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Author Topic: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !  (Read 4967 times)

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Offline Bud Stewart

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A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« on: December 15, 2012, 12:03:40 pm »
For my Birthday my wife gave me a pretty little denarius.  Well I used my “birthday money” to purchase a coin I’ve been after for a bit, but it amounted to the same thing.  ;)

This most recent addition to my collection has me wondering.  I now have denarii with depictions of bigae being drawn by Horses, Lions and now Goats.

I would be thrilled if my mates could share pictures of bigae being drawn by other creatures.  I’m thinking of adding other denarii to my ‘sub collection’ of these interesting coins, so catalog information would also be appreciated.  That being said:

My Lions are from M. Volteius M.f. 78 BC, AR Denarius, Volteia 4; Crawford 385/4; RCV 315; Syd 777

The Goats are: C Renius, 138 BC, AR Denarius, Renia 1; Crawford 231/1; RCV 108; Syd 432
 

Offline kc

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2012, 12:17:05 pm »
Hello Bud,

very nice coins...wherefrom your wife knows which coins you like and wherefrom she gets the coins? ;)


Regards
kc

Offline benito

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Offline Bud Stewart

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #3 on: December 15, 2012, 12:35:54 pm »
Hi KC, on special occasions my wife 'buys me a coin', but never directly.  She gives me money with the expressed purpose of having me add something to my collection.

Offline Bud Stewart

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #4 on: December 15, 2012, 12:37:10 pm »
Thanks Benito, as I’ve said many time in the past, your coins are beautiful.

Offline areich

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #5 on: December 15, 2012, 12:54:48 pm »
I especially like the biga of cupids (or erotes).

http://www.acsearch.info/record.html?id=592826
Andreas Reich

Offline Andrew McCabe

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #6 on: December 15, 2012, 12:56:04 pm »
Quote from: Bud Stewart on December 15, 2012, 12:03:40 pm
For my Birthday my wife gave me a pretty little denarius.  Well I used my “birthday money” to purchase a coin I’ve been after for a bit, but it amounted to the same thing.  ;)

Never explain to your wife the principle of fungibility of money (i.e. once it hits your pocket it's no different than any other pound in your pocket and you should always spend it on the best available choice, which might be beer, or car-parts). Indeed its best never to think about fungibility yourself, or you might use the gift from your wife to pay down your credit card bills, buy school books for your kids or go to Whole Foods. Fungibility causes one to make choices which are too sensible.

Quote from: Bud Stewart on December 15, 2012, 12:03:40 pm
This most recent addition to my collection has me wondering.  I now have denarii with depictions of bigas being drawn by Horses, Lions and now Goats.

I would be thrilled if my mates could share pictures of bigas being drawn by other creatures.  I’m thinking of adding other denarii to my ‘sub collection’ of these interesting coins, so catalog information would also be appreciated.  That being said:

The lion biga is special to Cybele; here's a nice set in the Met in NY:



hippocamps:


cupids (perhaps my favourite, the imagery is rather weird):

Offline crispina

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #7 on: December 15, 2012, 01:08:41 pm »

Offline Steve E

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Offline Mark Z

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #9 on: December 15, 2012, 01:49:58 pm »
To All:

I was just browsing through these beautiful coins and I had a question:

Were these various animals (except for the hippocamps, cupids and snakes, obviously) really hitched to bigas? If so, would that have been for some kind of spectacle?

Or do the depictions merely represent something relevant to whomever was holding the reins?

Regards,
mz

Offline cicerokid

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #10 on: December 15, 2012, 03:46:34 pm »

I am sure I have read that Pompey Magnus started a triumph with a biga of elephants but they mis-behaved.

Cic
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Offline quisquam

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #11 on: December 15, 2012, 04:30:05 pm »
The bigas normally are pulled by the animals accompanied with the diety driving the biga.

Stefan

Offline Steve E

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #12 on: December 15, 2012, 05:43:30 pm »
I've long enjoyed this image from Frank Frazetta "Silver Warrior"  :afro:

Even though it is a quadriga and not found on ancient coins ;)


~Steve

Lloyd Taylor

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #13 on: December 15, 2012, 06:11:26 pm »
Horned elephants from Susa ......

or my far less impressive, battered but more  expressive/talkative example here https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-88961

Offline Bud Stewart

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #14 on: December 19, 2012, 04:52:51 pm »
Thanks everyone for sharing your knowledge, and of course, photos of your collection.  I now have several more denarii on my "Wish List". ;D

Offline Bud Stewart

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #15 on: February 11, 2014, 06:55:30 pm »
Well, another one to tick off my want list.  This one a Biga drawn by Cupids.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-106466

L. Julius L.f. Caesar – Julia-4a
ROMAN REPUBLIC L. Julius L.f. Caesar. 103 BC. AR Denarius (16mm - 3.87 g). Rome mint.
CAESAR, helmeted head of Mars left; •L (retrograde) above head
Venus Genetrix in biga left, drawn by two Cupids; lyre before them, •L (retrograde) above; L. IVLI. L.F. in exergue.
Crawford 320/1; Sydenham 593a; Julia 4a; SRCV 198

Offline Jay GT4

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #16 on: February 11, 2014, 07:04:38 pm »
Great coin Bud!  The first time Caesar appears on a coin!

Here's mine of the same type with a bit of history behind the coin in the description:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-42132

Offline stlnats

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #17 on: February 11, 2014, 07:32:22 pm »
Great coin Bud.  How appropriate with Valentine's Day just a few days away!  Congrats!

I'd missed this thread the 1st time around and appreciate you bringing it back with the update of your new coin.  What an interesting group of animals.  I do wonder how the snakes pulling the biga worked out tho.

 ;D


Offline JBF

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #18 on: February 12, 2014, 12:43:51 am »
Pardon me if I am a little horse, I would be lion if I said that me missing such cool coins didn't get my goat
Why? elephantary my dear Watson, you have a neat little focus that I didn't think of first.  Of course, such
envy is not very biga of me. ;D

Are bronzes fungible?  One could think of bronze disease as a type of fungus.

I apologize, you all have had enough punishment for now.

Neat coins though and a very cool theme.  It is not coins, but you might read the part of Euripides'  _Medea_ were Medea flees on a chariot pulled by dragons.  I think in the Eleusinian mysteries Triptolemus rode in a chariot pulled by serpents.  And don't forget the coins of Rhegium which had a biga pulled by mules in celebration of an Olympic victory.  Anaxillas couldn't compete in horse racing, but he could compete in an obsolete category, the Mule race.

Offline Bud Stewart

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #19 on: February 23, 2014, 06:56:34 pm »
Great coin Bud!  The first time Caesar appears on a coin!

Thanks Jay.  Yes, the connection to Caesar and the Julii did make this specimen very describable.  While I don’t yet own a Gaius Julius Caesar, at least I can say I have a Lucius Julius Caesar.

Offline Bud Stewart

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #20 on: February 23, 2014, 07:02:12 pm »
Thanks stlnats & JBF,

I find the various creatures quite charming.  While I’m aware that many of the beings pulling these bigae represent ‘attributes’ or companions of the gods (e.g. Cybele/Lions & Venus Genetrix/Cupids), all very serious stuff, they do lend a bit of whimsy to a collection.

Offline Enodia

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #21 on: February 23, 2014, 10:10:03 pm »
the only thing more unforgivable than JBF's atrocious puns is the fact that i didn't think of them myself.
damn!
but this is a seriously groovy subset, and i congratulate you on an interesting collection.

~ Peter

Offline Jochen

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #22 on: December 21, 2014, 04:28:44 pm »
An addition: Biga driven by Kentaurs. Here it is Dionysos.

Maionia, Septimius Severus, BMC 43

There are other types from Trajan and Domitian from Alexandria.

Best regards

Offline Jochen

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #23 on: December 21, 2014, 04:42:52 pm »
And a new one: a biga of mules, driven by the nymph Messina.

If I compare bigas with quadrigas I see that bigas are mostly driven by deities and not by emperors (except Alexandria). Anyone does know why?

Best regards

Offline Equity

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Re: A Biga Being Drawn by What ? !
« Reply #24 on: December 21, 2014, 04:48:17 pm »
TIF: I now want an animated denarius--well done!
Ars longa, vita brevis, occasio praeceps, experimentum periculosum, iudicium difficile.

 

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