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Author Topic: Damnatio Memoria of Geta  (Read 1212 times)

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Offline Filippo

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Damnatio Memoria of Geta
« on: October 07, 2021, 04:43:36 am »
"Hallo
i recently acquired this piece belong to Julia Domna minted in Rabbathmoba, Arabia province.
I bought it for the clear legend OMONOIA on the reverse and the desert patina.
Subsequently i carried out some reserches about the coin and i discover that on the reverse OMONOIA_CEBACTΩN are represented Caracalla and Geta, both veiled and togate, standing facing each other, clasping hands as explained in Spijkerman 24.
The coin, as the patina shows, was cut early in ancient time in a way as of they wanted to remove  the presence of one subject and not just the half of the coin; so i start thinking if this action was a consequence of the Damnatio Memoria of Geta after his murder, ordered by his brother Caracalla.
Any advices would be vry much appreciate.
Best regards
Filippo"

Offline Filippo

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Re: Damnatio Memoria of Geta
« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2021, 04:45:18 am »
Whole coin

Offline shanxi

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Re: Damnatio Memoria of Geta
« Reply #2 on: October 08, 2021, 12:19:40 pm »
Hmm, I have doubts:

- How did they know which one was Geta?

- A coin cut in half is worth only half.

To me, it looks more like the coin broke when someone tried to punch a hole in it.

Offline SC

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    • A Handbook of Late Roman Bronze Coin Types 324-395.
Re: Damnatio Memoria of Geta
« Reply #3 on: October 08, 2021, 05:20:14 pm »
I also doubt this is an example of damnatio memoriae - which is well attested in literature but not well in numismatics.

Coinage of this area is often struck on poorly cast flans.

My first question would be what is the hole from?  If it is clear and sharp it could be from an attempted piercing - which caused the coin to break.  But if the hole is more uneven and "soft" it could be casting flaw which may have then caused a break when the coin was struck.

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Offline Altamura

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Re: Damnatio Memoria of Geta
« Reply #4 on: October 09, 2021, 02:20:52 am »
... damnatio memoriae - which is well attested in literature but not well in numismatics. ...
In fact there are quite a lot of examples on coins:
http://numismatics.org/pocketchange/imperial-images/
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1979-0101-1914
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8474522
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8417591

But I agree that the coin presented here has nothing to do with that.

Regards

Altamura

Offline SC

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Re: Damnatio Memoria of Geta
« Reply #5 on: October 09, 2021, 09:28:34 am »
You are right Altamura that there are some but what I meant is that this is a very small number compared to the overall coins for those emperors or the number of times people claim they have one.  Normal damage and wear are far more common than actual evidence of DM.

I quite recommend the recent book "Defacing the Past. Damnation and Desecration in Imperial Rome by Dario Calomino, project curator in the Department of Coins and Medals at the British Museum, for anyone interested in these coins.

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