- The Collaborative Numismatics Project
  Explore Our Website And Find Joy In The History, Numismatics, Art, Mythology, And Geography Of Coins!!! NumisWiki Is An Enormous Unique Resource Including Hundreds Of Books And Thousands Of Articles Online!!! The Column On The Left Includes Our "Best of NumisWiki" Menu If You Are New To Collecting - Start With Ancient Coin Collecting 101 NumisWiki Includes The Encyclopedia of Roman Coins and Historia Nummorum If You Have Written A Numismatic Article - Please Add It To NumisWiki All Blue Text On The Website Is Linked - Keep Clicking To ENDLESSLY EXPLORE!!! Please Visit Our Shop And Find A Coin You Love Today!!!

× Resources Home
Home
New Articles
Most Popular
Recent Changes
Current Projects
Admin Discussions
Guidelines
How to
zoom.asp
Index Of All Titles


BEST OF

AEQVITI
Aes Formatum
Aes Rude
The Age of Gallienus
Alexander Tetradrachms
Ancient Coin Collecting 101
Ancient Coin Prices 101
Ancient Coin Dates
Ancient Coin Lesson Plans
Ancient Coins & Modern Fakes
Ancient Counterfeits
Ancient Glass
Ancient Metal Arrowheads
Ancient Oil Lamps
Ancient Pottery
Ancient Weapons
Ancient Wages and Prices
Ancient Weights and Scales
Anonymous Follis
Anonymous Class A Folles
Antioch Officinae
Aphlaston
Armenian Numismatics Page
Augustus - Facing Portrait
Brockage
Bronze Disease
Byzantine
Byzantine Denominations
A Cabinet of Greek Coins
Caesarean and Actian Eras
Campgates of Constantine
Carausius
A Case of Counterfeits
Byzantine Christian Themes
Clashed Dies
Codewords
Coins of Pontius Pilate
Conditions of Manufacture
Corinth Coins and Cults
Countermarked in Late Antiquity
Danubian Celts
Damnatio Coinage
Damnatio Memoriae
Denomination
Denarii of Otho
Diameter 101
Die Alignment 101
Dictionary of Roman Coins
Doug Smith's Ancient Coins
Draco
Edict on Prices
ERIC
ERIC - Rarity Tables
Etruscan Alphabet
The Evolving Ancient Coin Market
EQVITI
Fel Temp Reparatio
Fertility Pregnancy and Childbirth
Fibula
Flavian
Fourree
Friend or Foe
The Gallic Empire
Gallienus Zoo
Greek Alphabet
Greek Coins
Greek Dates
Greek Coin Denominations
Greek Mythology Link
Greek Numismatic Dictionary
Hellenistic Names & their Meanings
Hasmoneans
Hasmonean Dynasty
Helvetica's ID Help Page
The Hexastyle Temple of Caligula
Historia Numorum
Holy Land Antiquities
Horse Harnesses
Illustrated Ancient Coin Glossary
Important Collection Auctions
Islamic Rulers and Dynasties
Julian II: The Beard and the Bull
Julius Caesar - The Funeral Speech
Koson
Kushan Coins
Later Roman Coinage
Latin Plurals
Latin Pronunciation
Legend
Library of Ancient Coinage
Life in Ancient Rome
List of Kings of Judea
Medusa Coins
Maps of the Ancient World
Military Belts
Military Belts
Mint Marks
Monogram
Museum Collections Available Online
Nabataea
Nabataean Alphabet
Nabataean Numerals
The [Not] Cuirassed Elephant
Not in RIC
Numismatic Bulgarian
Numismatic Excellence Award
Numismatic French
Numismatic German
Numismatic Italian
Numismatic Spanish
Parthian Coins
Patina 101
Paleo-Hebrew Alphabet
Paleo-Hebrew Script Styles
People in the Bible Who Issued Coins
Imperial Mints of Philip the Arab
Phoenician Alphabet
Pi-Style Athens Tetradrachms
Pricing and Grading Roman Coins
Reading Judean Coins
Representations of Alexander the Great
Roman Coin Attribution 101
Roman Coin Legends and Inscriptions
Roman Keys
Roman Locks
Roman Militaria
Roman Military Belts
Roman Mints
Roman Names
romancoin.info
Rome and China
Sasanian
Satyrs and Nymphs
Scarabs
Serdi Celts
Serrated
Siglos
The Sign that Changed the World
Silver Content of Parthian Drachms
Star of Bethlehem Coins
Statuary Coins
Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum
Syracusian Folles
Taras Drachms with Owl Left
The Temple Tax
The Temple Tax Hoard
Test Cut
Travels of Paul
Tribute Penny
Tribute Penny Debate Continued (2015)
Tribute Penny Debate Revisited (2006)
Tyrian Shekels
Uncleaned Ancient Coins 101
Vabalathus
Venus Cloacina
What I Like About Ancient Coins
Who was Trajan Decius
Widow's Mite
XXI

   View Menu
 

Radiate

A radiate head or bust is depicted wearing a radiate crown. The radiate crown is an attribute of the Sun god (Sol Invictus, Helios) and is conferring that association upon the wearer. Tiberius was the first emperor to depict the radiate crown on coin portraiture, but ONLY for posthumous portraiture of the deified Augustus. Nero was the Roman first to depict it on a living person (himself).  As a bust attribute on some roman coins it served as a "double value" denominational marker: dupondius = double as, antoninianus = double denarius.

Many coins of Rhodes depict the sun god Helios with a radiate crown. These images inspired the radiate crown on the Statue of Liberty.

Rhodos, Carian Islands, c. 229 - 205 B.C.

Silver tetradrachm, SNG Keckman 548, SNG Cop -, Choice aEF, Rhodos mint, weight 13.403g, maximum diameter 26.3mm, die axis 0o, c. 229 - 205 B.C.; obverse radiate head of Helios facing slightly right; reverse RODI-ON, rose with bud right, thunderbolt left, magistrate's name EUKRATHS above.

Today we associate the crown with royalty. The ancient Greeks associated the radiate crown with divinity and in the Hellenistic period royalty was often associated with divinity. With the beautiful and rare type below Ptolemy IV honored his deceased father with the symbols of divinity. He wears the aegis of Zeus, the radiate crown of Helios, and carries the trident of Neptune.

Ptolemaic Kingdom, Ptolemy IV, 221 - 204 B.C.

Gold oktodrachm, Svoronos 1117, SNG Cop 196, gVF, Alexandria mint, weight 27.788g, maximum diameter 26.9mm, die axis 0o, obverse radiate and diademed bust of the deified Ptolemy III; reverse BASILEWS PTOLEMAIOU, radiate cornucopia bound with royal diadem, DI below.

Tiberius was the first emperor to depict the radiate crown on coin portraiture, but ONLY for posthumous portraiture of the deified Augustus.

Augustus, 16 January 27 B.C. - 19 August 14 A.D., Commemorative Struck by Caligula

Orichalcum dupondius, SRCV I 1811, RIC I Gaius 56, BMCRE I 88, gVF, smoothed, weight 15.513g, maximum diameter 29.7mm, die axis 180o, Rome mint, 37 - 41 A.D.; obverse DIVVS AVGVSTVS S C, radiate head of Augustus left; reverse CONSENSV SENAT ET EQ ORDIN P Q R, Augustus laureate and togate, seated left on curule chair, branch in right, left at side.

Nero was the Roman first to depict it on a living person (himself). This was one act in a long list of egomaniacal behaviors that lead to rebellion against him and his suicide.

Nero, 13 October 54 - 9 June 68 A.D.

Orichalcum dupondius, BMCRE I 197, pl. 43.7 (same dies); RIC I 111, Maowall p. 56, 184 (7 spec. from 2 obv. and 1 rev. die); cf. Cohen 358 (10 Fr.), VF, Tiber patina, Lugdunum (Lyon) mint, weight 15.945g, maximum diameter 20.1mm, die axis 180o, 64 A.D.; obverse NERO CLAVD CAESAR AVG GER P M TR P IMP P, radiate head right; reverse anepigraphic, Macellum Magnum (great market), two-story, domed section, wings unequal height, steps with dolphin on each side, Neptune statue holding a long scepter inside.

The radiate crown came to mean a double unit denomination. The dupondius was worth two as. Caracalla introduced a double denarius (antoninianus) and used the radiate crown to clearly identify its value.

Caracalla, 28 January 198 - 8 April 217 A.D.

Silver antoninianus (double denarius), RSC III 608a, BMCRE V 78, RIC IV 311c var (seen from front), Choice VF, Rome mint, weight 5.421g, maximum diameter 23.7mm, die axis 0o, 213 - 217 A.D.; obverse ANTONINVS PIVS AVG GERM, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, from behind; reverse VENVS VICTRIX, Venus standing left, Victory in right, transverse scepter in left, leaning on shield set on helmet.

Another example where the radiate crown is used to indicate a double value is the radiate crown on the double sestertius below.

Trajan Decius, July 249 - First Half of June 251 A.D.

Orichalcum double sestertius, RIC IV 115a, Cohen 39, Choice VF, weight 34.518g, maximum diameter 36.3mm, die axis 180o, Rome mint, 249 - 251 A.D.; obverse IMP C M Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust right, drapery in left shoulder; reverse FELICITAS SAECVLI S C, Felicitas standing left, caduceus in right, cornucopia in left.

 

All coins are guaranteed for eternity