Iuppiter fell in love with her. In return for her giving herself to him, Juppiter gave her immortality and made her goddess over all the springs and rivers in Latium. Generally, a local water nymph was in charge of only one water source, but Iuturna's much greater power reflects her importance in Latium. Ovid further spun out the saga of Iuppiter's love for Iuturna by telling how the brittle nymph flees from the god's solicitations into her wet element, until Iuppiter asks all the other nymphs of Latium to help him and stop the fugitive. Ovid also relates that Larunda, another nymph, betrayed the secret of her love affair and was punished for it by Juppiter with muteness.

She was the only love of Juppiter who had not been angry with Juno. So she sent Iuturna to the aid of her brother Turnus to save him from imminent death. At the chariot race, Iuturna threw Metiscus from the chariot and took his form. Although Turnus recognized his sister, he nevertheless jumped from the chariot to fight with Aeneas and was killed by him. Iuturna withdrew into her water in mourning (Vergil).

Her name is said to come from iuvo (= I help), because her water had been healing and was used for sacrifice (Varro, de ling. Lat.).

The cult:
The goddess does not seem to have received a public cult, however, until the end of the First Punic War in 241 BC, when Gaius Lutatius Catulus vowed a temple to her and built it in the Field of Mars near the Saepta, where the corner of the Aqua Virgo later was (Serv. Aen.; Ovid. fastes). Probably after a renewal of this temple under Augustus in 2 BC, the Iuturnalia was celebrated as the foundation feast of the temple on January 11. where sacrifices were made to her and she was honored by the fontani, the men in charge of the fountains and aqueducts of Rome. This day was festively celebrated by all the craftsmen who needed spring water to practice their profession (Serv. Aen.).

Another festival where Iuturna was worshipped was the Volcanalia.  On August 23, the day of the Volcanalia, a solemn sacrifice was held in Rome to all the deities whose protection was invoked against the danger of fire, which was especially necessary in Rome, which was often ravaged by fires. Here, after Volcanus, the god of fire, Iuturna and the nymphs immediately found their place.

The Iuturna Spring
To the left of the Temple of Castor and Pollux is the Iuturna Spring. Frontinus mentions in his work "De Aquis Urbis Romae" that before the construction of the first aqueduct by Appius Claudius, Rome drew its water from the Tiber, from fountains and from the few springs in the city. The most important of these springs emerged directly at the Forum at the foot of the Palatine: this was the lacus Iuturnae, the Iuturna spring. Originally, the place of worship functioned as a natural sanctuary without a setting. In the first half of the 2nd century BC it was provided with a basin. The first architectural design and the consecration of the statues of the Dioscuri was probably initiated by Lucius Aemilius Paullus, to whom the Dioscuri, during their second epiphany at the spring, proclaimed his victory over the Macedonian king Perseus in the battle of Pydna (168 BC). In front of the basin a large space with niches was uncovered, On the back wall the aedicula of Iuturna rises on a high pedestal. An inscription calls this place the true place of worship for Iuturna. The altar placed in front of the aedicula was found inside.  It shows the representation of Turnus and Iuturna. There was also found a statue of Aesculapius. The current appearance corresponds to that of the time of Trajan.

Art History:
The iconography of Iuturna is largely unknown. A later altar relief from the temple of Castor and Pollux possibly depicts her. I have added the following pics:
(1) Fountain of Iuturna (lacus Iuturnae), aedicula with the image of Turnus and Iuturna. Inscription: "Marcus Barbatius Pollio, curulic aedile, renewed this sanctuary of Iuturna" (Wikipedia).
(2) The picture shows the marble fragment of a horse of the Dioscuri found in the basin of the Iuturna spring. It dates back to the 2nd century BC. It can be seen with other parts in the Temple of Romulus on the Forum (Wikiüedia)
(3) The so-called Area Sacra (Sacred District) di Largo di Torre Argentina is located on the ancient Campus Martius below the present street level and is easily visible from all sides. The excavation area includes the remains of four temples and adjacent secular buildings from the Republic period. It was known to Rome fans as the "Cat Forum" because poor old women fed the feral cats there out of charity.

The temples are numbered from A to D. The picture shows temple A from the 3rd century .C. It is assumed that it is the temple of Iuturna or the temple of Iunonis Curritis. The former was built by Quintus Lutatius Catulus after the victory of the Romans over the Falerii in 241 B.C., the latter by Quintus Lutatius Cercone after the victory of his relative Quintus Lutatius Cercone over the Falerii, also in 241 B.C. However, the most probable identification is the former.

Note:
Sextus Iulius Frontinus (b. c. 35; † 103) was a Roman senator, soldier, and writer.  In 74/75 he became governor of the province of Britain until he was succeeded by Agricola in 79/80. After serving as legatus Augusti pro praetore in what would later become Germania inferior and as proconsul of the province of Asia, he was appointed by Emperor Nerva in 97 AD as superintendent of the aqueducts in Rome (curator aquarum), a task entrusted only to persons of very high standing. He was consul three times, the last time in 100 AD together with Emperor Trajan, which was a high distinction.

His most famous work is De aquaeductu urbis Romae in two books. In it, he describes the history, use, maintenance and condition of the Roman water supply and disposal system. He considers these to be a great civilizing achievement of the Romans. However, he also recognized that the managers lacked the necessary expertise. Therefore, he systematically collected the scattered specialized knowledge for the necessary competence to lead the official business also of his successors.
Another work, the Strategematon libri dealt with the history of Greek and Roman war lists for use by officers and army commanders

Sources:
(1) Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita
(2) Dionysios von Halikarnassos, Antiqutates Romanae
(3) Vergil, Aeneis
(4) Ovid, Fasti
(5) Varro, De Lingua Latina
(6) Sextus Iulius Frontinus, De aquaeductus urbis Romae
(7) Servius, Kommentar zur Aeneis
(8) Valerius Maximus, Facta et dicta memorabilia
(9) Plutarch, Aemilius Paulus
(10) Arnobius der Ältere, Adversus gentes

Literature:
(1) Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und 
römischen Mythologie
(2) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon
(3) Theodor Mommsen, Römische Gechichte
(4) Der Kleine Pauly
(5) Der kleine Stowasser, Lateinisch-Deutsches Schulwörterbuch

Online Sources:
(1) Wikipedia
(2) Wildwinds
(3) acsearch.info

Best regards
Jochen

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Re: Coins of mythological interest
« Reply #501 on: September 03, 2023, 01:39:34 pm »
Flora

The coin:
Roman Republic, C. Servilius C.F., gens Servilia
AR - denarius, 3.99g, 17.71mm, 180°.
        Rome, 57 BC.
Obv.: FLORAL PRIMVS
         Head of Flora with floral wreath n.r., necklace with pendants, cross-shaped
          earring, the hair in jeweled knot, lituus behind.
Rev.: Two soldiers, helmeted and in short military skirts, facing each other, each
         holding a shield over the left shoulder and in the right a short sword upright; the
         shield of the right soldier is decorated with a 6-rayed knot.
         in ex: C.SERVEIL, r. upward C.F.
Ref:: Crawford 423/1; Sydenham 890; Servilia 15; Kestner 3448; BMCRR Rome 3817     
Rare

Note:
There are 2 different interpretations for the depiction on this coin.
(1) According to RRC 447f. the otherwise unknown mintmaster probably alludes with this type to the fact that he was responsible for the ancient celebration of the Floralia as Floralis primus, i.e. as flamen Floralis.
(2) The Rev. is an allusion to the ancestor M. Servilius Pulex Geminus (consul 202 BC), famous for his duel victories. Then, according to Hollstein (1993) 256-260, the lituus on the obv. may stand for his long augury, and the coin may be an allusion to the transformation of the Floralia in 173 BC by another ancestor into an annual festival. Thus, this coin would honor the entire gens Servilia, which may be significant in this period when the various families competed for influence.

The gens Servilia:
The Servilii were one of the oldest Roman patrician families and had supposedly moved to Rome from Alba Longa. Since 495 BC, the gens Servilia belonged to the consular families. In the early Republic there were the branches of the Servilii Ahalae and the Servilii Fidenates. The branches of the Prisci and Structi, which can be derived from the cognomens of the ancestor Publius Servilius Priscus Structus, are not provable. After the year 412 AD the Servilians do not appear in the Fasti for a long time. Since the first Punic War, the Servilians, with the patrician branch of the Caepiones (derived from the Ahales) and the original patrician, then because of the conversion to the plebs, probably to be able to provide tribunes of the people, plebeian branch of the Gemini again provided numerous magistrates. In addition, the lineages of the Vatiae - later known as Isaurici, and the plebeian Rulli developed.

Etymology:
Flora derives from Latin flos = flower. Ovid incorrectly derives the name from Greek chloros = green, but he does so because he associates Flora with the Greek nymph Chloris and then transfers the legend of the courtship of Zephyrus to her.

Since the end of the 16th century, this goddess has been used metonymically, first in poetry, then in other texts, for the flora of a particular region. Flora is contrasted with fauna, the animal world. named after the Roman goddess Fauna. It is still called bacterial flora today because bacteria used to be counted among plant life. 

According to Ovid, Flora was a nymph from the Islands of thr blessed (the Canary Islands), about whose parents nothing is known. She was responsible for the blossoming of the trees, the grain and the vines and then for the fact that these blossomed not only well and happily, but also brought the desired fruits (Laktanz). She had received this power from the wind god Zephyrus. Zephyrus discovered her one spring in a meadow, fell in love with her because of her beautiful form, took her by force and then made her his wife. Ovid tells that instead of words roses came out of her mouth. By touching with a flower she is said to have impregnated Hera so that she gave birth to Ares. Here Ovid connects the Roman Flora with the Greek legend of the nymph Chloris, whereby it is a Hellenistic invention. He transfers to her the legend of the abduction of Oreithyia by the north wind Boreas.

Flora:
In fact, however, Flora was native to central Italy since ancient times. Among the Oscians she was called Fluusa and the Sabines had a month mense Flusare named after her. It belongs to the oldest layer of the Roman religion and was known long before Rome was built.

According to Varro, Flora was brought to Rome by Titus Tatius. An ancient sanctuary, probably a sacellum, was located on the Quirinal south of the porta Sanqualis. Numa Pompilius had already instituted a flamen to her and her feast was celebrated since ancient times at the end of April. The absence of a feast in the calendar may be due to the fact that in the beginning it was called feriae conceptivae (Cic. Verr.). Dancing and crude jokes were common at all festivals for fertility gods.

When they had not taken place for 66 years, there was a great drought and in the emergency the Sibylline books were consulted. Thus, in 241 BC, according to their prescription, the games were celebrated in a particularly splendid way and at the expense of the state. From here one dates their foundation. They were supervised by the plebeian aediles L. and M. Publicius Malleolus, who allegedly used for the games the money that had been paid as a penalty for the grazing of a public estate (ager publicus). The two Publicii also built a second temple at the Circus Maximus, This was renewed by Augustus and dedicated by Tiberius (Tacitus Ann.).

A euhemeristic interpretation we learn from Laktanz. There Flora is a wh**e, who bequeaths her great fortune to the Roman people, under the condition to organize games every year on her birthday. .

From 173 BC, the Floralia had a fixed date and took place annually (Ovid).  Later, the curulic aediles and, since 22 AD, the praetors took over the management of the games (Dio Cassius)

The Floralia:
The information about the course of the games is not very precise, and therefore leads to different ideas. The Floralia began on April 28 and lasted until May 3. On these days the Romans put on colorful clothes and decorated themselves with flower wreaths. The tables were covered with roses and roses were thrown from the houses to the people celebrating in the streets. Scenic plays were performed with mimes and with whores (meretrices), who played teasing tricks, especially at night by torchlight. At the request of the people, they had to undress completely and performed gladiator fights (Seneca). The lascivious character of the festival probably testifies to Greek influence (Pauly).

The last day took place in the Circus Maximus. It began with a hunt for hares and goats, which were considered symbols of fertility. The Aediles threw peas and beans at the people, thus reconciling the earth with its own fruits (Persius sat.). Under the emperors, the splendor and exuberance of the games grew with the decline of the mores - under Galba even an elephant dancing on a rope is said to have been shown! - and for this very reason they have probably survived until the latest times (Suetonius Galba).

As a deity of flowering, Flora is also a goddess of fertilization and flourishing. All cult customs point to this. And this also explains the title Flora  mater that she has in Cicero. And this also explains the part that the meretrices had in the games. Even the dropping of the clothes may symbolically suggest the dropping of the petals. Already Ovid associated the colorful dresses with colorful flowers. And how else could this custom be called priscus mox (ancient custom)?

Art History:
No independent type has been developed for Flora by Roman art. One has rather borrowed for her the type of Chloris, closely related in her nature, or that of the spring hora from the Greeks Certainly provable is only the head of Flora on our denarius of the gens Servilia.

(1) So-called Flora, fresco from the Villa di Arianna in Stabiae near Pompeii, 1st century AD. Flora (or Persephone or the allegory of spring) walking barefoot into the depths, holding a cornucopiae in her left arm, today in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples (Wikipedia).

It was only after the revival of antiquity in the Renaissance and afterwards that artists took up this theme again.

(2) Detail from the painting "Primavera," ca. 1480, by Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), probably the most famous painting depicting Flora, now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence (Wikimedia). 

The interpretation of the allegorical representation of this painting is still not clear. But in the figure of Flora scattering flowers, Botticelli, according to older and recently reiterated views, possibly dressed the figure of Simonetta Vespucci, who died at an early age. She bears the pale, melancholy expression typical of Botticelli, which recurs in numerous allegorical depictions and portraits.

(3) Bartolomeo Veneto (-1555), Ideal Portrait of a Courtesan as Flora, ca. 1520, Städel Museum Frankfurt am Main. Traditionally considered a portrait of Lucretia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI, the work depicts an unknown lady in the guise of the ancient goddess of spring, Flora.

(4) Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770), "The Triumph of Flora" ca. 1743, now in the Museum of Fine Arts in San Francisco.  The painting depicts Flora, the goddess of flowers and spring, and her seasonal triumph as she arrives on earth in summer.  She sits in a golden chariot pulled by putti and is surrounded by dancing nymphs. On the left, Ajax (in armor) and Narcissus(?) offer flowers to the goddess.

Sources:
(1) Ovid, Fasti
(2) Varro, Antiquitates
(3) Cicero, Verres
(4) Sueton, Galba
(5) Dio Cassius, Roman history
(6) Aulus Persius Flaccus, Saties 
(7) Tacitus, Annales

Literature:
(1) Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Literatur (online too)
(2) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon, 1770 Leipzig
(3) Der Kleine Pauly
(4) W. Hollstein, Die stadtrömische Münzprägung der Jahre 78-50 v. Chr. zwischen politischer Aktualität und  Familienthematik (1993) 256-260

Online Sources:
(1) Wikipedia
(2) Wikimedia
(3) theoi.com
(4) Roman Republic Coinage online (RRC)

Best regards
Jochen

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Re: Coins of mythological interest
« Reply #502 on: October 31, 2023, 02:26:03 pm »
The Egyptian Libye

The coin:
Kyrenaica, Kyrene, Ptolemy III, 284-247 BC.
AE 22, 6.09g, 21.76mm, 330°.
Av: Head of Ptolemy, draped and diademed, r.
Rv.: ΠTOΛEMAIOV BAΣIΛEΩΣ head of Libye with taenia, r., hair in 3 long curls falling to neck, under chin double cornucopia.
Ref: Svoronos 866; BMC 13-14; Weber (DE) 4479; Milan 7555
VF, brown patina

Note:
Since all coins of this type look very similar, it is very difficult to determine the exact Ptolemy. So it could be Ptolemy II here.

Mythology:
Libye (Latin Libya) was an autochthonous woman or an Egyptian king's daughter. The ancient genealogists added her to the family tree starting from Zeus and Io, as it was regularly done with deities of foreign peoples.  Apollodorus constructed a complicated family tree: there she was the daughter of Epaphos and Memphis, the daughter of Neilos, and thus a granddaughter of Io and Zeus. From Apollodor we learn that she was the mother of Belos, the father of Aigyptos and Danaos and thus a great-ancestor of Perseus.

Herodotus tells us that she married Poseidon, a local Libyan god, and by him became the mother of the twins Belos and Agenor. At her marriage she had received a golden basket from Hephaistos, which she later gave to Telephassa, the mother of Europa. Besides the main genealogy there are a number of variants. For example, Pliny makes her the mother of Atlas without specifying a father, and according to some she is said to have been the mother of Prometheus. As her parents also Okeanos and Pompholyge are mentioned and Asia was her sister (Andron. Halikarnass.). Hygin lists among the sons of Hermes also the daughter Libys from Libye. This fits to Pausanias, who in a note counts Hermes to the Libyan gods.

Apollonios Rhodos tells in his Argonaut saga that the Argonauts with their ship "Argo" were thrown by storms into the Syrtis to Libya, where they were stranded on the shores of the Tritonian Sea. Desperately they searched for a way out. Then 3 ghostly divine women appeared to Jason, daughters of Libya, who advised him to repay their mother, who had borne them in her own body for so long, for this kindness in kind. The Argonauts took this on their ship, put it on their shoulder, carried it through the burning desert and thus were saved (Pindar).

A marble relief from Kyrene, now in the British Museum, shows Libye crowning Kyrene after a lion fight. Here Libye is depicted with the same hairstyle as on our coin. The atteches pic shoes the Roman marble relief from Kyrene (120-140 AD). From: Emergency - Red List of Endangered Cultural Properties of Libya, ICOM

The nymph Kyrene was the daughter of the Lapith king Hypeseus and Creusa. She was an avid hunter. During a fight with a lion, Apollo saw her and fell in love with her. He abducted her to Libya, where Libye offered her asylum. The city of Kyrene, newly built by Greek settlers from Thera on Santorini, was named after her.

Otherwise, her characteristic feature is usually the elephant skin on her head with trunk and tusks, as shown on the next coin:

2nd coin:
Galerius as Caesar, 293-305, Augustus 305-311
AE - Follis (AE 2), 11.36g, 28.8mm, 0°.
        Carthage 4th Offizin, ca. 298 AD.
Obv.: MAXIMIANVS NOB CAES
         Laureate head r.
Rev.: FELIX A - D - VENT AVG NN
         Africa standing frontally, head l., in long dress,  with elephant skin headdress,  
         holding r. standard and l. elephant tooth; left at her feet lion with captured bull.
         in the left field: I (for the Iovian family)
         in ex. PK Delta
Ref.: RIC VI, Carthago 26(b); C. 28

With the lion and the bull, this coin also refers to the animal wealth of Africa.

Belos, the son of Libye, was king of Egypt according to Greek mythology. With Anchinoe, the daughter of the river god Neilos (Nile), he begat the twins Aigyptos and Danaos. He is also considered the mythical founder of Babylon. His name is the Hellenized form for Ba'al and corresponds to the Hebrew Baal of the Old Testament. Thus it is not a proper name, but rather a title (= "lord").

Agenor, the other son of Libye, was king of Phoenician Tyros. With Telephassa he begat Europa, Kadmos, Phoinix, Kilix, Thasos and Phineus. When Zeus kidnapped Europa, he sent his sons after him, but they never returned. Since Telephassa was with her sons, he also lost his wife.

It is remarkable that not many details are told about Libye herself. This is due to the fact that she is not a genuinely Greek figure and that she was only later integrated into Greek mythology.

Etymology:
From Libye comes the name of present-day Libya. But at the beginning the Greek settlers only called the region west of the Nile Delta Libye, after the tribe of the African Libu (ancient Egyptian rbw, therefore also Rebu), who lived in the area of the Kyrenaika. Already in the oldest mention, in the Epinikion (victory song) for the Kyrenaian Telesikrates of Olympia, Libye appeared as an eponym (Pindar, 9th Pythian Ode).

With the expansion of the Greek settlement areas, the term Libye was also shifted further west by the Ionian geographers, until it not only encompassed North Africa west of the Nile, but became the name for all of Africa. Strabo knew the 3 continents Europe, Asia and Libye.

The today's name Africa was used first by Scipio Africanus (235 B.C.-183 B.C.), the victor over Carthage, and designated at first only the Roman province in today's Tunisia around Carthage. This name is derived from the Latin Afer (plural Afri) meaning "Africans, Punic" and may be derived from a native tribe called "cave dwellers". This would fit Herodotus, who wrote that the North African people of the Garamantes lived in caves. The Greeks called an African people who lived in caves Troglodytes.

Some history:
Early on, the ancient Egyptians had contacts with the Libyans. Toward the end of the Old Kingdom, the "light-skinned Libyans," who corresponded to today's Berbers, advanced along the Nile Valley. In the New Kingdom, under their prince Mereye, there was a great Libyan invasion by the Libu and the Meshevesh, who had allied themselves with the Sea Peoples, which led to heavy defensive fighting by the Egyptians under Ramses III, who were victorious (depictions in Medinet Habu and in the Harris papyrus). Some tribes were settled in Egypt. They assimilated and were popular as mercenaries. In 950 B.C. even a Libyan chieftain became Sheshonk I, king of Egypt and founder of the 22nd dynasty.

Sources:
(1) Apollodor, Bibliotheke
(2) Herodot, Historien
(3) Apollonios Rhodos, Argonautika
(4) Pindar, Olympia
(5) Strabo, Geographika

Literature:
(1) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches Mythologisches Lexikon
(2) Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon  der griechischen und 
       römischen Mythologie
(3) Robert von Ranke-Graves, Griechische Mythologie
(4) Karl  Kerenyi, Die Mythologie der Griechen
(5) Der Kleine Pauly

Online Sources:
(1) Wikipedia

Best regards
Jochen

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Re: Coins of mythological interest
« Reply #503 on: November 09, 2023, 05:34:22 am »
The struggle for the tripod

I would have loved to have this coin. But then the price exploded and rose to CHF 1500 + fee. So I was out of the running. Nevertheless, I would like to put it at the beginning of this article.

The coin:
Lakonia, Gytheion, Geta as Caesar, 197-209
AE 23, 4.19g, 240°
Obv.: ΛOΥ CEΠ ΓETAC KAI
         Bust, draped and cuirassed, bareheaded, n. r.
Rev: ΓΥΘ - Ε - ΑΤ - ΩΝ
        Herakles and Apollo fighting for the tripod
Ref.: from a Swedish collection; unpublished in the standard references
Nomos AG, Obolos 29, lot 463, 8.10.23

Note:
This coin refers to the founding myth of Gytheion, according to which Herakles and Apollo were reconciled after the struggle for the Tripod and founded the city together. According to Pausanias (3.21.8), the statues of Apollo and Herakles stood on the agora of Gytheion.

The struggle for the Tripod:
The story of the struggle for the Tripod actually begins with the murder of Iphitos. Iphitos, the son of King Eurytos and Antiope of Oichalia, was a well-meaning and helpful young man who had also been on the Argonaut voyage. Eurytus himself was the greatest known archer. It is even said that Herakles himself was his pupil (Apoll. Myth.). One day, when Herakles was courting his daughter Iole, Eurytus challenged him to a shooting contest, in which Herakles won. But Eurytus refused to hand Iole over to Heracles, even though Iphitus tried to persuade him.

When the cattle (or mares) were stolen from Eurytus shortly afterwards by Autolykos, it was believed that Herakles had done it out of revenge. But Iphitos defended him and even asked him to help him find the cattle. Herakles agreed and invited him to his inn at Tiryns as a guest. But then he fell into a rage again. He led Iphitos onto a wall so that he could keep a better lookout for the cattle and threw him off the wall to his death (Apollodoros).

When he came to his senses, he went to Delphi to ask the oracle how he could atone for this murder. But as a murderer, he was not allowed to enter the oracle itself. So he flew into a rage, grabbed the tripod on which the Pythia was sitting and hurried away with it. Apollo tried to prevent this, caught up with him and a fight broke out between the god and the Heros. Athena stood by Herakles, Artemis by Apollo. Zeus finally intervened to end the fight. He hurled a thunderbolt between the two, so that they parted and made peace. Afterwards, they are said to have founded the city of Gytheion together.

Nevertheless, Herakles could not avoid paying penance for the murder of his guest. Hermes sold him to Omphale on the slave market for 3 talents and he had to serve her as a slave for 3 years. The money was used to pay the children (or brothers) of Iphitos. But he had not forgotten the humiliation at the hands of Eurytus. Later he stormed Oichalia, killed Eurytus and his remaining sons and robbed Iole to marry her to his son Hyllos.

Background:
To understand the background to the struggle for the Tripod, we need to delve deeper into ancient cultural history. Apparently the Dorians (Herakles) tried to take possession of the Delphic shrine. The intervention of Zeus represents the decision that Apollo was allowed to keep his sanctuary, provided he served the Dorian interests as patron of the Dymanians (Ranke-Graves). The Dymanians belonged to the Dorian League. In the Classical Age, the Spartans, who were Dorians and called themselves "Sons of Heracles", controlled the Oracle of Delphi. In the peace treaty of Nicias in 421 BC, which brought the Peloponnesian War to a temporary end, the Athenian attempt to maintain Phocian sovereignty over Delphi was thwarted. This treaty was the prime example of a "rotten peace" because it did not eliminate the causes of the conflict and, in particular, took insufficient account of the interests of the Spartan allies.

In the 4th century, the dispute broke out again and the Phocians took possession of Delphi. They plundered its treasures in order to equip their army. However, they were defeated and all their cities destroyed. Plutarch, who was himself a Delphic priest, writes that Herakles only seized the Tripod in "friendly competition" with Apollo. Plutarch probably intended to settle the dispute between Apollo, the Phocian, and Herakles, the Dorian, out of "religious decency" (Ranke-Graves).

Art History:
I have added "Apollo and Herakles fighting over the Tripod", Attic red-figure krater, 490-460 BC,  attributed to Myson, Early Classical period, now in the British Museum London (theoi.com). This picture looks like a template for our coin.

Sources:
(1) Homer, Odyssee
(2) Apollodor, Bibliotheke
(3) Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica
(4) Thukydides, Geschichte des Peloponnesischen  Krieges
(5) Plutarch, Dialoge über das E zu Delphi  

Literature:
(1) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologiches Lexikon Leipzig 1770
(auch  online)
(2) Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und
römischen Mythologie (auch online)
(3) Karl  Kerenyi, Die Mythologie der Griechen
(4) Robert von Ranke-Graves, Griechische Mythologie
(5) Der Kleine Pauly

Online Sources:
(1) Wikipedia
(2) theoi.com

Best regards
Jochen

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Re: Coins of mythological interest
« Reply #504 on: December 21, 2023, 02:07:22 pm »
Dea Roma

Recently, a forum member asked me to explain to him what significance the goddess Roma had for the Romans. This has now resulted in the following article. It is difficult to write about more than a thousand years of history. I have therefore limited myself to what I considered to be essential.

The religion of the Roman state must be imagined as a kind of legal relationship in which the political community on the one side and the pantheon of Roman gods with Juppiter Optimus Maximus at the head on the other are opposed to each other. In itself, the dea Roma, which represents the community, has no right to exist in this totality (Wissowa). It is actually foreign to the Roman religion and was only "talked into" to the Romans by the Greeks (Preller). Greek historians even tried to weave it into the genealogy. For example, Rome was said to have been founded by an Arcadian Euander, whose daughter Roma gave the city its name (Servilius).

The influence of Greek can also be seen in the fact that the first coin ever to show an undisputed image of Roma was minted in Lokroi at the time of the war against Pyrrhos of Epiros. The depicted coin comes from CNG from the Mail Bid Sale 60 of 22 May 2002

Coin #1:
Bruttium, Lokroi Epizephyrioi. ca. 275-270 BC.
AR - stater, 7.24g
Obv.: Laureated head of Zeus l.
           Below monogram NE
Rev.: left [PΩMA], right [ΠIΣTIΣ]
          in ex [ΛΟΚPΩN]
         Roma seated r., crowned by Pistis
Ref.: SNG ANS 531; SNG Lloyd 645; SNG Copenhagen 1867; SNG Munich 1499; HN Italy 2347; Franke-Hirmer pl. 101, 293; Jameson 449; de Nanteuil 323

This rare coin was probably struck shortly after the Battle of Beneventum, which was so disastrous for Pyrrhos and his allies. Pistis is "faith, trust". This now also refers to the Locrians, who entered into an alliance with the Romans.

It is true that there was a whole series of coins in the Republic at the time of the 1st Punic War and then during the war against Pyrrhos with the portrait of a warlike Amazon with a helmet. However, their identification as Roma is disputed. There were also other helmeted deities in the Roman pantheon, such as Bellona or Minerva, although Minerva was never as warlike as the Greek Athena. According to Mellor, it is more of a genius than a goddess. Roscher, however, is of the opinion that the head with a winged helmet must be Roma and that this depiction begins as early as 312 BC, when Rome had risen to become the dominant power in central Italy. Only a victorious, personified Roma would fit in with this. At the beginning, she often wore a Phrygian helmet, which was possibly intended to emphasise the Romans' descent from the Trojans. Clear depictions in which Roma is named only appeared later in the Roman Republic.

Coin #2:
Roman Republic, Porcius Laeca, gens Porcia
AR - denarius, 3.75g, 19.35mm, 225°
        Rome, 110-109 BC
Obv.: Head of Roma with winged helmet, r.
          above ROMA, behind P.LAECA
          under the chin X (value mark)
Rev: Male figure in military dress (military commander), with boots and short sword in his 
         belt standing half-left, head to the left, holding his raised right hand over the head of
         a citizen in toga, who is standing to the right and gesticulating with his hands; behind
         him an assistant (lictor?) walking to the left, holding a long rod in his right hand and 2
         more in his left.
         In the ex PROVOCO
Ref.: Crawford 301/1; Sydenham 178; Porcia 4

As Rome's power grew in the East, more and more cities expressed their subservience to Rome by establishing a cult of Roma. The cult of Roma was closely linked to the imperial cult, and in the Hellenistic East, cities built temples dedicated to Roma and Augustus at the same time after receiving imperial authorisation. The first temple to Roma was built in Smyrna in 159 BC, and Smyrna boasted of it to Rome (Tacitus, Ann.). Smyrna was the Romans' oldest ally in Asia Minor. However, Hederich speaks of "servile flattery against the Romans".

Coin #3:
Mysia, Pergamon, pseudo-autonomous, late 1st - mid 2nd cent.
AE 17, 3.4g, 17.29mm, 0°
Ov.: ΘEON CVN - KΛHTON
        Bust of youthful senate, draped, r.
Rev.: ΘEAN PΩ - MHN
         Bust of Roma, draped and with mural crown, r.
Ref.: BMC 205; Sear 4910; SNG Post 182 (1 specimen);
         cf. Fritze Pergamon vol. 3, 18 (2 ex.)
very rare, SS
In 1827 a larger hoard of these coins was found near Pergamon.

However, we must realise that Roma was not an object of divine worship for the Romans for a long time. It only entered the circle of city gods when Hadrian founded the city temple. This was a double temple that was dedicated to Venus and Roma together and through which Roma was first divinised. She was depicted like Athena Polias in a long robe, with a shield, spear and helmet modelled on the statue by Phidias. The temple was consecrated in 135 AD and 21 April, the supposed founding day of the city of Rome, was also celebrated as her birthday in the provinces until the late imperial period. A new priesthood, the XII viri Urbis Romae, was probably appointed for the new deity at the same time.

I have added a picture that shows shows the view across the Forum towards the Colosseum. Directly to the west are the remains of the Temple of Venus and Roma, the largest temple in ancient Rome. It was destroyed by an earthquake in the 9th century. (Photo: Daryl Mitchell, Wikiwand)

The designation Romae aeternae can be found on imperial coins. While the gods are immortales who cannot die because they have an immortal body, just as humans have a mortal one, aeternal denotes a disembodied being that is only conceivable as an abstraction (Roscher).

Coin #4:
Licinius II, Caesar, 315-326
AE 19, 3.09g, 0°
Rome, 1st Offizin, 320
Obv.: LICINIVS IVN NOB C
          Bust, draped and cuirassed, laureate, r.
Rev.: ROMAE A - ETERNAE
         Roma with helmet seated r.on a shield, holding a shield on her knees with her left hand
         and writing X / V on it
       in section R EPωC P
Ref.: RIC VII, Rome 199 corr. (writes: seated l.)
very rare (R4), F+

Note:
EPωC (Greek) is the Latin AMOR, the palindrome of ROMA. ROMA-AMOR was a popular play on words.

In 307 AD, the temple was destroyed by a great fire. Maxentius (306-312) celebrated the rebuilding of the temple on several coins. He always calls Rome urbs sua (= his city)

Coin #5:
Maxentius, 306-312, son of Maximianus
AE - Follis, 24.52mm, 6.1g
        Rome, 4th office, 308-310
Obv.: IMP C MAXENTIVS P F AVG
          laureate head r.
Rev.: CONSERV - VRB SVAE
          Hexastyle Stemple, therein Roma, helmeted, seated l., holding sceptre in left hand, in
          outstretched right hand globe with victoriola crowning her with a wreath; next to her
          a shield(?); architrave decorated with wavy line and dots; in the pediment 2 figures         
          and dots; in the pediment 2 figures, on the left Juppiter with eagle sceptre, on the
          right Hercules leaning on a club, the two outer hands outstretched; in the left angle
          upper body of a river god (Tiber?), in the right angle Sol with globe to the right; as
          Acroteria  on the left a wreath, on the right a male figure with a long torch
         in ex RBQ
Ref.: RIC VI, Rome 208 var.(?); Victor Failmezger, Roman Bronze Coins 294-364 AD, no.
         127iM3, notes 179, 183; C. cf. 34; Drost, Monayage de Maxence, p. 310, no. 93, 5th
         issue (1 ex., Milano 5572), image 89d/3 (this coin!)

The role of Roma was played out when Rome ceased to be the capital of the empire and Constantinople took its place; occasionally both city goddesses still appear on coins side by side as rivals; then later dea Roma has to give way to the Tyche of Constantinople (Roscher).
My last coin shows the personification of Constantinopolis sitting frontally, helmeted like dea Roma used to be. The only difference is that her right foot is standing on the prora of a ship, as a sign that Constantinopolis, unlike Rome, has direct access to the sea.

Coin #6:
Honorius, 393-423
AU - solidus, 4.47g, 21mm 180°                   
        Constantinopolis, 7th Offizin, 402-ca. 403
Obv.: D N HONORI - VS P F AVG
           helmeted, laureate head with pearl diadem, armoured 3/4 bust r., with shouldered
           lance r. and with oval shield in front of left shoulder, on which horseman (emperor?)
           riding down an enemy, helmet in front with eagle(?)                 
Rev:: CONCORDI - A AVGGG
          draped, helmeted Constantinopolis seated frontally and facing right, right foot on
          Prora, holding sceptre in right hand and  in the left hand a globe with Victoriola, facing
          the deity and crowning her with a wreath
         in the left field a star, below right an inverted Z
         in ex CONOB
Ref.: RIC X , Arcadius 24; Cohen

Ronald Mellor, however, writes in the introduction to his work on Roma that "the name Roma as personification, as goddess or as symbol ranges from classical Greece to Mussolini's fascist propaganda ... Roma has been seen as a goddess, a wh**e, a near-saint and a symbol of civilisation itself. She remains the oldest continuous politico-religious symbol of Western civilisation."

Sources:
(1) Livy, Ab urbe condita
(2) Tacitus, Annals
(3) New Testament

Literature:
(1) Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Literatur
(2) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches Lexikon der Mythologie
(3) Ronald J. Mellor, The Goddess Roma, 1991 

Online sources:
(1) Wildwinds
(2) Wikipedia

Wish you a Merry Christmas
Jochen

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Re: Coins of mythological interest
« Reply #505 on: February 09, 2024, 03:14:16 pm »
The sea monster Ketos

We have already encountered Ketos: In the mythology of Perseus and Andromeda and in the legend of Troy.  Here he is the focus of this article.

The coin:
Caria, Halicarnassos (formerly placed to Kindya), ca. 500-495 BC.
AR - Diobol (Milesian standard), 1.78g, 11.57mm
Av.: Head of Ketos to the right.
Rv: Inkus with star-shaped pattern in lattice frame
Ref.: Kagan&Kritt, NC 1995, 1 var. (head n. l.); SNG Keckman 920 var. (head n. l.); Asyut 688; SNG Kayhan 815

Ketos (Greek κητος) is not the name of a specific sea monster, but is used to name various different sea monsters. We find it on many ancient vase paintings. It is usually depicted with a snake-like body and a dog-like head. Lycophron refers to the Trojan Ketos directly as a dog.
 
We distinguish between the following:

(1) The Aithiopian Ketos (Ketos Aithiopios)
When Kassiopeia, the wife of King Kepheus of Aithiopia (probably the land of the Nubians), considered herself (or her daughter Andromeda) more beautiful than the Nereids, the sea nymphs, Poseidon was so enraged that he sent the sea monster Ketos to devastate Aithiopia. In their distress, Kepheus and Kassiopeia turned to the oracle of Ammon, who advised him to chain their daughter Andromeda to a rock by the sea and sacrifice her to the monster. There she was discovered by Perseus, who made Kepheus and Kassiopeia an offer to save their daughter if they would give her to him in marriage. Andromedea herself agreed and Perseus killed Ketos with his sickle (harpa). Andromeda gave him her son Perses, who became Kepheus' successor after his death. Kepheus, Kassiopeia, Andromeda, Perseus and even the monster Ketos were transferred to the starry sky by Athena after their deaths.

Pliny reports that the bones of Ketos, who was killed by Perseus, were brought from Joppa to Rome by Marcus Scaurus. Jerome (347-430), however, reports that the bones were still on display in Joppa at his time.

Picture #1 shows the detail of a Corinthian black-figure amphora by an unknown artist, 575-550 BC, found in Cerveteri, now in the Altes Museum Berlin. The scene shows Perseus throwing stones at Ketos.

This is the oldest known depiction of the mythology of Perseus and Andromeda. It is evidently based on a Babylonian scroll seal depicting the battle between Marduk and the Babylonian sea goddess Tiamat. The unknown Greek artist seems to have had no idea of Babylonian mythology. He therefore interpreted the stars in the background of the seal as stones 

Picture #2: Babylonian scroll seal with the battle between Marduk and Tiamat

(2) The Trojan Ketos (Ketos of Troy)
Zeus had condemned Poseidon and Herakles to build the walls of Troy because of a conspiracy against him. But Laomedon, the 2nd king of Troy and father of Priamos, refused to pay them the promised reward. Poseidon then sent Ketos, a sea monster that wreaked terrible havoc. According to the oracle, the monster could only be appeased by the sacrifice of Hesione, the daughter of Laomedon. Laomedon offered his immortal horses as the price for saving his daughter. Herakles came forward and succeeded in killing the beast with a fishhook or a hail of arrows and freeing Hesione. However, he did not marry her himself, but gave her to his friend Telamon as his wife. However, Laomedon did not give him the promised prize of immortal horses, whereupon Herakles killed his entire family and, at Hesione's request, left only Priamos alive.

Picture #3 shows the detail of a Corinthian black-figure krater by an unknown artist, archaic, mid 6th century BC, now in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The scene shows Herakles and Hesione fighting Ketos (theoi.com).

As this mythology already appears in the Iliad (ca. 800 BC), it appears to be older than that of Perseus and Andromeda.  In this oldest known depiction, the head of Ketos resembles a skull. There are therefore speculations that the mythology of Ketos is based on the discovery of a fossil.

(3) The Ketos of Lykophron
In Tzetzes ad Lykophron we hear of another version before Troy: here the Ketos had devoured Herakles, so that he had to spend 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the monster. Only when Heracles had completely cut and torn apart the monster's innards the hero was released. According to Vossius (De theologia gentili), this story was then taken over by Jonas and the whale!

Picture #4 shows an early Christian floor mosaic from the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta in Aquileia (4th century). Here it is a serpent-like monster that is devouring Jonas as he is thrown overboard. In the Gospel of Matthew, the Greek term for it is κητος. The story of Jonas was probably incorporated into the mosaic at a later date. It is assumed that there were thermal baths here before. 

Aristotle was the first to use Ketos to describe real whales. After Ketos (lat. Cetus) the mammal class of whales is called Cetacea today.

Note:
Gerhard Johannes Vossius (1577-1649), born in Heidelberg, was a Dutch scholar, humanist and theologian. He was a professor in Leiden and then rector of the grammar school in Amsterdam. He also wrote about poetry, mythology and maths. The so-called 2nd antonomasia is called the Vossian after him. This refers to the reduction of a characteristic or a thing to a well-known main representative, e.g. "Judas" for "traitor".

Sources:
(1) Homer, Iliad
(2) Hesiod, Theogony
(3) Ovid, Metamorphoses
(4) Apollodorus, Bibliotheke
(5) Scholion to Apoll.  Rhod.
(6) Pausanias, Periegesis
(7) Nonnus, Dionysiaka
(8) Pliny, naturae historia
(9) Eusebius Jerome, Epistulae
(10) Joannes Tzetzes, ad Lykophron
(11) The Old Testament, Jonas
(12) Novum Testamentum Graece

Literature:
(1) Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon
der griechischen und römischen Mythologie
(2) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon
(3) Der Kleine Pauly
(4) Hans-Joachim Hoeft, Münzen und antike Mythology - Reise
in ein fernes Land, 2011

Online sources:
(1) theoi.com
(5) Wikipedia

Best regards
Jochen

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Re: Coins of mythological interest
« Reply #506 on: February 28, 2024, 01:21:19 pm »
Some notes on Tranquillitas

Etymology:
tranquillus is Latin for "calm, quiet". It possibly comes from trans = "over" in its intensifying meaning "extremely" and an adjective from the Proto-Indo-European root *kweie- "to be calm". However, the etymologist de Vaan is of the opinion that this is "semantically unclear" and phonetically controversial.

(1) Its oldest meaning probably refers to the sea and it is the personification of the calmness of the sea. Marble round altars from the 1st century AD were found at Porto Anzio near Antium/Italy and are now in the Musei Capitolini. They bear the inscription ara Tranquillitatis and ara Ventorum and are decorated with images of a calmly sailing ship with skippers and the prora of a ship. Tranquillitas here means safety against sea storms. 

(2) Tranquillitatis appears on coins from Hadrian and Antoninus Pius onwards.

Coin #1
Antoninus Pius, AD 138 - 161
AR - Denarius, 3.27g, 18.0mm, 180°
         Rome, 148-149
Obv.: IMP CAES T AEL HADR ANTONINVS PIVS P P
          laureate head r.
Rev.: TR POT XIIII COS III
          Tranquillitas, draped and diademed, standing frontal, head r., holding rudder on   
          ground in right hand and a pair of grain ears in left hand
          in ex.: TRANQ
Ref.: RIC III, 202b; C. 825 (there without PIVS, an oversight!); BMC 736
Scarce, EF

Tranquillitas is depicted here with the attributes of Annona. Modius and Prora also appear on coins. She is thus the personification of security of the res publica and the security of the Roman grain supply, which is of course due to the emperor. On coins of Hadrian - and later of Gallienus - she is leaning on a pillar, the symbol of security, and is thus related to Securitas.

Wissowa, however, emphasises that coin images alone do not yet entitle us to see her as a goddess like Securitas

(3) Under Philip I Arabs we find a new depiction of Tranquillitas.

Coin #2:
Philip I Arabs, AD 244-249
AR - Antoninianus (billon), 22.94mm, 4.03g, 0°
         Rome, 248
Obv.: IMP PHILIPPVS AVG
          Bust, draped and cuirassed, radiate, r. 
Rev.: TRANQVILLITAS AVGG
          Tranquillitas standing frontal, head l., leaning on long sceptre with raised left
           hand and holding capricorn in outstretched right hand
           in lower left field B
Ref.: RIC 9b; C. 223; RCV 8968; RSC 223; MRK 74/27
R1, almost EF

Although there was at least a period of relative stability during this turbulent period under Philip the Arabian, the legend TRANQULLITAS AGG certainly refers here to the two emperors, Philip and his son, personally and thus denotes the quality of the emperors themselves. Here it must be seen as an imperial virtue, like pietas, nobilitas or virtus.

Eusebius of Caesarea speaks of Philip Arabs as the first Christian Roman emperor, which is certainly not true because there is no other evidence for this. As usual, he will have been a representative of the state religion, with sacrifices and the observance of state holidays.

But tranquillitas is also the translation of the Greek γαληνη (galene), which means calmness of the sea, but also tranquillity of the soul, the quality of not allowing oneself to be distracted from one's chosen goal by external strokes of fate. Under the Stoics Cicero and Seneca, tranquillitas animi is fused with ataraxia. This makes γαληνη, like ataraxia, a desirable character trait, one of the main goals of the Stoic view of man. The legend on this coin undoubtedly speaks in favour of this reference: Tranquillitas is a stoic attitude. However, I have not been able to find any reference to the Stoa in Philipp Arabs.

(4) Tranquillitas then reappears as a legend on coins from Licinius to Constantine II, now in the form Beata Tranquillitas together with the type globe on altar.

Coin #3
Constantine I the Great, AD 307-337
AE - AE 3 (follis), 19.45mm, 3.17g, 180°
         Trier, 1st Offizin, 321
Obv.: CONSTAN - TINVS AVG
          Bust, with consular mantle (trabea), eagle sceptre in right hand, laureate, r.
Rev.: BEATA TRAN - QVILLITAS
          Large altar with inscription VOT / IS / XX, above globe and 3 stars.  Globe
          decorated with 4 vertical lines and a horizontal ladder band.
          in ex. *PTR
Ref.: RIC VII, Trier 305
almost EF

Note:
The coin comes from the Langtoft Hoard B, buried ca. 325 AD near a road that ran through Langtoft/East Yorkshire, discovered on 24 Sept. 2000. It contained 924 coins, mostly reduced folles of the Constantinian family. Most were sold at auction by DNW (Dix Noonan Webb) in 2002.

The message on this coin - blissful tranquillity - is again similar to Hadrian's: it emphasises the peaceful security of the Roman Empire. The emperor is the embodiment of tranquillity and peace. But here Tranquillitas is only the pure concept, no longer even a personification (Roscher).

(5) In late Roman times, Tranquillitas even became the emperor's title (Pauly). "Tranquillitas tua" is found in Eutropius, Codex Theodosianus, Codex Iustinianus and Hilarius (Roscher) as a form of address to the emperor.

There is no entry for Tranquillitas in Hederich, because she is basically not a mythological figure!

Sources:
(1) Seneca, De vita beata
(2) Eutropius, Breviarium ab urbe condita

Literature:
(1) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologischesmLexikon, Leipzig 1770 (also online)
(2) Wilhelm-Heinrich Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie (also online) 
(3) Der Kleine Pauly
(4) Michiel de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Brill 2008
(5) Der kleine Stowasser, Lateinisch-deutsches Schulwörterbuch, München 1960

Best regards
Jochen

Offline Jochen

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Re: Coins of mythological interest
« Reply #507 on: February 28, 2024, 01:54:21 pm »
Excursus: The Stoa

The Stoa is an important philosophical movement of antiquity that was founded around 300 BC by Zeno of Kilion (not to be confused with the sceptic Zeno of Elea!). Its name goes back to a promenade hall on the Agora in Athens, the στοα ποικιλη (stoa poikile, Greek for colourful vestibule), in which the older Stoics held their lessons in public because they did not have enough money for their own school.

The Stoa is a materialistic philosophy that views nature as rational. And just as everything in nature can be explained rationally, every human action must also be based on reason. This applies not only to physics and natural science, but especially to ethics, where virtue can be taught. The Logos (reason), which is presented as the finest matter, permeates the whole world and every human being. Apart from the Logos, there is no other general active principle.

Since the Stoa existed for centuries, it is understandable that it developed in different directions. Thus one cannot speak of a philosophical school, but rather of a philosophical movement. It is usually divided into the older Stoa, to which Zeno, Kleanthes and Chrysippus belong, the younger Stoa with Panaitios and Poseidonios, and the imperial Stoa, whose main representatives are Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. The works of the younger Stoics have almost all been preserved, those of the older ones only through quotations from other writers.

Logos was at the centre of their philosophy. It is therefore understandable that the Stoics were intensively concerned with logic.  They further developed the propositional logic of the Megarian philosophers Diodorus and Philon (material implication) and founded the first formally precise propositional calculus, which forms the basis for today's computer logic. In 1935, the great Polish logician Lukasiewicz was the first to recognise the independent character and value of Stoic logic.

As all cognition takes place in language, they became the founders of systematic linguistics. They studied grammar and developed the theory of declension and tense. In doing so, they trained dialectics and rhetoric.

In ethics, their primary goal was to place people in the natural world, which was permeated by the Logos, and not to allow themselves to be led astray by their feelings. The focus was therefore on self-knowledge, without which there was no path to eudaimonia (the happy life).

With the rise of Christianity, the Stoa lost importance. It was not until the Renaissance that its ideas were taken up again. Descartes and Leibniz, for example, were influenced by the Stoa. Immanuel Kant's ethics were also influenced by Stoicism. Frederick the Great's famous saying "I am the first servant of my state" could have originated from Marcus Aurelius.

I have added a pic of the ruins of the Stoa poikile from 1991 (Wikimedia)

Literature:
(1) Der Kleine Pauly
(2) Regenbogen/Meyer, Dictionary of Philosophical Terms, WBG 1998   
(3) Jan Lukasiewicz, On the history of propositional logic, 1935
(4) J.  M. Bochensky, Formal Logic, Alber 1956
(5) Gemoll, Griechisch-deutsches Schul- und Handwörterbuch, 1955

Best regards
Jochen

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Re: Coins of mythological interest
« Reply #508 on: March 22, 2024, 05:09:49 am »
The Lion and the Bull

A word beforehand: a new article is always a great adventure. As a rule, I know nothing about the subject beforehand. It is always the coin that has aroused my interest and I am curious about the result of my research. If I think it might interest others, I post the article here. It started with this coin, but then grew into a big article: 

Coin #1:
Phoenicia, Byblos, King Ajnel, 350-333 BC.
AR - 1/16 shekel, 0.77g, 10.32mm, 135°
         struck 333 BC
Av.: Galley with lion-headed figure on prow and manned by 2 hoplites to l., below
        winged hippocampus to l.
Rev: Lion to l. attacking bull
         above Phoenician from r. to l.: AJNEL MLK GBL (Ajnel King of Gebal)
Ref.: BMC 8

Byblos:
Byblos is one of the longest inhabited places in the world.  From 2026 BC it had its own kings, many of whose names are known from inscriptions or coins. It was an export centre for cedar wood to Egypt and its city kings became vassals of the Egyptian pharaohs. After the Assyrians and Babylonians, it came under the rule of the Achaemenids, whose empire extended as far as Libya.

Ajnel, ca. 450-333, was the last king of Byblos before it opened up to Alexander the Great without resistance. In Phoenician it was called Gebal. It has been a World Heritage Site since 1984.

In Hellenistic times, it was the main export centre for papyrus. The Greeks then referred to a papyrus roll as biblion, which is the origin of our word Bible. Between the 18th and 15th centuries BC, Byblos developed its own hieroglyphic script, the Byblos script. It contains around 90 different characters, which speaks in favour of a syllabic script. It became extinct and has nothing to do with the Phoenician alphabet, which was used in the Levant from the 11th to the 5th century. The Byblos script has not yet been deciphered.

Picture #1: Ancient port in Byblos (Leon Petrosyan, Wikimedia)

Even better known as these coins from Byblos are coins with the lion-bull motif from Tarsos from the same period:

Coin #2:
Cilicia, Tarsos, Mazaios, Persian satrap of Cilicia, 361/0-334 BC.
AR stater, 9.94g, 24.86mm, 225°
Obv.: Baaltars seated l., holding a long sceptre in his raised left hand and an eagle, ears of grain and a bunch of grapes in his outstretched right hand. 
      r. Aramaic from bottom to top B'LTRZ
Rev.Lion attacking bull, above Aramaic from r. to l. MZDY,  below KM
Ref.: SNG Levante 101; SNG France 335
Pedigree:
ex Palladium Numismatics

Note:
Mazaeus was Persian satrap of Cilicia from around 361 BC and was also appointed satrap of Transeuphratia (which included Syria and Judaea) around 345 BC. In 331 BC, Mazaeus was defeated by Alexander the Great at the Battle of Gaugamela and fled to Babylon. Later that year, Mazaeus surrendered Babylon, the capital of the Persian Empire, to Alexander. Because he had surrendered without a fight, Alexander appointed Mazaeus as governor of Babylon. He died in 328 BC (Ibarra Collection, Vcoins).

Baaltars (Baal of Tarsus) was the patron god of Tarsus and appeared on coins of the Persian satraps of Cilicia in Tarsus before the conquest by Alexander the Great.

This motif was taken up again by the Romans. There are tetradrachms of Hadrian from Tarsus showing the lion-bull motif, but also later bronze coins of Gordian III or Trajan Decius.

Coin #3: 
Tarsos, Gordian III, SNG Levante 1141, Numismatik Naumann

The lion hunt
While the ancient Greeks no longer knew any lions - bones that have been found date from the late Neolithic and early Iron Age - things were quite different in Mesopotamia. In the Epic of Gilgamesh (oldest version 1800-1595 BC), the lion is described as "perfect in strength". Lion hunting has played a prominent role there since ancient times. Assur-Bel-Kala (1073-1056 BC King of the Assyrian Empire) writes that Ninurta and Nergal, his patron gods, "because they loved him", gave him the wild animals and ordered him to hunt them. In his 2nd year of reign alone, he killed 300 lions and 6 wild bulls. This hunt was an expression of his royal power and was intended for his people, his vassals and his enemies. It had nothing sporting about it, but something religious and was a ritual act. As the victor, their powers were transferred to the king, the "Master of the Animals", who then also referred to himself as a lion (according to Ashurnasipal II, 883-859 BC)   

After the conquest of the Persian Empire, Alexander the Great, like many others, adopted lion hunting as a royal symbol. During a lion hunt in Syria in 331 BC, he was only saved by the intervention of Krateros, one of his generals. This event was depicted by Lysipp and Leochares in a bronze sculpture for Delphi. Successors such as Lysimachus adopted this tradition, claiming to follow in Alexander's footsteps.

The wild animals represented the forces of the universe and were an expression of both evil and good, attack and defence. This can be seen most beautifully in the reliefs on the walls of the Processional Way and the Ishtar Gate in Babylon, which were erected in their final form under Nebuchadnezzar II (c. 640-562 BC). They had an apotropaic protective function and consisted of lions, bulls and Mushussu serpent dragons, which symbolised Ishtar, the wind god Adad and Marsuk:

Picture #2: Lion of the Ishtar Gate, Pergamon Museum
Picture #3 Bull of the Ishtar Gate, Pergamon Museum
Picture #4 Mushussu snake dragon from the Ishtar Gate, Pergamon Museum

After the excavations in Babylon by Koldewey and others, the artefacts were brought to Berlin and in 1902 the first parts were put together. Walter Andrae succeeded in making the reconstructed Ishtar Gate and parts of the Processional Way accessible to the public in the Pergamon Museum in 1930. In the meantime, Iraq is demanding the exhibits back from Berlin (probably to have them destroyed in the civil war there?).

(to be continued)

Offline Jochen

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Re: Coins of mythological interest
« Reply #509 on: March 22, 2024, 05:23:25 am »
The Lion and the Bull (continuation)

The Lion and Bull motif:
If you trace the origins of this impressive motif, you will inevitably come to Persepolis, the capital of the Achaemenid Empire. Persepolis was founded in 520 BC by Darius I as the "Throne of Jamshid" and destroyed by Alexander the Great in 330 BC. Today Persepolis is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The largest palace is the Apadana, the audience hall of Darius I. The side staircases are decorated with marvellous bas-reliefs.

Picture #5: Bas-relief from the front staircase of the palace

What catches the eye is that the two Babylonian tutelary deities attack each other here! This has always puzzled scientists looking for explanations. This is one of the oldest mythological symbols of great symbolic power and scope, which has been passed on from culture to culture. It is the image of the fundamental forces of life and death united in a terrible battle. It has been shown that this scene is difficult to interpret.

M.G.S. Hodgson (1964) writes that symbols live and change in the course of history. Once they have become established, they can move from context to context and be used for different purposes. Symbols can also die, or be desacralised. Then they still serve as an aesthetic form in a misunderstood tradition.

Hartner and Ettinghausen took up this idea in 1964. I would like to try to present it here:   

(1) The lion-bull battle as an astronomical symbol
This motif is known to be 4000 years old and we have to put ourselves in that time. At that time, agrarian society was extremely dependent on the seasons. Determining the exact time of sowing and harvesting was essential for survival. I am reminded of the "Nebra Sky Disc", which is estimated to be over 4000 years old. There are countless depictions of bulls, lions, scorpions and other figures, which refer to constellations, which can be recognised by the fact that they are accompanied by celestial symbols such as dots, stars or rosettes

They are therefore astronomical or astrological symbols. However, we must bear in mind that these are the constellations of 4000 years ago, which looked different than they do today due to the precessional movement of the earth. The solar year was organised according to the times of the heliacal rising or setting  of particularly conspicuous stars.

The Pleiades, which belong to the constellation Taurus, and Leo with its brightest star, the Regulus (α Leonis), = king (sic!), were particularly important in all cultures. In Persepolis in 4000 BC, the Pleiades and Regulus signalled the spring equinox and the highest position of the sun (summer solstice) with their heliacal risings.

In the first half of February, the Babylonian constellations "Wage labourer (luhun.gd)" and "Plough (mulAPIN)" had their heliacal rising, indicating the beginning of ploughing, harrowing and sowing after the winter solstice. At this time, 10 February, the Pleiades, the leading stars of Taurus, had their heliacal setting, they became invisible until they could be seen again 40 days later (heliacal rising) and indicated the spring equinox. Exactly at the time of the Pleiades' setting, the constellation Leo was exactly at the zenith in Persepolis and Regulus (King) was only 8° from the zenith.

This makes the interpretation of our motif self-evident: the triumphant lion stands directly above the observer's head, shows the peak of its power and destroys the bull, "which tries in vain to escape below the horizon" (Hartner).

Only 40 days later will he reappear and regain his power, while that of Leo wanes until he has his heliacal demise (Regulus on 5 May). The cycle then begins anew on 10 February of the following year.

Due to the precession, the "battle between Leo and Taurus" had shifted in the sky at the time of the Achaemenids and now took place one week after the vernal equinox. In the calendar, this date was now reinterpreted as the beginning of the luni-solar year and the Nowraz, the great Persian New Year and spring festival.

(2) The victorious lion as a symbol of political and military power
Although there are proud inscriptions in Persepolis in which Xerxes proclaims his divine calling and his rule over "the far-reaching earth", there are no other royal depictions, which is strange. But the depictions of the lion fight are found as a leitmotif sixteen times in various places, right next to depictions of the royal guards. It would be most appropriate to understand these scenes as emblems of royal power. This is in keeping with Ernst Herzfeld's opinion that although the depictions on the Apadana steps originally had an astronomical meaning, "on the other hand, this configuration almost has the character of a coat of arms. The symbol has become a heraldic emblem."

Picture #6: Bronze disc of Sargon II, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

In 1950, Edith Porada described a bronze disc from Khorsabad, which is said to be the shield hump of the Assyrian king Sargon II (731-705 BC). Here the ruler has transformed himself into a lion triumphing over the mighty bull. This can also be found similarly on an embroidered tunic of Assurnasirpal (9th century) 

(3) The victorious lion as a religious motif

Picture #7: Tableau (Photo: Dr Hamit Zübeyr Kosay)

A calligraphic tableau from the 8th century, today in the Ethnographic Museum in Ankara, shows the fight between a lion and a dragon, which comes very close to the fight between a lion and a bull. On the right is a text in Persian script:

"Killing the bad nafs in the body is
not the work of the (worldly) leader (or prince).
Tearing the snake in the cradle to pieces is
the work of Haydar ('Ali, actually lion)"


Nafs in Sufism are the souls, of which there are different levels. The text points out that the bad nafs can only be killed in transcendence, so it is meant religiously, here in the spirit of Sufism.

(4) The transformation into a decorative design

Picture #8: Scraper (Photo: L. A. Mayer Memorial Collection)

The final stage in the life cycle of the symbol is reached in this 12th-13th century scraper for removing calloused skin after bathing. The design has descended from its religious heights to profane use. Only the celestial symbol under the bull is an echo from its oldest past, whose true meaning has finally been forgotten (Hartner/Ettunghausen).

However, this cultural decline in the meaning of the symbol does not depend on the lower social class, as one might think. On the contrary, we tend to find this last stage in the later period among the "wealthier", as we can see from the following decorative plate, which dates from the Ottoman period around 1600 and is now in the Berlin State Museums.

Picture #9: Decorative plate

This plate no longer sends out a message, whether astrological, religious or political. With its floral elements, bright colours and sweeping movement, it appeals to our aesthetic sensibilities. It is simply beautiful to look at.

And now we can also answer the question that I have been putting off: Which group do the images on our coins belong to? They are certainly not meant to be astronomical or astrological, nor are they merely decorative. They have a political meaning and are intended to demonstrate the power of the ruler!

Sources:
(1) Epic of Gilgamesh

Literature:
(1) Hartner/Ettinghausen, The Conquering lion, the Life Cycle as Symbol,  Oriens Vol. 17, 31.12.1964
(2) Lion and Bull: Old Iranian Mythological Symbol, Financial Tribune (Iranian)
(3) Krzysztof Ulanowski, The Metaphor of the Lion in Mesopotamian and Greek Civilization, in Mesopotamia in the Ancient World, 2015
(4) Chikako E. Watanabe, The Symbolic Role of Ani-mals in Babylon: A contextual Approach to the Lion, the Bull and the Musussu, Iraq, Vol. 77, Issue 1, 2015
(5) Vijay Sathe, The Lion-Bull Motifs of Persepolis: The Zoogeographic Context, IRANIAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES 2:1 (2012)
(6) Kiersten Neumann, Tracking the Lion & Bull of Persepolis, News&Notes, Issue 245, Spring 2020
(7) Marshall G. S. Hodgson, Islam and Image, History of Religions III, 1964

Online-Quellen:
(1) https://www.thecollector.com/fascinating-facts-from-the-bas-reliefs-of-persepolis/
(2) https://iranicaonline.org/articles/persepolis
(4) Wildwinds
(5) Wikipedia

The b/w photos are all from Hartner/Ettinghausen

Kind regards
Jochen

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Re: Coins of mythological interest
« Reply #510 on: March 22, 2024, 09:36:28 am »
A great read Jochen.  Thanks!

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Re: Coins of mythological interest
« Reply #511 on: March 22, 2024, 11:00:14 am »
Excellent, and educational, piece of work Jochen.

Alex

 

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