Caligula's deification of his sister Drusilla

[Optimo Principi]

Hi everyone,

Am in the middle of a gripping biography of Caligula at the moment and a particular historical episode caught my attenion. Drusilla, the emperor's favourite sister died in AD 38 and as we know, the scale of Caligula's grief was unprecedented.

Suetonius and Dio both describe how Caligula insisted the senate deify Drusilla, an honour not even granted to other hugely significant Roman women of the period such as Livia, wife of Augustus. Reluctantly they granted the emperor's wish and the sources state she was subsequently deified as Diva Drusilla Panthea; Panthea referring to her having qualities of all the gods.

My biography then mentions that a large problem with this story is the lack of any numismatic commemoration of the event. Apparently, a few incriptions found in the east testify to its truth but surely the emperor would have ordered a series of coins to honour his beloved sister's deification? I am familiar with the sestertius honouring his three sisters but this era of coinage is outside my collecting area, would appreciate the thoughts of any experts concerning this missing series.

There is an archaeological journal published entitled Diva Drusilla Panthea but I have not had the privilege of reading it yet.

[Bud Stewart]

Which biography are you reading? 

I read Arther Ferrill's "Caligula: Emperor of Rome" this summer and although I found it enjoyable, I didn't learn much that I hadn't already learned from Suetonius and Dio.

[Jay GT4]

I'd be interested in reading that book!  Author and name?

I believe most of Caligula's coins were recalled and reissued under Claudius.

[Optimo Principi]

I read Arther Ferrill's "Caligula: Emperor of Rome" this summer and although I found it enjoyable, I didn't learn much that I hadn't already learned from Suetonius and Dio.

Yes that's the one, Bud. Picked up a nice copy in a second hand bookstore. I am enjoying it so far although the author vehemently sticks to his unsympathetic view of Caligula; it is clearly designed to stand in contrast to Barratt's more sympathetic treatment in his Corruption of Power bio.

I believe most of Caligula's coins were recalled and reissued under Claudius.

I am aware of this but obviously they could not recall every coin and many have come down to us through history. He honoured his three sisters in coinage and as I understand it, even honoured his ancestor Marcus Agrippa, of whose lowly origins he was quite ashamed. Quite strange that no series was minted to mark Drusilla's deification.

[Pekka K]

There is a provincial AE from Miletus (RPC I 2704)
with legend: 
 

Pekka K

[Optimo Principi]

Thanks Pekka K. I have found the coin. Anyone translate the Greek?

Caligula, AE20 of Miletos, Ionia. 37-41 AD. 5.98 g.

Obv: GAIOS KAISAR GERMANIKOS SEBASTOS, laureate head of
Gaius Caligula right; star before.
Rev. (from top left) MILHSIWN QEA DROUSILLA, draped bust of
Drusilla right, wearing stephane.
RPC 2704. BMC 144. Vagi 475.
Extremely rare and desirable, with just eight specimens recorded in RPC.
Dark green patina. Very Fine. (Est. $800-1,000)

This is the only coin struck in which the portrait of
Drusilla appears alone.
From the collection of Lawrence Feinberg.
Stack's Coin Galleries Auction 28 April 2010. Lot 241.
Price realized: 2,400 USD + buyer's fees.
Courtesy of Stacks Coin Galleries, Aug. 2010


One would presume this was struck after her death but is there any evidence of that on the coin?

[Pekka K]

  is in latin
DIVA. A name for deified female.

Pekka K

[Jay GT4]

There probably would be more of a chance of provincial coinage rather then Imperial coinage.  I may be wrong but this is still early enough that becoming divine after death was not as accepted in Rome as it was in the East.

  We can't believe everything Suetonius says either with regards to him being ashamed of Agrippa.  Agrippa was a very popular General who quite frankly shared power with Augustus.  His popularity can be seen in that Hadrian kept the original inscription on the Pantheon when he rebuilt it over 100 years later.  So there would be no need to recall Agrippa's coinage.  Other then the VESTA AE As the other Imperial coins of Caligula are hard to come by... at least that has been my experience.

[Optimo Principi]

there would be no need to recall Agrippa's coinage.  Other then the VESTA AE As the other Imperial coins of Caligula are hard to come by... at least that has been my experience.

Very hard to come by for the individual collector but we still have examples of them in museums and collections. I'm sure if a series was minted for Diva Drusilla Panthea, we would have at least one specimen left to us today.

As Caligula died only three years after his beloved sister, the logical conclusion is that he just didn't have time to mint a series of coins to her and that he would had he survived longer. It is not uncommon for dedicatory imperial coins to be minted 10 to 20 years after the person's death.

[Jay GT4]

We do have one.  The one you posted above  (don't take me too seriously)  Do you have a picture of that?  I'd be interested to see it.

  I agree with what you're saying, I'm just stating that it was probably easier to pass off DIVA coins in the east then in Rome at this time.  As you mentioned Caligula died only 3 years later.  Surely that is a short period of time in the ancient world...

[Optimo Principi]

We do have one.  The one you posted above  (don't take me too seriously)  Do you have a picture of that?  I'd be interested to see it.

  I agree with what you're saying, I'm just stating that it was probably easier to pass off DIVA coins in the east then in Rome at this time.  As you mentioned Caligula died only 3 years later.  Surely that is a short period of time in the ancient world...

Here is the coin. Obviously, a very historically significant type that I didn't even know existed before today.

[gallienus1]

A very interesting thread everyone, Arther Ferrill's "Caligula: Emperor of Rome" sounds like a good read. I’ll see if I can find a copy for my library.

After Suetonius and Cassius Dio, a most informative work is Anthony A Barrett’s book “Caligula: The Corruption of Power” published by Yale University Press in 1990. His take is that Caligula was probably not insane. He was a self-indulgent, administratively incompetent and unpredictable man devoid of any sense of moral responsibility. This utterly unsuitable ruler came to power as a result of the Roman failure to devise a system that could select the best man to succeed an emperor. His tyranny was therefore a political systems failure not the product of madness.

Best Regards,
Steve Skinner

[Robert_Brenchley]

I think that's probably right, and you find the same thing happening - not quite so spectacularly - with some of our more  unsuccessful medieval kings.

[Billy Kingsley]

I don't really find it much of a stretch that there are coins that were issued and that none survived or none have yet been found, at least. To me that is the most logical explanation.

[curtislclay]

In my opinion Caligula never struck, and never intended to strike, coins for Diva Drusilla at the mint of Rome. I see no likelihood whatever in the hypothesis that he in fact struck a small issue of Roman coins for her which have however not survived, or that he intended to strike Roman coins for her but never got around to it in the three-year period between her death and his.

In the first century it was not usual for the mint of Rome to strike coins for female relatives of the emperor, and if so, only for those who were dynastically important.

Thus neither Augustus nor Tiberius struck Roman coins bearing the portrait and name of Livia. Claudius consecrated Livia, but struck no coins for her apart from his DIVA AVGVSTA dupondii restoring Caligula's CONSENSV pieces which he was melting down.

Nero struck no coins at Rome for his consecrated infant daughter Claudia, nor for his wife Poppaea who was made Augusta after Claudia's birth in 63 AD.

Domitian included Diva Domitilla among his relatives commemorated in a small issue of aurei and denarii c. 82 AD, and Trajan struck rare coins for his sister Diva Marciana after her death and consecration in 112.

Sabina after her naming as Augusta in 128 was the first empress for whom Roman coins were regularly struck, as a normal part of the coinage, from then until her death c. 137 AD. An earlier precedent was Agrippina II, whose portrait and name regularly appeared on the REVERSE of Claudius' aurei and denarii from 50 to 54, and who briefly shared the obverse of aurei and denarii with her son Nero after his accesssion in 54. Also Caligula's parents Germanicus and Agrippina I, both deceased but not consecrated, on the rev. of his aurei and denarii and on the obverse of asses and sestertii respectively throughout his reign.

[Joe Geranio]

Not at the mint of Rome, I suggest Susan Woods article:  
https://www.jstor.org/stable/506945?seq=1

and this paper:  THE WORSHIP OF ROMAN DIVAE: THE JULIO-CLAUDIANS TO THE ANTONIES by REBECCA MARIE MUICH
PDF Available

The image below is a coin that shows DIVA DRUSILLA.

Nero & Drusus Caesar, with Agrippina Junior, Drusilla, and Julia. Died AD 31 and 33, respectively. Æ 24mm (7.71 g, 12h). Apamea in Bithynia mint. Struck after AD 38. • DRVSVS • NERO • CAESARES • DD, bare heads of Drusus and Nero Caesars vis-à-vis / AGRIPPINA DIVA DRVSILLA IVLIA, C • I • C in exergue, Gaius' three sisters standing facing: Agrippina (as Ataraxia-Securitas) leaning on column, holding cornucopia, placing hand on Diva Drusilla (as Homonoia-Concordia), holding phiale and cornucopia, and Julia (as Tyche Soterios-Fortuna Redux) holding rudder and cornucopia. RPC Supp. 2, 2014/3; Corsten -; cf. RG p. 252, note 2; SNG Tübingen -; SNG von Aulock -; SNG Copenhagen -.

Here is an Egyptian representation of DIVINE DRUSILLA in statue below.

Another great reference is " The Epigraphic commentary of Suetonius' VITA GAIUS CALIGULA", PDF Available
This shows numismatic and epigraphic evidence of all family members during the reign of Gaius Caligula.  The Arval Brethern records for instance speak to DIVA DRUSILLA>

The mint at Rome , if Caligula had lived longer would have probably seen an issue of DIVA DRUSILLA at some point, I already have an argument that Caligula himself was the first living princeps to appear radiate on Roman Imperial Coinage?  We see Caligula radiate in provincial issues, and I believe the CONSENSV dupondius was meant to have a radiate attribution of Caligula while living, even prior to Nero?  

I would discuss further in email , if you wish to discuss further, BE Levy first brought a few issues to light on this subject, but since then I have other issues ye to be published.  The provincial evidence for Caligula radiate prior to Nero is very strong.  

Joe Geranio
Julio Claudian Group