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Home > Members' Coin Collection Galleries > Jay GT4 > 07. Adoptive Emperors to the Constantine Dynasty

Last comments - 07. Adoptive Emperors to the Constantine Dynasty
Temporum.jpg
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 2014
11 commentsJay GT407/29/21 at 09:51*Alex: Wonderful coin
Nerva_Concordia.jpg
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 toning
7 commentsJay GT404/24/21 at 19:02Serendipity: Beautiful denarius!
Urbs_Roma_wolf.jpg
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.

4 commentsJay GT402/07/20 at 20:21Simon: Beautiful Coin!
Temporum.jpg
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 2014
11 commentsJay GT405/25/19 at 07:27Ancient Aussie: Absolutely fantastic coin Jay.
PiusItalia.jpg
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 Antiquities
4 commentsJay GT405/26/18 at 02:27Carausius: Terrific depiction of Italia!
Urbs_Roma_wolf.jpg
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.

4 commentsJay GT405/15/18 at 23:17Flamur H: I really like this one... So many nice coins in yo...
PiusItalia.jpg
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 Antiquities
4 commentsJay GT405/10/18 at 20:24okidoki: Very nice indeed Very Happy
Roma.jpg
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 Hand
1 commentsJay GT402/26/17 at 16:20Randygeki(h2): Very cool coin with nice sandy highlights
julian_II.jpg
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
1 commentsJay GT402/06/16 at 05:07quadrans: Nice specimen.. Laughing
Diocletian~0.jpg
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
EF
2 commentsJay GT402/06/16 at 05:06quadrans: I agree nice piece..
Diocletian~0.jpg
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
EF
2 commentsJay GT401/30/16 at 10:30David Atherton: Great coin all around!
Galerius.jpg
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.
2 commentsJay GT401/30/16 at 07:23quadrans: Nice specimen..
Galerius.jpg
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.
2 commentsJay GT401/30/16 at 05:10Skyler: Nice detail
Temporum.jpg
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 2014
11 commentsJay GT401/24/16 at 18:48Jochen: How you could sell this coin?
Temporum.jpg
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 2014
11 commentsJay GT402/22/14 at 17:20Potator II: Really enviable coin, superb depiction on reverse ...
Temporum.jpg
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 2014
11 commentsJay GT402/20/14 at 17:57Nemonater: Excellent coin, fantastic type!
Temporum.jpg
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 2014
11 commentsJay GT401/27/14 at 04:04ickster: Nice!
Temporum.jpg
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 2014
11 commentsJay GT401/26/14 at 04:16sulcipius: What a superb coin ,with such a very interesting r...
Temporum.jpg
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 2014
11 commentsJay GT401/25/14 at 23:06carthago: neat coin!
Temporum.jpg
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 2014
11 commentsJay GT401/25/14 at 21:12quadrans: I agree very nice ..
Temporum.jpg
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 2014
11 commentsJay GT401/25/14 at 20:46David Atherton: Wow! Superb catch.
Temporum.jpg
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 2014
11 commentsJay GT401/25/14 at 20:06Sam: Very Nice !
PiusItalia.jpg
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 Antiquities
4 commentsJay GT406/20/13 at 01:54SPQR Matt: A great coin! Fantastic centering, great details. ...
PiusItalia.jpg
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 Antiquities
4 commentsJay GT406/19/13 at 19:51David Atherton: The reverse is awesome! Italia holding a globe ind...
Nerva_Concordia.jpg
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 toning
7 commentsJay GT405/16/12 at 02:05TheEmpireNeverEnded: Amazing!
Nerva_Concordia.jpg
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 toning
7 commentsJay GT401/26/12 at 15:27Kained but Able: Sweet details, first class reverse especially.
Victory.jpg
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.
3 commentsJay GT402/09/11 at 23:17David Atherton: Quite an impressive display. The Nero is indeed qu...
Victory.jpg
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.
3 commentsJay GT402/08/11 at 23:31ancientone: Cool coins with nice color!
Victory.jpg
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.
3 commentsJay GT402/08/11 at 18:52Randygeki(h2): Nero sure does jumps out at you. Looks great
Nerva_Concordia.jpg
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 toning
7 commentsJay GT401/28/11 at 11:27rexesq: Beautiful, a wonderful reverse type. Great example...
Nerva_Concordia.jpg
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 toning
7 commentsJay GT404/20/10 at 20:52Randygeki(h2): great coin
Nerva_Concordia.jpg
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 toning
7 commentsJay GT404/20/10 at 18:42David Atherton: A great historical type. Congrats!
Nerva_Concordia.jpg
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 toning
7 commentsJay GT404/20/10 at 17:22Noah: yep, that is a nice Nerva...and the toning is very...
Urbs_Roma_wolf.jpg
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.

4 commentsJay GT402/14/10 at 05:00Matthew W2: wow!
Urbs_Roma_wolf.jpg
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.

4 commentsJay GT402/12/10 at 00:19mihali84: really nice coin! i really want one
 
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