I adore the Classic phases of Greek art (and of
Chinese art, Tang and Northern Song).
Anyway, when iconography calls on a bird to evoke
his strutting deity,
Zeus, the artist needs to be keenly aware, as in Method Acting, of the comparative anatomy of the
aves and the mammalia, in order to make us feel that way about it. Sometimes the
Antioch tets do this just beautifully, in my opinion. See also the sense of the cranium in Vespasian's
head. I love this sort of thing; it is very
rare in the world's art. This may not be the
rare 5th-century Elis
eagle, but it is
still silver, and it
still is...as I said. Perhaps it's partly because I worked my way to my undergraduate degree in a poultry market; if you stretch out a young rooster... The best wings, though, are on the
Victory of Samothrace.
I'm sure this coin is common as can be, and, of course, it has the usual amount of wear, but I love it.
14 06 05 AR
tetradrachm 14.68g 12h
Vespasian, laureate,
head to r. AVTO[KR OVESP]ASIAN [OS KAISAR
SEBAST]OS
Rev.,
Eagle l.,
wreath in beak, stg on club,
palm in l.
field. ETOVS NEOV IE[ROV A or B].
Prieur, p. 19, no. 122 (Group 6).
P.S. Steve Minnoch kindly contributes the
RPC ref., Gr. 4, nos. 1953-1955--and I have emended the
Prieur number above . I
had simply compared the images provided in Prieur's Group 6. My coin lacks the A or B for the year, and although the
eagle is very like no. 120, it is not the same die, since, e.g., the
palm branch has fewer elements. None of those
Vespasian heads has the nose of mine, and it is no. 122 that has the cut-off of the neck most similar. The
RPC plates provide better comparability, and the number of dies is considerable.
I posted it as an example of a keen sense of 'comparative anatomy' at
work, without taking time to consider the dies.