07. Adoptive Emperors to the Constantine Dynasty
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DN CONSTANTINVS PF AVG
New photo of one of my first coins. From an uncleaned lot.
I never did get around to attributing it!Jay GT4
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Antoninus Pius ItaliaANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III
Laureate head right
ITALIA
Italia, towered, seated l. on globe, holding cornucopiae and sceptre.
3.12g
Rome 140-143
RIC 73c. BMC 214
Ex-Pella Coins and AntiquitiesJay GT4
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CaracallaANTONINVS PIVS AVG
Laureate head of Caracalla right
LAETITIA TEMPORVM
The spina of the Circus Maximus decorated as a ship facing l., with the turning posts at its prow and stern, a sail mounted on the central obelisk, and the spina's other monuments visible in between; above the ship, four quadrigas racing l.; below, seven animals: an ostrich at l. and bear at r.; between them a lion and a lioness chasing a wild ass and a panther attacking a bison.
Rome 206 AD
3.34g
Ex-Londinium coins, Ex Professor K.D. White with original envelope.
Sear 6813, RIC 157, BMCRE 257, CSS 793
Very rare! Only 2 examples in the Reka Devnia hoard
Better in hand
Notes by Curtis Clay:
This famous type commemorates the chariot races and animal hunt that took place on the seventh and final day of Severus' Saecular Games in 204 AD, as described in the inscriptional acts of those games which were found in Rome in the 1870s and 1930s. According to the acts, after three days of sacrifices and three days of honorary stage shows, Severus and Caracalla held circus games on the seventh day, consisting of chariot races and then a hunt of 700 beasts, 100 each of "lions, lionesses, panthers, bears, bisons, wild asses, ostriches". Dio Cassius describes the same hunt, adding the detail that the cage from which the animals were discharged was formed like a boat: "The entire receptacle in the theater had been fashioned in the shape of a boat and was capable of receiving or discharging four hundred beasts at once; and then, as it suddenly fell apart, there came rushing forth bears, lionesses, panthers, lions, ostriches, wild asses, bisons, so that 700 beasts in all, both wild and domesticated, at one and the same time were seen running about and were slaughtered. For to correspond with the duration of the festival, which lasted seven days, the number of the animals was also seven times one hundred." In Dio's text this passage follows directly on his account of Severus' Decennalian Games in 202 AD, causing scholars to accuse Dio of misdating the hunt or to postulate that similar hunts of 700 animals were held both in 202 and in 204. But the true explanation, in my opinion, is that Dio's Byzantine epitimator Xiphilinus, on whom we are dependent for this section of Dio's text, has simply jumped without warning or transition from Dio's description of the Decennalian Games of 202 to his description of the circus spectacle concluding the Saecular Games of 204. This hypothesis easily explains why Dio's text as we have it makes no mention of the Saecular Games themselves or of any event of 203: Xiphilinus omitted this whole section of Dio's history! The seven kinds of animals named by both Dio and the inscriptional acts are also depicted in the coin type: on good specimens, especially the aureus BM pl. 34.4, the ostrich and the bear are clear, the lion has a mane, the ass has long ears, the bison has horns and a hump. Two large felines remain, of which we may suppose that the one accompanying the lion is the lioness and the one attacking the bison is the panther. The animals are named somewhat differently in Cohen, BMC, and other numismatic works: though numismatists have long cited Dio's text to explain the coin type, no one previously seems to have posed the question whether the seven animals in the lower part of the type might not be the same seven that Dio and now the inscriptional acts too name! These circus games with the ship and 700 animals were held in 204 AD, but the coin type commemorating them did not appear until two years later: on aurei of Septimius the type is die linked to a dated type of 206 AD, and for Caracalla the type passes from a draped and cuirassed obverse type on the aureus to the "head only" type on his denarii, a transition that took place in 206 AD according to his dated coins.
SOLD October 2014Jay GT4
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ConstansDN CONSTANS PF AVG
Pearl Diad. head only right
VOT X X MVLT X X X
within wreath
SMKA in Exe.
Cyzicus, 347-348AD
1.40g
RIC 51
from an uncleaned lotJay GT4
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ConstantineRoma AE Commemorative
VRBS ROMA
Bust of Roma left, wearing helmet with plume, and imperial mantle
She-wold standing left, suckling twins Romulus and Remus, two stars above;
CONSe. in exergue.
2.38g
Arles mint; 2nd officina, 330-333 AD
RIC VII 62
Ex-Calgary Coin
Better in HandJay GT4
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Constantine IICONSTANTINVS IVN NOB C
Laureate bust left
PROVIDENTIAE CAESS
SMKA dot in ex.
Camp Gate
Cyzicus
325-326 AD
2.76 g
20mm
Cyzicus
RIC VII 37 ScarceJay GT4
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Constantine RomaRoma AE Commemorative
VRBS ROMA
bust of Roma left, wearing helmet with plume, and imperial mantle
She-wold standing left, suckling twins Romulus and Remus, mintmark gamma SIS in ex.
Siscia mint, 330-333 AD
2.63g
RIC VII Siscia 222.
Jay GT4
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Constantius I unlisted FollisIMP C CONSTANTIVS PF AVG
Laureate head of Constantius right
SAC MON VRB AVGG ET CAESS NN
Moneta standing left with scales and cornucopiae
R P in exer
Rome mint
9.32g
RIC 120a, attested with officina S, Vienna, scarce.
new officina P not in RIC rare
King & Spaer, Num. Chron. 1977, #1030-1037 (only 8 specimens in this hoard)
RIC VI Rome 120a var (mintmark) R 305
This is the wildwinds example coin
Jay GT4
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CONSTANTIUS IICONSTANTIVS PF AVG
Rev. VICTORIAE DD AVGG Q NN
Two victories facing each other holding wreaths
341-348 A.D.Jay GT4
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Contantine the GreatCONSTANTINVS AVG
laureate bust right
PROVIDENTIAE AVGG
Camp Gate
SMTSE CAMPGATE Jay GT4
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DiocletianIMP DIOCLETIANVS AVG
Laureate head right
GENIO POPVLI ROMANI
Genius standing left holding patera and Cornucopiae SF in fields PTR in ex.
Trier 294 AD
9.74g
29 mm
RIC 582
EFJay GT4
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Fel Temp ReparatioDN CONSTANTIVS AVG
FEL TEMP REPARATIO
soldier spearing fallen Persian horsemanJay GT4
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FEL TEMP REPARATIODN CONSTANTIVS AVG
Rev.
FEL TEMP REPARATIO
Soldier spearing fallen Persian horseman
SMTS
Jay GT4
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FEL TEMP REPARATIOCONSTANTIVSPFAVG
Rev .
FEL TEMP REPARATIO
SMNT
Soldier spearing fallen Persian horseman
S to the left
337-361 ADJay GT4
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FEL TEMP REPARATIODN CONSTANTIVS AVG
FEL TEMP REPARATIO
soldier spearing fallen Persian horseman Jay GT4
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GaleriusIMP C MAXIMIANVS PF AVG
laureate head right
SAC MON VRB AVGG ET CAESS NN
R wreath S in ex.
Moneta standing left with scales and cornucopiae
9.32g
30 mm
EF
Scarce
Rome 306 AD
Rome RIC VI 132b
See notes below
This is the Wildwinds example! Thanks Dane.
Notes: RIC lists these types as being produced in two periods,
the second period (coins are identical in all respects) being struck in Autumn 306, and also listed as RIC 158a and
159a.
Jay GT4
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GALLIENVS GALLIENVS AVG
Rev.
APPOLINI CONS AVG
Centaur walking left holding globe and trophey
Rome
267-268 AD
RIC 163
Sear 10177
Billon Antoniannus
Issued to commemorate vows made to Appolo ivoking his protection against the revot of AureolusJay GT4
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Julian IIDN FL C IVLIANVS P F AVG
pearl-diademed, draped, & cuirassed bust right
SECVRITAS REIPVB
bull standing right; palm branch-TESA-palm branch in ex.
8.37g
Thessalonica
360-363 A.D.
RIC 225
Jay GT4
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NervaIMP NERVA CAES AVG PM TR P COS III P P
Head of Nerva right
CONCORDIA EXERCITVVM
clasped right hands
Rome January-September 97 A.D.
3.51g
Sear 3020, RIC 14, RSC 20
Ex-Forum
VF with amazing toningJay GT4
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Valentinian 1DN VALENTINANVS PF AV
GLORIA ROMANORVM
Emperor walking right holding labarum and dragging captive
364-375 A.D.Jay GT4
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VICTORIAJust for fun, here are some of my Victory reverses...
From the Republic's Godess VICTORIA to the Byzantine Angel.
Individual coins are in the respective galleries with full attribution.Jay GT4
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