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Vespasian_Kyme_Aeolis_AE_19.jpg
The Amazon Kyme 3 (Vespasian) Kyme, Aeolis
AE 19
70-73 AD

Laureate head of Vespasian r. ΒΑϹΠΑϹΙΑΝΟΝ ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΟΡΑ ΚΑΙϹΑΡΑ
The Amazon Kyme standing l., holding globe and trident, ΑΝΘΥ ΕΠΡΙΩ ΜΑΡΚΕΛΛΩ ΤΟ Γ ΚΥ

RPC II 970, Cop 144; Stumpf 319

Adrienne Mayor's The Amazons has a section on the amazons at sea, but that does not share much light on this coin. The amazon queen Kyme was the legendary founder of the city Cyme on the Black Sea coast. The engraver portrays an historical accurate amazon wearing a short dress, trousers, belt and baldric, and a Scythian gorytos (quiver) on her left hip. He has added a crown, as befits the notion of a queen.
1 commentsBlindadoFeb 23, 2024
Kyme_Aeolis_AE_20.jpg
Kyme the AmazonAEOLIS. Kyme. Epirus Marcellus, procos III (69-96)
AE 19

Bust of the Senate, ΘEON CVNKΛHTON
Amazon Kyme standing left, holding trident and globe, EΠPIΩ MAPKEΛΛΩ / KY

RPC II, 971, SNG Copenhagen 144

It's hard to say for certain, but it looks like Kyme is wearing a Scythian pointed hat with ear flaps, trousers, and boots, which would make this a fairly accurate portrayal if a female Scythian horse warrior, who were the actual historical amazons. There are only two examples of this coin in acsearch.

Thanks to Pekka K for the proper attribution.
4 commentsBlindadoMar 17, 2022
MarcAurAmazonEumeneia.jpg
Amazon on Horse 2AE 23, Eumeneia in Phrygia, minted MA as Caesar 139-161

Draped and cuirassed bust of Marcus Aurelius, Μ ΑΥΡΗΛΙ ΟΥΗΡΟΣ ΚΑΙ
Amazon on horseback r, holding labrys over shoulder, ΕΥΜΕΝΕΙΩΝ ΑΧΑΙΩΝ

BMC 59; RPC IV online 1992 (temp.); SNG Copenhagen 396; SNG Tübingen

Phrygia was a territory roamed by Scythian tribes, among whom rode the female horse warriors from whom the notion of amazons arose. Despite its Phrygian origin, the iconography of the amazon is similar to depictions on Roman sarcophagi and other sculptures that depict the warrior women in a thigh-length dress with sandals and often bareheaded. This one has a cape billowing behind her. The image is mythical insofar as the amazons did not use a double-headed axe in combat.
BlindadoDec 18, 2021
Zeus_Amazon_on_Horse.jpg
Amazon on HorseThe Amazon Queen Omphale?

AE20, Lydia, Mostene, ca 100 BC
Laureate head of Zeus right
ΛYΔΩN MOΣTHNΩN, Amazon on horseback right, holding bipennis axe over shoulder; EP (or EB) to left, monogram to right

SNG Copenhagen 284, Waddington 5101 (if EB)

Adrienne Mayor, in "The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World," records the following:

"In a legend preserved by Plutarch, when Heracles took [Amazon Queen] Hippolyte's golden belt, he also carried away her battle axe, which he presented to another powerful mythical queen, Omphale of Lydia. . . . Queen Hippolyte's axe, says Plutarch, was handed down from Omphale to the kings of Lydia. That is, until King Candaules (d. 718 BC) disrespected the Amazon's axe and carelessly gave it away. Hippolyte's precious axe ultimately ended up in the Temple of Zeus at Labranda in Caria. The original axe shape was not specified in the tale, but by the time it was placed in Zeus's temple it was described as a solid gold labors, the symmetrical double-headed ritual axe traditionally associated with Zeus and Minoan goddesses. . . . (219-220.)"

As Mayor points out, the actual Scythian women horse warriors, who were the original amazons, did not use such and axe in battle, but rather the single-headed sagaris. But the double-headed axe appears on various ancient coins depicting amazons. The coin is historically accurate, however, in portraying the amazon as a horse-mounted warrior.

Given the Lydian origin of the coin, the obverse of Zeus, and reverse of an amazon with an axe shaped like the one at Zeus's temple, it is reasonable to suggest that she is Omphale.
BlindadoMar 18, 2021
Ephesus_AE_1_2_Unit_2d_Triumvirate_.jpg
1af2 Lepidus, Octavian, and Marc Antony40-39 BC

Ephesus, AE 1/2 unit 19mm

Jugate bare heads of the Second Triumvirate members, right

ΑΡΧΙΕΡΕΥΣ ΓΡΑΜ ΓΛΑΥΚΩΝ ΕΦΕ ΠΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΣ, facing cult statue of Artemis (with supports)

RPC 2572A

Thanks to OldMoney for the attribution

5.0 grams

See the individual descriptions of my coins from Octavian, Marc Antony, and Lepidus for more historical information.
4 commentsBlindadoJan 08, 2020
LucillaSestVenus~3.jpg
Venus1bm Lucilla
166 views
Wife of Lucius Verus, executed 182 AD

Sestertius
Draped bust, right, LVCILLAE AVG ANTONINI AVG F
Venus standing facing left holding apple, drawing out robe, VENUS

RIC 1767

Daughter of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina Junior, she married Lucius Verus in 164.
BlindadoJan 07, 2020
KymeArtemisApolloAE16.jpg
The Amazon Kyme 2City of Kyme
Bronze 16mm
2d century BC

Artemis, holding long torch, greeting the Amazon Kyme, holding scepter

KY; Two figures (Apollo and Kyme?) in quadriga right

SNG München 512; SNG Copenhagen 113; SNG von Aulock 7698

I purchased this second coin because the obverse shows better than any example I can find that Kyme has a Scythian gorytos (quiver) hanging from her left hip, underscoring the historical accuracy of the depiction.
1 commentsBlindadoAug 24, 2018
KymeAmazonArtemisQuad.jpg
The Amazon Kyme City of Kyme
Bronze 17mm
2d century BC

Artemis, holding long torch, greeting the Amazon Kyme, holding scepter

KY; Two figures (Apollo and Kyme?) in quadriga right

SNG München 512; SNG Copenhagen 113; SNG von Aulock 7698

According to the geographer Pomponius Mela, writing about 43 AD, amazons had long camped in Pontus when they dominated Anatolia. They had worshipped Artemis at Ephesus and named the town Kyme (Cyme) after the amazon leader who drove out the native inhabitants. (Adrienne Mayor, The Amazons, 47-48). Kyme wears Scythian garb as depicted elsewhere, but an amazon most likely would not have worn a helmet.
1 commentsBlindadoMay 10, 2018
Soloi_Stater_Amazon.jpg
0a Amazon StaterSilver Stater 20mm Struck circa 440-410 B.C.
Soloi in Cilicia

Amazon kneeling left, holding bow, quiver on left hip
ΣOΛEΩN, Grape cluster on vine; A-Θ to either side of stalk, monogram to lower right

Sear 5602 var.; Casabonne Type 3; SNG France 135; SNG Levante

This coin depicts an amazon in historically accurate garb. Unfortunately, the bow is corroded away on this piece, but it is pointed toward her. She wears the Scythian hat, which also has a bit along the top corroded away. The quiver on her hip is an accurate portrayal of the gorytos (quiver), which was nearly two feet long, fashioned of leather, and often decorated. Fortunately, there is redundancy in this image, and a second bow is shown as in its place in the gorytos, which had separate chambers for arrows and the bow, where the archer stored it while not in use. The amazon has just finished stringing her bow and is adjusting the top hook to make sure the strings and limbs are properly aligned. She has strung the bow using her leg to hold one limb in place so she can use both hands to string the weapon. Her recurve bow was made of horn (ibex, elk, ox) wrapped with horse hair, birch bark, or sinew (deer, elk, ox) and glue (animal or fish) wrapped around a wood core. The bow was about 30 inches long. Arrow heads from grave sites come in bone, wood, iron, and bronze with two or three flanges; the shafts were made of reed or wood (willow, birch, poplar) and fletched with feathers. Poisoned arrows were sometimes painted to resemble vipers. A Scythian archer could probably fire 15-20 arrows per minute with accuracy to 200 feet and range to 500-600 feet. Distance archery with modern reconstructions suggests a maximum unaimed flight distance of 1,600 feet. (Mayor 209ff)

Soloi was founded about 700 B.C.and came under Persian rule. According to Diodorus, when the amazons were engaging in conquest in Asia Minor, the Cilicians accepted them willingly and retained their independence. Soloi may be named after Solois, a companion of Theseus, who married the amazon Antiope. The amazon on the coin may well be Antiope. (Mayor, 264-265)
1 commentsBlindadoApr 27, 2018
PCrassusDenAmazon2~1.jpg
1ab_2 Marcus Licinius CrassusFormed First Triumvirate with Caesar and Pompey in 60 BC, killed at Carrhae in Parthia in 53 BC.

Denarius, minted by son, P Licinius Crassus, ca 54 BC.
Bust of Venus, right, SC behind
Amazon with horse, P CRASSVS MF.

Seaby, Licinia 18

These coins were probably minted to pay Crassus' army for the invasion of Parthia, which led to its destruction. My synthesis of reviewing 90 examples of this issue revealed a female warrior wearing a soft felt Scythian cap with ear flaps (visible in this example); a fabric garment with a decorated skirt to the knees; probably trousers; an ornate war belt; a baldric; a cape, animal skin, or shoulder cord on attached to the left shoulder; and decorated calf-high boots. She matches the historically confirmed garb of the real amazons—Scythian horsewomen—and of course holds her steed. The horse’s tack is consistent with archeological discoveries of tack in use by Scythians and Romans.

Adrienne Mayor writes that amazon imagery on Greek vases suddenly appeared in 575-550 BC, initially depicting them in Greek-style armor. By the end of the century, as the Greeks learned more through direct and indirect contact with Scythians, they began to appear wearing archeologically confirmed Scythian-Sarmatian-Thracian patterned attire. (Adrienne Mayor, The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2014, 199-200). To this, artists added their own creative ideas regarding colors, fabric patterns, and decorations. “They dressed the warrior women in body-hugging ‘unitards’ or tunics, short chitons or belted dresses, sometimes over leggings or trousers. . . . In paintings and sculpture, pointed or soft Scythian caps with earflaps or ties (kidaris) soon replaced the Greek helmets, and the women wear a variety of belts, baldrics (diagonal straps), corselets, shoulder cords or bands, and crisscrossing leather straps attached to belt loops like those worn by the archer huntress Artemis. . . . Amazon footgear included soft leather moccasin-like shoes, calf-high boots (endromides), or taller laced boots (embades) with scallops or flaps and lined with felt or fur.” (Mayor, 202)

The artists apparently had detailed knowledge of gear used by real Scythian horsewomen to equip their imagined Amazons. “Archeological discoveries of well-preserved sets of clothing confirm that real horsewomen of ancient Scythian lands dressed much as did those described in Greek texts and illustrated in Scythian and Greek artwork.” (Mayor, 203)
2 commentsBlindadoApr 27, 2018
PCrassusDenAmazon~0.jpg
1ab Marcus Licinius CrassusFormed First Triumvirate with Caesar and Pompey in 60 BC, killed at Carrhae in Parthia in 53 BC.

Denarius, minted by son, P Licinius Crassus, ca 54 BC.
Bust of Venus, right, SC behind
Amazon with horse, P CRASSVS MF.

Seaby, Licinia 18

These coins were probably minted to pay Crassus' army for the invasion of Parthia, which led to its destruction. My synthesis of reviewing 90 examples of this issue revealed a female warrior wearing a soft felt Scythian cap with ear flaps; a fabric garment with a decorated skirt to the knees; probably trousers; an ornate war belt; a baldric; a cape, animal skin, or shoulder cord on attached to the left shoulder; and decorated calf-high boots. She matches the historically confirmed garb of the real amazons—Scythian horsewomen—and of course holds her steed. The horse’s tack is consistent with archeological discoveries of tack in use by Scythians and Romans.

Adrienne Mayor writes that amazon imagery on Greek vases suddenly appeared in 575-550 BC, initially depicting them in Greek-style armor. By the end of the century, as the Greeks learned more through direct and indirect contact with Scythians, they began to appear wearing archeologically confirmed Scythian-Sarmatian-Thracian patterned attire. (Adrienne Mayor, The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2014, 199-200). To this, artists added their own creative ideas regarding colors, fabric patterns, and decorations. “They dressed the warrior women in body-hugging ‘unitards’ or tunics, short chitons or belted dresses, sometimes over leggings or trousers. . . . In paintings and sculpture, pointed or soft Scythian caps with earflaps or ties (kidaris) soon replaced the Greek helmets, and the women wear a variety of belts, baldrics (diagonal straps), corselets, shoulder cords or bands, and crisscrossing leather straps attached to belt loops like those worn by the archer huntress Artemis. . . . Amazon footgear included soft leather moccasin-like shoes, calf-high boots (endromides), or taller laced boots (embades) with scallops or flaps and lined with felt or fur.” (Mayor, 202)

The artists apparently had detailed knowledge of gear used by real Scythian horsewomen to equip their imagined Amazons. “Archeological discoveries of well-preserved sets of clothing confirm that real horsewomen of ancient Scythian lands dressed much as did those described in Greek texts and illustrated in Scythian and Greek artwork.” (Mayor, 203)
1 commentsBlindadoApr 27, 2018
ClaudiusMessalinaAE20.jpg
1ap_2 MessalinaThird wife of Claudius, married in 38 (?)

AE 20, Knossos mint

Bare head of Claudius left, CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS

Draped bust of Messalina right, VALERIA MESSALINA [CAPITONE CYTHERONTE IIVIR] or [CYTHERO CAPITONE] (end of legend off flan)

According to Suetonius: [Claudius] was betrothed twice at an early age: to Aemilia Lepida, great-granddaughter of Augustus, and to Livia Medullina, who also had the surname of Camilla and was descended from the ancient family of Camillus the dictator. He put away the former before their marriage, because her parents had offended Augustus; the latter was taken ill and died on the very day which had been set for the wedding. He then married Plautia Urgulanilla, whose father had been honoured with a triumph, and later Aelia Paetina, daughter of an ex-consul. He divorced both these, Paetina for trivial offences, but Urgulanilla because of scandalous lewdness and the suspicion of murder. Then he married Valeria Messalina, daughter of his cousin Messala Barbatus. But when he learned that besides other shameful and wicked deeds she had actually married Gaius Silius, and that a formal contract had been signed in the presence of witnesses, he put her to death and declared before the assembled praetorian guard that inasmuch as his marriages did not turn out well, he would remain a widower, and if he did not keep his word, he would not refuse death at their hands. . . . [He later married Agrippina Jr.]

He had children by three of his wives: by Urgulanilla, Drusus and Claudia; by Paetina, Antonia; by Messalina, Octavia and a son, at first called Germanicus and later Britannicus. . . .

But it is beyond all belief, that at the marriage which Messalina had contracted with her paramour Silius he signed the contract for the dowry with his own hand, being induced to do so on the ground that the marriage was a feigned one, designed to avert and turn upon another a danger which was inferred from certain portents to threaten the emperor himself. . . .

He was so terror-stricken by unfounded reports of conspiracies that he had tried to abdicate. When, as I have mentioned before, a man with a dagger was caught near him as he was sacrificing, he summoned the senate in haste by criers and loudly and tearfully bewailed his lot, saying that there was no safety for him anywhere; and for a long time he would not appear in public. His ardent love for Messalina too was cooled, not so much by her unseemly and insulting conduct, as through fear of danger, since he believed that her paramour Silius aspired to the throne. . . .

Appius Silanus met his downfall. When Messalina and Narcissus had put their heads together to destroy him, they agreed on their parts and the latter rushed into his patron's bed-chamber before daybreak in pretended consternation, declaring that he had dreamed that Appius had made an attack on the emperor. Then Messalina, with assumed surprise, declared that she had had the same dream for several successive nights. A little later, as had been arranged, Appius, who had received orders the day before to come at that time, was reported to be forcing his way in, and as if were proof positive of the truth of the dream, his immediate accusation and death were ordered. . . .


1 commentsBlindadoNov 11, 2017
Lepidus_Antony_Quinarius.jpg
1af Lepidus_2Quinarius

M LEP IMP, simpulum, aspergillum, axe (surmounted by wolf's head) & ape

M ANT IMP, lituus, capis (jug) and raven

Military mint with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus & Antony in Transalpine Gaul, 44-42 BC

Cr489/3, Syd 1158a

Lepidus was a member of the Second Triumvirate.

According to Plutarch's Life of Pompey: Sulla, however, was annoyed at seeing to what a height of reputation and power Pompey was advancing, but being ashamed to obstruct his career, he kept quiet. Only, when in spite of him and against his wishes Pompey made Lepidus consul, by canvassing for him and making the people zealously support him through their goodwill towards himself, seeing Pompey going off through the forum with a throng, Sulla said: "I see, young man, that you rejoice in your victory; and surely it was a generous and noble thing for Lepidus, the worst of men, to be proclaimed consul by a larger vote than Catulus, the best of men, because you influenced the people to take this course. Now, however, it is time for you to be wide awake and watchful of your interests; you have made your adversary stronger than yourself." But Sulla showed most clearly that he was not well-disposed to Pompey by the will which he wrote. For whereas he bequeathed gifts to other friends, and made some of them guardians of his son, he omitted all mention of Pompey. And yet Pompey bore this with great composure, and loyally, insomuch that when Lepidus and sundry others tried to prevent the body of Sulla from being buried in the Campus Martius, or even from receiving public burial honours, he came to the rescue, and gave to the interment alike honour and security.

Soon after the death of Sulla, his prophecies were fulfilled, and Lepidus tried to assume Sulla's powers. He took no circuitous route and used no pretence, but appeared at once in arms, stirring up anew and gathering about himself the remnants of faction, long enfeebled, which had escaped the hand of Sulla. His colleague, Catulus, to whom the incorrupt and sounder element in the senate and people attached themselves, was the great Roman of the time in the estimate set upon his wisdom and justice, but was thought better adapted for political than military leadership. The situation itself, therefore, demanded Pompey, who was not long in deciding what course to take. He took the side of the nobility, and was appointed commander of an army against Lepidus, who had already stirred up a large part of Italy and was employing Brutus to hold Cisalpine Gaul with an army.

Other opponents against whom Pompey came were easily mastered by him, but at Mutina, in Gaul, he lay a long while besieging Brutus. Meanwhile, Lepidus had made a hasty rush upon Rome, and sitting down before it, was demanding a second consulship, and terrifying the citizens with a vast throng of followers. But their fear was dissipated by a letter brought from Pompey, announcing that he had brought the war to a close without a battle. For Brutus, whether he himself betrayed his army, or whether his army changed sides and betrayed him, put himself in the hands of Pompey, and receiving an escort of horsemen, retired to a little town upon the Po. Here, after a single day had passed, he was slain by Geminius, who was sent by Pompey to do the deed. And Pompey was much blamed for this. For as soon as the army of Brutus changed sides, he wrote to the senate that Brutus had surrendered to him of his own accord; then he sent another letter denouncing the man after he had been put to death. The Brutus who, with Cassius, killed Caesar, was a son of this Brutus, a man who was like his father neither in his wars nor in his death, as is written in his Life. As for Lepidus, moreover, as soon as he was expelled from Italy, he made his way over to Sardinia. There he fell sick and died of despondency, which was due, as we are told, not to the loss of his cause, but to his coming accidentally upon a writing from which he discovered that his wife was an adulteress.
BlindadoNov 11, 2017
ElagabDenEleg.jpg
1bz Elagabalus_2218-222

Denarius

Laureate, horned & draped bust rightt, IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG
Elagabalus standing left, sacrificing from patera over lit tripod altar, holding branch, star in field left, SVMMVS SACERDOS AVG

RIC 146

The Historia Augusta, in the life of Caracalla, notes: Bassianus lived for forty-three years and ruled for six. . . . He left a son, who afterward received, like his father, the name Antoninus Marcus Antoninus Elagabalus; for such a hold had the name of the Antonines that it could not be removed from the thoughts of the people, because it had taken root in the hearts of all, even as had the name of Augustus.

In the life of Macrinus is recorded: Now there was a certain woman of the city of Emesa, called [Julia] Maesa or Varia; she was the sister of Julia, the wife of [Septimius] Severus Pertinax the African, and after the death of Antoninus Bassianus she had been expelled from her home in the palace through the arrogance of Macrinus. . . . This woman had two daughters, [Julia Soaemias] and [Julia] Mamaea, the elder of whom was the mother of Elagabalus; he assumed the names Bassianus and Antoninus, for the Phoenicians give the name Elagabalus to the Sun. Elagabalus, moreover, was notable for his beauty and stature and for the priesthood which he held, and he was well known to all who frequented the temple, and particularly to the soldiers. To these, Maesa, or Varia as she was also called, declared that this Bassianus was the son of Antoninus, and this was gradually made known to all the soldiers. Maesa herself, furthermore, was very rich (whence also Elagabalus was most wasteful of money), and through her promises to the soldiers the legions were persuaded to desert Macrinus. . . .

Finally, when he received the imperial power, he took the name Antoninus and was the last of the Antonines to rule the Roman Empire. . . . He was wholly under the control of his mother [Soaemias], so much so, in fact, that he did no public business without her consent, although she lived like a harlot and practised all manner of lewdness in the palace. For that matter, her amour with Antoninus Caracalla was so notorious that Varius, or rather Elagabalus, was commonly supposed to be his son. . . . In short, when Elagabalus' message was read in the senate, at once good wishes were uttered for Antoninus and curses on Macrinus and his son, and, in accordance with the general wish and the eager belief of all in his paternity, Antoninus was hailed as emperor. . . .

After he had spent the winter in Nicomedia, [218-219] living in a depraved manner and indulging in unnatural vice with men, the soldiers soon began to regret that they had conspired against Macrinus to make this man emperor, and they turned their thoughts toward his cousin Alexander, who on the murder of Macrinus had been hailed by the senate as Caesar. . . . Among the base actions of his life of depravity he gave orders that Alexander, whom he had formally adopted, be removed from his presence, saying that he regretted the adoption. Then he commanded the senate to take away from Alexander the name of Caesar. But when this was announced to the senate, there was a profound silence. For Alexander was an excellent youth, as was afterwards shown by the character of his rule, even though, because he was chaste, he was displeasing to his adoptive father he was also, as some declare, his cousin. Besides, he was loved by the soldiers and acceptable to the senate and the equestrian order. Yet the Emperor's madness went the length of an attempt to carry out the basest design; for he despatched assassins to kill Alexander. . . . The soldiers, however, and particularly the members of the guard, either because they knew what evils were in store for Elagabalus, or because they foresaw his hatred for themselves, formed a conspiracy to set the state free. First they attacked the accomplices in his plan of murdering Alexander. . . . Next they fell upon Elagabalus himself and slew him in a latrine in which he had taken refuge.
BlindadoNov 11, 2017
ConstantinusFollisSol.jpg
1ec_2 Constantine the Great307-337

Follis

Laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right, IMP CONSTANTINVS PF AVG
Sol standing left, chlamys across left shoulder, raising right hand and holding globe in left hand, captive to left. Mintmark RQ.

RIC VII 52

According to Zonaras: Constans, in the eleventh year of his reign since he had been proclaimed Caesar, having ruled gently and mildly, came to the end of his life while residing in Britain, having, because of his goodness, bequeathed grief for himself among those he ruled, first having appointed successor the elder of his own sons, namely Constantine the Great, whom he begat by his first wife. He also had by his second wife, Herculius’ daughter Theodora, other sons, Constantinus, Hannibalianus, and Constantius. Constantine the Great was preferred over them, since they were judged by their father to be unsuited for sovereignty. . . . Constantine, when he was still a lad, was actually given by his father as a hostage to Gallerius, in order that, serving as a hostage, at the same time he be trained in the exercise of the soldierly art.

Eutropius summarizes: CONSTANTINE, being a man of great energy, bent upon effecting whatever he had settled in his mind, and aspiring to the sovereignty of the whole world, proceeded to make war on Licinius, although he had formed a connexion with him by marriage,5 for his sister Constantia was married to Licinius. And first of all be overthrew him, by a sudden attack, at Cibalae in Pannonia, where he was making vast preparations for war; and after becoming master of Dardania, Maesia, and Macedonia, took possession also of several other provinces.

There were then various contests between them, and peace made and broken. At last Licinius, defeated in a battle at Nicomedia by sea and land, surrendered himself, and, in violation of an oath taken by Constantine, was put to death, after being divested of the purple, at Thessalonica.

At this time the Roman empire fell under the sway of one emperor and three Caesars, a state of things which had never existed before; the sons of Constantine ruling over Gaul, the east, and Italy. But the pride of prosperity caused Constantine greatly to depart from his former agreeable mildness of temper. Falling first upon his own relatives, he put to death his son, an excellent man; his sister's son, a youth of amiable disposition; soon afterwards his wife, and subsequently many of his friends.

He was a man, who, in the beginning of his reign, might have been compared to the best princes; in the latter part of it, only to those of a middling character. Innumerable good qualities of mind and body were apparent in him; he was exceedingly ambitious of military glory, and had great success in his wars; a success, however, not more than proportioned to his exertions. After he had terminated the Civil war, he also overthrew the Goths on various occasions, granting them at last peace, and leaving on the minds of the barbarians a strong remembrance of his kindness. He was attached to the arts of peace and to liberal studies, and was ambitious of honourable popularity, which he, indeed, sought by every kind of liberality and obligingness. Though he was slow, from suspicion, to serve some of his friends,6 yet he was exceedingly generous towards others, neglecting no opportunity to add to their riches and honours.

He enacted many laws, some good and equitable, but most of them superfluous, and some severe. He was the first that endeavoured to raise the city named after him to such a height as to make it a rival to Rome. As he was preparing for war against the Parthians, who were then disturbing Mesopotamia, he died in the Villa Publica, at Nicomedia, in the thirty-first year of his reign, and the sixty-sixth of his age.

Zosimus described Constantine's conversion to Christianity: For he put to death his son Crispus, stiled (as I mentioned) Caesar, on suspicion of debauching his mother-in-law Fausta, without any regard to the ties of nature. And when his own mother Helena expressed much sorrow for this atrocity, lamenting the young man's death with great bitterness, Constantine under pretence of comforting her, applied a remedy worse than the disease. For causing a bath to be heated to an extraordinary degree, he shut up Fausta in it, and a short time after took her out dead. Of which his conscience accusing him, as also of violating his oath, he went to the priests to be purified from his crimes. But they told him, that there was no kind of lustration that was sufficient to clear him of such enormities. A Spaniard, named Aegyptius, very familiar with the court-ladies, being at Rome, happened to fall into converse with Constantine, and assured him, that the Christian doctrine would teach him how to cleanse himself from all his offences, and that they who received it were immediately absolved from all their sins. Constantine had no sooner heard this than he easily believed what was told him, and forsaking the rites of his country, received those which Aegyptius offered him ; and for the first instance of his impiety, suspected the truth of divination.
BlindadoNov 10, 2017
HerenniaEtrAntPudicitia.jpg
1ct_2 Herennia EtruscillaWife of Trajan Decius

AR Antoninianus

Diademed and draped bust right on crescent, HER ESTRVSCILLA AVG
Pudicitia seated left holding tranverse scepter, PVDICITIA AVG

RIC 59b
BlindadoNov 10, 2017
PCrassusDenAmazon2.jpg
1ab_2 Marcus Licinius CrassusFormed First Triumvirate with Caesar and Pompey in 60 BC, killed at Carrhae in Parthia in 53 BC.

Denarius, minted by son, P Licinius Crassus, ca 54 BC.
Bust of Venus, right, SC behind
Amazon with horse, P CRASSVS MF.

Seaby, Licinia 18

These coins were probably minted to pay Crassus' army for the invasion of Parthia. My synthesis of reviewing 90 examples of this issue revealed a female warrior wearing a soft felt Scythian cap with ear flaps (visible in this example); a fabric garment with a decorated skirt to the knees; probably trousers; an ornate war belt; a baldric; a cape, animal skin, or shoulder cord on attached to the left shoulder; and decorated calf-high boots. She matches the historically confirmed garb of the real amazons—Scythian horsewomen—and of course holds her steed. The horse’s tack is consistent with archeological discoveries of tack in use by Scythians and Romans.

Adrienne Mayor writes that amazon imagery on Greek vases suddenly appeared in 575-550 BC, initially depicting them in Greek-style armor. By the end of the century, as the Greeks learned more through direct and indirect contact with Scythians, they began to appear wearing archeologically confirmed Scythian-Sarmatian-Thracian patterned attire. (Adrienne Mayor, The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2014, 199-200). To this, artists added their own creative ideas regarding colors, fabric patterns, and decorations. “They dressed the warrior women in body-hugging ‘unitards’ or tunics, short chitons or belted dresses, sometimes over leggings or trousers. . . . In paintings and sculpture, pointed or soft Scythian caps with earflaps or ties (kidaris) soon replaced the Greek helmets, and the women wear a variety of belts, baldrics (diagonal straps), corselets, shoulder cords or bands, and crisscrossing leather straps attached to belt loops like those worn by the archer huntress Artemis. . . . Amazon footgear included soft leather moccasin-like shoes, calf-high boots (endromides), or taller laced boots (embades) with scallops or flaps and lined with felt or fur.” (Mayor, 202)
The artists apparently had detailed knowledge of gear used by real Scythian horsewomen to equip their imagined Amazons. “Archeological discoveries of well-preserved sets of clothing confirm that real horsewomen of ancient Scythian lands dressed much as did those described in Greek texts and illustrated in Scythian and Greek artwork.” (Mayor, 203)

Plutarch wrote of Crassus: People were wont to say that the many virtues of Crassus were darkened by the one vice of avarice, and indeed he seemed to have no other but that; for it being the most predominant, obscured others to which he was inclined. The arguments in proof of his avarice were the vastness of his estate, and the manner of raising it; for whereas at first he was not worth above three hundred talents, yet, though in the course of his political life he dedicated the tenth of all he had to Hercules, and feasted the people, and gave to every citizen corn enough to serve him three months, upon casting up his accounts, before he went upon his Parthian expedition, he found his possessions to amount to seven thousand one hundred talents; most of which, if we may scandal him with a truth, he got by fire and rapine, making his advantages of the public calamities. . . . Crassus, however, was very eager to be hospitable to strangers; he kept open house, and to his friends he would lend money without interest, but called it in precisely at the time; so that his kindness was often thought worse than the paying the interest would have been. His entertainments were, for the most part, plain and citizen-like, the company general and popular; good taste and kindness made them pleasanter than sumptuosity would have done. As for learning he chiefly cared for rhetoric, and what would be serviceable with large numbers; he became one of the best speakers at Rome, and by his pains and industry outdid the best natural orators. . . . Besides, the people were pleased with his courteous and unpretending salutations and greetings, for he never met any citizen however humble and low, but he returned him his salute by name. He was looked upon as a man well-read in history, and pretty well versed in Aristotle's philosophy. . . . Crassus was killed by a Parthian, called Pomaxathres; others say by a different man, and that Pomaxathres only cut off his head and right hand after he had fallen. But this is conjecture rather than certain knowledge, for those that were by had not leisure to observe particulars. . . .
1 commentsBlindadoOct 21, 2017
Caligula_Drusilla_AE20.jpg
1ao3 Julia DrusillaAE 20 of Smyrna (Izmir, Turkey)
Laureate head of Caligula, right, ΓAION KAICAPA EΠI AOYIOΛA
Drusilla as Persephone seated left, poppies between two stalks of grain in right hand, long scepter vertical behind in left hand, ∆POYCIΛΛAN ZMYPNAIΩN MHNOΦANHC

Caligula’s sister

Klose XXVIII, 27 (Vs4/Rs10); RPC I 2472; SNG Cop 1343; SNGvA 2202; BMC Ionia p. 269, 272

According to Suetonius’ salacious account: Germanicus had married Agrippina the Elder, daughter of Marcus Agrippa and Julia the Elder, and she had borne him nine children. Two died in infancy, another in early childhood. . . .

The other children survived their father: three girls, Agrippina the Younger, Drusilla and Livilla, born in successive years; and three boys, Nero, Drusus, and Gaius Caesar (Caligula). . . . [Caligula] habitually committed incest with each of his three sisters, seating them in turn below him at large banquets while his wife reclined above. It is believed that he violated Drusilla’s virginity while a minor, and been caught in bed with her by his grandmother Antonia, in whose household they were jointly raised. Later, when Drusilla was married to Lucius Cassius Longinus, an ex-consul, he took her from him and openly treated her as his lawful married wife. When he fell ill he made her heir to his estate and the throne.

When Drusilla died (in 38AD) he declared a period of public mourning during which it was a capital offense to laugh, or bathe, or to dine with parents, spouse or children. Caligula himself was so overcome with grief that he fled the City in the middle of the night, and travelled through Campania, and on to Syracuse, returning again with the same degree of haste, and without cutting his hair or shaving. From that time forwards whenever he took an important oath, even in public or in front of the army, he always swore by Drusilla’s divinity.
BlindadoAug 14, 2016
FulviaQuinariusLion.jpg
1ae2 FulviaFirst wife of Marc Antony

ca 83-40 BC

AR Quinarius
Bust of Victory right with the likeness of Fulvia, III VIR R P C
Lion right between A and XLI; ANTONI above, IMP in ex

RSC 3, Syd 1163, Cr489/6

Fulvia was the first Roman non-mythological woman to appear on Roman coins. She gained access to power through her marriage to three of the most promising men of her generation, Publius Clodius Pulcher, Gaius Scribonius Curio, and Marcus Antonius. All three husbands were politically active populares, tribunes, and supporters of Julius Caesar. Fulvia married Mark Antony in 47 or 46 BC, a few years after Curio's death, although Cicero suggested that Fulvia and Antony had had a relationship since 58 BC. According to him, while Fulvia and Antony were married, Antony once left a military post to sneak back into Rome during the night and personally deliver a love letter to Fulvia describing his love for her and how he had stopped seeing the famous actress Cytheris. Cicero also suggested that Antony married Fulvia for her money. At the time of their marriage, Antony was an established politician. He had already been tribune in 49 BC, commanded armies under Caesar and was Master of the Horse in 47 BC. As a couple, they were a formidable political force in Rome, and had two sons together, Marcus Antonius Antyllus and Iullus Antonius.

Suetonius wrote, "[Antony] took a wife, Fulvia, the widow of Clodius the demagogue, a woman not born for spinning or housewifery, nor one that could be content with ruling a private husband, but prepared to govern a first magistrate, or give orders to a commander-in-chief. So that Cleopatra had great obligations to her for having taught Antony to be so good a servant, he coming to her hands tame and broken into entire obedience to the commands of a mistress. He used to play all sorts of sportive, boyish tricks, to keep Fulvia in good-humour. As, for example, when Caesar, after his victory in Spain, was on his return, Antony, among the rest, went out to meet him; and, a rumour being spread that Caesar was killed and the enemy marching into Italy, he returned to Rome, and, disguising himself, came to her by night muffled up as a servant that brought letters from Antony. She, with great impatience, before received the letter, asks if Antony were well, and instead of an answer he gives her the letter; and, as she was opening it, took her about the neck and kissed her."

After Julius Caesar was assassinated, Antony became the most powerful man in Rome. Fulvia was heavily involved in the political aftermath. After Caesar's death, the senate realized his popularity and declared that they would pass all of Caesar's planned laws. Antony had attained possession of Caesar's papers, and with the ability to produce papers in support of any law, Fulvia and Antony made a fortune and gained immense power. She allegedly accompanied Antony to his military camp at Brundisium in 44 BC. Appian wrote that in December 44 and again in 41 BC, while Antony was abroad and Cicero campaigned for Antony to be declared an enemy of the state, Fulvia attempted to block such declarations by soliciting support on Antony's behalf.

Antony formed the second triumvirate with Octavian (the future emperor Augustus) and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus on 43 BC and began to conduct proscriptions. To solidify the political alliance, Fulvia's daughter Clodia was married to the young Octavian. Appian and Cassius Dio describe Fulvia as being involved in the violent proscriptions, which were used to destroy enemies and gain badly needed funds to secure control of Rome. Antony pursued his political enemies, chief among them being Cicero, who had openly criticized him for abusing his powers as consul after Caesar's assassination. Though many ancient sources wrote that Fulvia was happy to take revenge against Cicero for Antony's and Clodius' sake, Cassius Dio is the only ancient source that describes the joy with which she pierced the tongue of the dead Cicero with her golden hairpins, as a final revenge against Cicero's power of speech.

In 42 BC, Antony and Octavian left Rome to pursue Julius Caesar's assassins, Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. Fulvia was left behind as the most powerful woman in Rome. According to Cassius Dio, Fulvia controlled the politics of Rome. Dio wrote that "the following year Publius Servilius and Lucius Antonius nominally became consuls, but in reality it was Antonius and Fulvia. She, the mother-in‑law of Octavian and wife of Antony, had no respect for Lepidus because of his slothfulness, and managed affairs herself, so that neither the senate nor the people transacted any business contrary to her pleasure."

Shortly afterwards, the triumvirs then distributed the provinces among them. Lepidus took the west and Antony went to Egypt, where he met Cleopatra VII. When Octavian returned to Rome in 41 BC to disperse land to Caesar's veterans, he divorced Fulvia's daughter and accused Fulvia of aiming at supreme power. Fulvia allied with her brother-in-law Lucius Antonius and publicly endorsed Mark Antony in opposition to Octavian.

In 41 BC, tensions between Octavian and Fulvia escalated to war in Italy. Together with Lucius Antonius, she raised eight legions in Italy to fight for Antony's rights against Octavian, an event known as the Perusine War. Fulvia fled to Greece with her children. Appian writes that she met Antony in Athens, and he was upset with her involvement in the war. Antony then sailed back to Rome to deal with Octavian, and Fulvia died of an unknown illness in exile in Sicyon, near Corinth, Achaea.
BlindadoOct 04, 2014
HannibalianusEuphratesAE4.jpg
1eg2 HannibalianusKing of Mesopotamia
335-337

AE 4

Diademed portrait right, FL HANNIBALLIANO REGI
Euphratus SE-CVRITAS PVBLICA

RIC 147

BlindadoSep 20, 2014
JuliaDomnaAE29ThreeGraces.jpg
Three GracesJulia Domna
AE 29
Pautalia, Thrace

Draped bust right, IOVLIA DOMNA CEB
PAVTALIAC, Three Graces

Varbanov 2, 3183
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
GetaAE18Thanatos.jpg
DeathGeta
AE 18
Plautalia

Draped cuirassed bust right, AVT K P CEP GETAC AV
Thanatos, winged, standing right leaning on burning torch, OVLPIAC PAVTALIAC

Moushmov 4323

THANATOS (or Thanatus) was the god or daimon of non-violent death. His touch was gentle, likened to that of his twin brother Hypnos (Sleep)
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
LMussidiusLongusDenSol.jpg
SolL. Mussidius Longus, moneyer
Denarius
42 BC

Head of Sol, CONCORDIA
Shrine of Venus Cloaca, L MVSSIDIVS LONGVS

Mussidia 7
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
SeptSevDenBacchus.jpg
BacchusSeptimius Severus
Denarius

Laureate, right, L SEPT SEV PERT AVG IMP VIII
Liber standing left, crowning himself, panther at his feet, LIBERO PATRI

RIC 99
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
AurelianAntOriensAvg.jpg
SolAurelianus
Antoninianus

Radiate, cuirassed bust right, IMP C AVRELIANVS AVG
Sol standing left, holding globe, right hand raised, captive at foot left, ORIENS AVG

Goebl 222c5
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
MaximianusAntHercules.jpg
HerculesMaximianus
Antoninianus

Radiate, helmeted, & cuirassed bust left, IMP C MAXIMIANVS P F AVG
Hercules standing right, strangling the Nemean lion, VIRTVTI AVGG

Ric 458
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
GordianIIIAntMars.jpg
MarsGordian III
Antoninianus

Radiate and cuirassed bust right, IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG
Mars hastening right, holding shield & spear, MARS PROPVG

RIC 145
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
CaracallaDenMars2.jpg
MarsCaracalla
Denarius

Laureate head right, ANTONINVS PIVS AVG
Mars in military dress standing left leaning on shield holding reversed spear, PONT TR P VIIII COS II

RIC 83
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
HadrianAsDiana.jpg
DianaHadrian
As

Laureate head right, right, HADRIANVUS AVG COS III PP
Diana standing facing, head left, holding arrow & bow, SC

RIC 825
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
JuliaDomDenVenus~0.jpg
VenusJulia Domna
Denarius

Draped bust, right, IVLIA AVGVSTA
Venus standing right, naked to waist, leaning on column to left, holding palm and apple, VENERI VICTR

RIC 536
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
JuliaSoaemDenVenusCal~0.jpg
VenusJulia Soaemias
Denarius

Draped bust, right, IVLIA SOAEMIAS AVG
Venus seated left, holding scepter, extending her hand to Cupid standing before her, VENVS CAELESTIS

RIC 243
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
SabinaDenVenus.jpg
VenusSabina
Denarius

Diademed and draped bust, right, SABINA AVGVSTA
Venus standing right, drawing out fold of drapery and holding apple, VENERI GENETRICI

RIC 396
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
AntPiusDupMinerva.jpg
MinervaAntoninus Pius
Dupondius

Radiate bust, right, ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III
Minerva standing right, brandishing spear and holding shield, SC

RIC 666
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
MarcAurelDupRoma.jpg
MinervaMarcus Aurelius
Dupondius

Radiate head right, M ANTONINVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX
Minerva standing l., holding owl and leaning on shield; spear resting on l. arm, TRP XXII IMP IIII COS III S C

RIC 954
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
SEPTSEVDENMINERVA.jpg
MinervaSeptimius Severus
Denarius

Laureate head right, L SEPT SEV PERT AVG IMP V
Minerva standing left with spear and round shield, PM TR P III COS II P P

RIC 61
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
DomitDenarMinerva.jpg
MinervaDomitian
Denarius

Laureate head right, IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM P M TR P VIII
Minerva standing left holding spear, IMP XIX COS XIIII CENS P P P

RIC 670
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
AgrippaAsNeptune_2.jpg
NeptuneAgrippa
As

Head left wearing rostral crownt, M AGRIPPA L F COS III
Neptune standing facing, head left, naked except for cloak draped behind him & over both arms, holding small dolphin in right hand & vertical trident in left, SC

RIC 58
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
AntPiusDenApollo.jpg
ApolloAntoninus Pius
Denarius

Laureate head right, ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III
Apollo standing left, holding patera & lyre, APOLLINI AVGVSTO

RIC 63B
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
JulDomDenDiana.jpg
DianaJulia Domna
Denarius

Draped bust, right, IVLIA PIA FELIX AVG
Diana standing left, holding torch, DIANA LVCIFERA

RIC 548
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
FaustinaIIDenJuno.jpg
JunoFaustina Junior
Denarius

Diademed, draped bust right, FAVSTINA AVGVSTA
Juno seated left, holding patera & sceptre; at feet a peacock, IVNONI REGINAE

RIC 698
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
MarcAurelDupondJupiter.jpg
JupiterMarcus Aurelius
Dupondius

Portrait, right, M ANTONINVS AVG TR P XXVII
Jupiter seated, IMP VI COS III SC

RIC 1065
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
ElegabalusDenRoma~0.jpg
RomaElagabalus
Denarius

Laureate draped & cuirassed bust, right, IMP C M AVR ANTONINVS AVG
Roma std, PM TR P COS P P

RIC 3
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
SaloninaAntVestaSeated.jpg
VestaSalonina
Antoninianus

Diademed bust right, draped and on a crescent, SALONINA AVG
VESTA, Vesta seated left, holding patera and sceptre, Q in ex.

RIC 32

This was the first coin I ever cleaned. It was obviously once silvered, as someone made a test cut.
BlindadoFeb 13, 2014
MariusFundania1Denarius.jpg
0aa Caius MariusC. Fundanius, moneyer
101-91 BC

Denarius

Helmeted head of Roma right, control-mark C behind

"Triumphator" (Marius) in quadriga right, holding laurel-branch and staff; a rider sits on near horse, holding laurel-branch, Q above, C FVNDAN in exergue

The reverse shows Marius as triumphator in the quadriga. He holds sceptre and laurel branch. On one of the horses rides his son. The children of the triumphator were - according to tradition - allowed to share the triumph of their father. The Q above refers to the office as quaestor the mintmaster held while minting these coins. FORVM Ancient Coins says of a similar piece, "The reverse refers to Marius triumph after victories over the Cimbri and Teutones. The rider on the near horse is Marius's son, at that time eight years old." Andrew McCabe comments, "The Triumphator on the Fundania denarius is usually taken to be Marius, with his young son on horseback. This would make it the first Roman coin to explicitly portray a living Roman politician. "

Seaby Fundania 1

Marius rose from common origins to become the First Man in Rome. Plutarch in his Life writes: There is a likeness of Marius in stone at Ravenna, in Gaul, which I myself saw quite corresponding with that roughness of character that is ascribed to him. Being naturally valiant and warlike, and more acquainted also with the discipline of the camp than of the city, he could not moderate his passion when in authority. . . . He was born of parents altogether obscure and indigent, who supported themselves by their daily labour; his father of the same name with himself, his mother called Fulcinia. He had spent a considerable part of his life before he saw and tasted the pleasures of the city; having passed previously in Cirrhaeaton, a village of the territory of Arpinum, a life, compared with city delicacies, rude and unrefined, yet temperate, and conformable to the ancient Roman severity. He first served as a soldier in the war against the Celtiberians, when Scipio Africanus besieged Numantia; where he signalized himself to his general by courage far above his comrades, and particularly by his cheerfully complying with Scipio's reformation of his army, being almost ruined by pleasures and luxury. It is stated, too, that he encountered and vanquished an enemy in single combat, in his general's sight. In consequence of all this he had several honours conferred upon him; and once when at an entertainment a question arose about commanders, and one of the company (whether really desirous to know, or only in complaisance) asked Scipio where the Romans, after him, should obtain such another general, Scipio, gently clapping Marius on the shoulder as he sat next him, replied, "Here, perhaps. . . ."

The consul Caecilius Metellus, being declared general in the war against Jugurtha in Africa took with him Marius for lieutenant; where, eager himself to do great deeds and services that would get him distinction, he did not, like others, consult Metellus's glory and the serving his interest, and attributing his honour of lieutenancy not to Metellus, but to fortune, which had presented him with a proper opportunity and theatre of great actions, he exerted his utmost courage. . . . Marius thus employed, and thus winning the affections of the soldiers, before long filled both Africa and Rome with his fame, and some, too, wrote home from the army that the war with Africa would never be brought to a conclusion unless they chose Caius Marius consul. . . .He was elected triumphantly, and at once proceeded to levy soldiers contrary both to law and custom, enlisting slaves and poor people; whereas former commanders never accepted of such, but bestowed arms, like other favours, as a matter of distinction, on persons who had the proper qualification, a man's property being thus a sort of security for his good behavior. . . .

[In Marius' fourth consulship,] The enemy dividing themselves into two parts, the Cimbri arranged to go against Catulus higher up through the country of the Norici, and to force that passage; the Teutones and Ambrones to march against Marius by the seaside through Liguria. . . . The Romans, pursuing them, slew and took prisoners above one hundred thousand, and possessing themselves of their spoil, tents, and carriages, voted all that was not purloined to Marius's share, which, though so magnificent a present, yet was generally thought less than his conduct deserved in so great a danger. . . . After the battle, Marius chose out from amongst the barbarians' spoils and arms those that were whole and handsome, and that would make the greatest show in his triumph; the rest he heaped upon a large pile, and offered a very splendid sacrifice. Whilst the army stood round about with their arms and garlands, himself attired (as the fashion is on such occasions) in the purple-bordered robe, and taking a lighted torch, and with both hands lifting it up towards heaven, he was then going to put it to the pile, when some friends were espied with all haste coming towards him on horseback. Upon which every one remained in silence and expectation. They, upon their coming up, leapt off and saluted Marius, bringing him the news of his fifth consulship, and delivered him letters to that effect. This gave the addition of no small joy to the solemnity; and while the soldiers clashed their arms and shouted, the officers again crowned Marius with a laurel wreath, and he thus set fire to the pile, and finished his sacrifice.
BlindadoJan 21, 2014
Sulla_L_Manlius_den.jpg
0ab Lucius Cornelius Sulla FelixL Manlivs, moneyer
82-72 BC

Denarius

Head of Roma, right, MANLI before, PRO Q behind
Sulla in walking quadriga, crowned by Victory, L SVLLA IM in ex.

Seaby, Manlia 4

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (c. 138 BC – 78 BC) was a Roman general and conservative statesman. He had the distinction of holding the office of consul twice, as well as reviving the dictatorship. Sulla was awarded a grass crown, the most prestigious and rarest Roman military honor, during the Social War. He was the first man to lead an army to Rome to settle a political dispute, in this case with Marius. In late 81 BC, he stunned the world by resigning his near-absolute powers, restoring constitutional government. After seeing election to and holding a second consulship, he retired to private life and died shortly after.

As to the person, Plutarch wrote: LUCIUS Cornelius Sylla was descended of a patrician or noble family. . . . His general personal appearance may be known by his statues; only his blue, eyes, of themselves extremely keen and glaring, were rendered all the more forbidding and terrible by the complexion of his face, in which white was mixed with rough blotches of fiery red. . . . And when supreme master of all, he was often wont to muster together the most impudent players and stage-followers of the town, and to drink and bandy jests with them without regard to his age or the dignity of his place, and to the prejudice of important affairs that required his attention. When he was once at table, it was not in Sylla's nature to admit of anything that was serious, and whereas at other times he was a man of business and austere of countenance, he underwent all of a sudden, at his first entrance upon wine and good-fellowship, a total revolution, and was gentle and tractable with common singers and dancers, and ready to oblige any one that spoke with him. It seems to have been a sort of diseased result of this laxity that he was so prone to amorous pleasures, and yielded without resistance to any temptation of voluptuousness, from which even in his old age he could not refrain. He had a long attachment for Metrobius, a player. In his first amours, it happened that he made court to a common but rich lady, Nicopolis by name, and what by the air of his youth, and what by long intimacy, won so far on her affections, that she rather than he was the lover, and at her death she bequeathed him her whole property. He likewise inherited the estate of a step-mother who loved him as her own son. By these means he had pretty well advanced his fortunes. . . . In general he would seem to have been of a very irregular character, full of inconsistencies with himself much given to rapine, to prodigality yet more; in promoting or disgracing whom he pleased, alike unaccountable; cringing to those he stood in need of, and domineering over others who stood in need of him, so that it was hard to tell whether his nature had more in it of pride or of servility. As to his unequal distribution of punishments, as, for example, that upon slight grounds he would put to the torture, and again would bear patiently with the greatest wrongs; would readily forgive and he reconciled after the most heinous acts of enmity, and yet would visit small and inconsiderable offences with death and confiscation of goods; one might judge that in himself he was really of a violent and revengeful nature, which, however, he could qualify, upon reflection, for his interest.
BlindadoJan 21, 2014
AllectusPaxAnt.jpg
1ds3 Allectus293-296

AE antoninianus

Radiate & cuirassed bust right, IMP C ALLECTVS P F AVG
PAX AVG, Pax standing left, holding palm-branch in right hand, vertical sceptre in left, S-P across fields, ML in ex

RIC 28 S-P

The usurper in Britain who killed and replaced Carausius, according to Eutropius.
BlindadoNov 17, 2013
CaurausiusComesAnt.jpg
1ds2 Carausius287-293

AE Antoninianus

Radiate, draped & cuirassed bust right, IMP CARAVSIVS P F AVG
COMES AVG, Victory standing left holding wreath & palm. ML in ex

RIC 15

Eutropius recorded: During this period, Carausius, who, though of very mean birth, had gained extraordinary reputation by a course of active service in war, having received a commission in his post at Bononia, to clear the sea, which the Franks and Saxons infested, along the coast of Belgica and Armorica, and having captured numbers of the barbarians on several occasions, but having never given back the entire booty to the people of the province or sent it to the emperors, and there being a suspicion, in consequence, that the barbarians were intentionally allowed by him to congregate there, that he might seize them and their booty as they passed, and by that means enrich himself, assumed, on being sentenced by Maximian to be put to death, the imperial purple, and took on him the government of Britain. . . .

With Carausius, however, as hostilities were found vain against a man eminently skilled in war, a peace was at last arranged. At the end of seven years, Allectus, one of his supporters, put him to death, and held Britain himself for three years subsequently, but was cut off by the efforts of Asclepiodotus, praefect of the praetorian guard.
BlindadoNov 17, 2013
MarcAurelSestApoth.jpg
MAFJa34 ApotheosisMarcus Aurelius

Sestertius

Bare head, right, DIVVS M ANTONINVS PIVS
Eagle flying aloft, bearing Marcus Aurelius sitting left on its back, holding sceptre, CONSECRATIO SC

RIC 659 (Commodus)

Marcus Aurelius died on 17 March 180 in Vindobona (Vienna). The Historia Augusta records, Now his death came about like this: when he had begun to be ill, he called his son to him and first requested of him that he should not belittle what remained of the war [Commodus instead negotiated a hasty peace]. . . . Then he stopped eating and drinking, being eager to die, and made his illness worse. . . . On the seventh day, he became worse and allowed only his son in to him, and he even sent him away at once, in case he caught the disease. When he had done so, he covered his head as if wanting to sleep, but during the night he breathed his last."

Commodus had his father deified. Perhaps he found Faustina among the gods.
BlindadoNov 02, 2013
MarcAurelDenMars.jpg
MAFJa3 To War AgainMarcus Aurelius

Denarius

176-180

Draped, cuirassed, and laureate bust, right, M ANTONINVS AVG
Mars, helmeted, standing right, holding spear reversed and leaning on shield, COS III P P

RIC 419

After Faustina's death, Marcus returned to Rome and held a triumph in December 176. Then, according to the Historia Augusta, "he turned to finish off the war. . . . His son's character was already falling away from his own standards. For three years after this, he waged war with the Marcomanni, Hermunduri, Sarmatae, and Quadi, and if he had survived for a year longer, he would have made provinces out of them. Two days before he expired, his friends were admitted to his presence, and he is said to have expressed to them the same opinion about his son as Philip did about Alexander, when he thought ill of him, adding that he did not take it amiss at all that he was dying, only that he was dying leaving such a son to survive him. . . ."
2 commentsBlindadoNov 02, 2013
DivaFaustinaMoonStars.jpg
MAFJa2 Death of FaustinaFaustina

As

Draped bust right, hair waved, DIVA FAVSTINA PIA
Crescent moon and seven stars, SC in emerge

RIC 1714

In 175, Avidius Cassus, a loyal general in the East, declared himself emperor. According to the Historia Augusta, "Some say at the wish of Faustina, who was in despair about her husband's health [the implication being she did not want Commodus to take the purple]. Others say that Cassius called himself emperor when a report of the death of Antoninus had been fabricated--since he called Marcus 'the deified.'" When it became clear Marcus lived on, Cassius' own troops killed him.

Marcus set off to inspect the East with Faustina and Commodus accompanying him. The Historia Augusta relates, "He lost [in 176] his own Faustina, who expired at the onset of a sudden illness in the foothills of Mount Taurus, in the village of Halala. He requested that the Senate decree honors and a temple for Faustina, and likewise praised her. . . . He established new Faustinian girls in honor of his dead wife, and rendered thanks that she had been deified as well, by the Senate. . . . He also made the village where Faustina died a colony and built her a temple. . . . Fabia [sister of Lucius Verus] strove to be united in marriage when Faustina was dead, but he took as a concubine the daughter of a procurator of his wife, so as not to put a step-mother over so many children."
BlindadoNov 02, 2013
FaustinaIIAsJuno~0.jpg
MAFJa1 SeparationFaustina II

As

Draped bust, left, FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL
Juno seated left holding the three graces and scepter, peacock at feet, IVNO SC

The reverse is RIC 1400, for which only right-facing busts are listed.

Faustina was to spend years apart from her husband and probably traumatized as a mother shortly before his departure. The Historia Augusta records, "When about the set off for the German war. . . [Marcus] gave his daughter [Annia Aurelia Galeria Faustina] to [Gnaeus] Claudius [Severus, a Roman Senator from Pompeiopolis], a [man] of advanced age, son of a Roman knight and not of sufficiently noble family (subsequently [Marcus] made him Consul twice)--since his daughter was an Augusta and the daughter of an Augusta. But both Faustina and the girl who was being given in marriage regarded this wedding with reluctance. . . . Just before the day of his actual departure, [Marcus] lost his seven-year-old son, Verus Caesar by name, after an operation on a tumor under the ear. He mourned him for no more than five days, and after comforting the doctors returned to the affairs of state." How long, one wonders, did Faustina mourn?

According to the Historia Augusta, which at many points tends toward salacious gossip, "it is reasonably well known that Faustina chose both sailors and gladiators as paramours for herself at Caieta [where the couple spent several years after their marriage]. When Marcus was told about her, so that he might divorce her--if not execute her--he is reported to have said, "If we send our wife away, we must give back her dowry, too--and what dowry did he have but the empire. . . ?" During the German war, the text alleges, Faustina took pantomimists as lovers.

Whether or not the rumors had any basis in fact, Marcus thought highly of his wife and family situation. In his first meditation, he thanks the gods that "I have such a wife, so obedient, and so affectionate, and so simple; that I had abundance of good masters for my children." Perhaps the word from the horse's mouth is a better source than a history written more than a century later.

At some point, Marcus apparently saw the light, and Faustina joined him at the frontier. The Historia Augusta relates, "He had her with him even in the campaigning season, and [after her death] for this reason he gave her the title 'Mother of the Camp.'"
BlindadoOct 20, 2013
MarcAurelSestDanube.jpg
MAFJ9 Away to WarMarcus Aurelius

Sestertius
170

Laureate head, right, M ANTONINVS AVG TR P XXIIII
Aurelius on horse right holding spear, soldier in front with spear and shield, three soldiers behind him with standards, COS III PROFECTIO AVG S C

RIC 977

Marcus twice between 168 and 174 had to command armies in Germany and Pannonia, which took him to a rough, often cold and dark frontier not fit for other members of the imperial family. A RAND study of US military personnel subjected to repeated and lengthy deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq concluded, "Researchers found that cumulative months of deployment matter. More cumulative months of deployment increased the risk of divorce among military couples, regardless of when the couple married or when the deployment occurred. The risk of divorce was higher for hostile deployments than for non-hostile deployments. . . ." People are people, and similar strains appear to have affected Marcus and Faustina, and may have contributed to Commodus' personal development into a monster in the absence of his father.

Marcus' generals held the Marcommani at bay during the Parthian war, but on Lucius' return, according to the Historia Augusta, "[B]oth the emperors [in 68] set forth, clad in military cloak. Both the Victuali and Marcomanni were throwing everything into disorder, and other peoples as well, who had taken flight under pressure from the more distant barbarians, were going to make war unless they were allowed in. The emperors' departure produced no small gain, for, when they had come as far as Aquileia, most of the kings withdrew, together with their peoples, and put to death those responsible for the disturbances. . . . Marcus. . . believed that the barbarians were feigning both their retreat and other measures purporting to offer military security--to avoid being crushed by the weight of such great preparations; and he held they must press on. Finally, having crossed the Alps, they proceeded a considerable distance and settled everything pertinent to the defense of Italy and Illyricum." Lucius died during the return to Rome in 169, and Marcus became the sole ruler of the empire.

The Marcommani nevertheless invaded Italy in 170 and besieged Aquileia, and Marcus returned to war, planning an offensive on the Danube. Eutropius recorded:

Having persevered, therefore, with the greatest labour and patience, for three whole years at Carnuntum, he brought the Marcomannic war to an end; a war which the Quadi, Vandals, Sarmatians, Suevi, and all the barbarians in that quarter, had joined with the Marcomanni in raising; he killed several thousand men, and, having delivered the Pannonians from slavery, triumphed a second time at Rome with his son Commodus Antoninus, whom he had previously made Caesar. As he had no money to give his soldiers, in consequence of the treasury having been exhausted for the support of the war, and as he was unwilling to lay any tax on the provinces or the senate, he sold off all his imperial furniture and decorations, by an auction held in the forum of the emperor Trajan, consisting of vessels of gold, cups of crystal and murrha, silk garments belonging to his wife and himself, embroidered with gold, and numbers of jewelled ornaments. This sale was continued through two successive months, and a great quantity of money was raised from it.
1 commentsBlindadoOct 20, 2013
CommodusCaesAE23ApolloSmintheus.jpg
MAFJ8 Son and CaesarCommodus

AE 23
Alexandria (Troas)
Circa 175

Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, COMMODO CAE AV GER
Apollo Smintheus on short column standing right holding patera and bow, quiver over shoulder, COL AVG TROAD

RPC online 149, 3168, and 9698

Commodus was born in Lanuvium in 161. Marcus elevated him to Caesar in 175. The Historia Augusta, which treats Commodus as an unrelieved monster, records:

Faustina, when pregnant with Commodus and his brother, dreamed she was giving birth to snakes, one of which, however, was fiercer than the other. But when she had given birth to Commodus and to Antoninus, the latter, for whom the astrologers promised a horoscope equal to Commodus, was carried off at the age of four. . . . [S]traight from his earliest boyhood he was base, shameless, cruel, lecherous, defiled of mouth too and debauched, already adept at those arts which do not accord with the position of emperor, in that he could mold cups, dance, sing, whistle, even play the buffoon and gladiator to perfection. He gave warning of his future cruelty in his twelfth year, at Centumcellae. For when he happened to have taken a bath in rather tepid water, he ordered the bath-keeper to be cast into the furnace. Whereupon a sheepskin was burned in the furnace by the slave-tutor to whom this order had been given, to make him believe from the smell of the fumes that the penalty had been paid.

The history notes that Commodus' horrible character was once cause for rumors of Faustina's adultery, because people could not imagine that Marcus would beget such a successor, and a gladiator paramour seemed more plausible.
BlindadoOct 19, 2013
LucillaSestVenus~1.jpg
MAFJ7 Daughter and EmpressLucilla

Sestertius
Draped bust, right, LVCILLAE AVG ANTONINI AVG F
Venus standing facing left holding apple, drawing out robe, VENUS

RIC 1767

Marcus Aurelius betrothed Lucilla to Lucius Verus upon his elevation to the purple in 161. In 164, while Lucius was in the East waging the Parthian war, Marcus sent his daughter off to be wed. According to the Historia Augusta, "In the middle of the war, [Marcus] conducted as far as Brundisium both Civica, Verus' uncle, and his own daughter who was about to be married, in the care of her sister, having endowed her with money, and sent them to Verus." Lucius received her in Ephesus. She was implicated in a plot against her brother Commodus and dispatched in 182.
1 commentsBlindadoOct 19, 2013
LVerusAsTrophies~0.jpg
MAFJ6 Brother and EmperorLucius Verus

As
166-167

Laureate head, right, L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX
3 trophies, TR P VII IMP III[I] COS III

RIC 1464

Son of Aelius Caesar and adopted son of Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius elevated his adoptive brother to co-ruler in 161. At that time, according to the Historia Augusta, "To Lucius, legally his brother, he betrothed his daughter Lucilla. In honor of this union, they gave orders that new institutions of boys and girls, named after them, should be added to the state child-welfare scheme."

The Parthians launched an attack against Roman Syria that it had planned before the death of Pius, and Marcus, with the agreement of the Senate, dispatched Lucius to deal with the crisis. According to the Historia Augusta, "Verus, of course, after he arrived in Syria, lived in luxury at Antioch and Daphne, although he was acclaimed imperator while waging the Parthian war through legates." This coin's reverse honors his military victory over the Parthians in 165.

When Lucius returned to Rome, according to the Historia Augusta, "Lucius requested that Marcus should triumph with him. Lucius requested further that the sons [Commodus and M. Annius Verus] of Marcus should be called Caesars. But Marcus had such great moderation that, although he triumphed together with Lucius, yet after Lucius' death he called himself Germanicus only, because he had won that name for himself in his own war. At the triumph, moreover, they let Marcus' children of both sexes ride with them, even the unmarried girls." A family affair!
BlindadoOct 19, 2013
MarAurFaustinaCombo3.jpg
MAFJ5 Emperor and EmpressMarcus Aurelius
Sestertius
Dec 162-Autumn 163

Sestertius
Laureate head, right, IMP CAES M AVREL ANTONINVS AVG PM
Salus stg, SALVTI AVGVSTOR TR P XVII COS III SC

RIC 843

Faustina II
Denarius

Draped bust right, hair in a bun behind, FAVSTINA AVGVSTA
Fecundity (Faustina) standing left between two children, holding two more in arms, FECVND AVGVSTAE

RIC 676

The sestertius portrays Marcus within two years of his elevation to emperor in 161. Faustina's denarius, although undated in RIC, probably is from the same timeframe and presumably depicts the young girls Annia Aurelia Galeria Faustina and Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla, and the twin babies Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus (Commodus). Her portrait has taken on a more matronly air.
BlindadoOct 16, 2013
MarAurFaustinaCombo2.jpg
MAFJ4 Parents in an Age of Poor MedicineMarcus Aurelius as Caesar
Denarius
157-158

Bare head right, right, AVRELIVS CAES ANTON AVG P II F
Felicitas leaning on column left, holding caduceus and sceptre, TR POT X COS II

RIC 475a

Faustina II
Denarius

Draped bust right, stephane around head, FAVSTINAE AVG PII AVG FIL
Venus standing left, holding apple and dolphin-enwined rudder, VENVS

RIC 517b

Marcus is about 37 years old and has grown a beard. Faustina has born seven children, including Lucilla, who would one day marry Lucius Verus. Over half of her children have died. Her portrait seems to reveal a woman approaching middle age in privilege but sadness.
BlindadoOct 15, 2013
MarAurFaustinaCombo1.jpg
MAFJ2 The Teenage YearsAntoninus Pius
Denarius
140

Laureate head of Pius right, right, ANTONINVS AVG PI VS P P TR P COS III
Bare head of Aurelius right, right, AVRELIVS CAESAR AVG PII F COS

RIC 417a

Faustina II
Denarius

Draped bust right with single row of pearls around head, right, FAVSTINA AVG PII AVG FIL
Venus standing left holding apple & rudder, dove at foot, VENVS

RIC 515b

The Pius/Marcus coin was minted shortly after Marcus became Consul in 140, and the Faustina denarius probably at the same time or near the time of their marriage in 145. If the former is the case, Faustina about ten. If the latter, Faustina is about fourteen.
BlindadoOct 15, 2013
MarcAurSestMarriage.jpg
MAFJ3 The Marriage of Marcus and FaustinaMarcus Aurelius as Caesar
Sestertius

Bare head, right, AVRELIVS CAESAR AVG PII F COS II
Marcus Aurelius, Faustina, Concordia, VOTA PVBLICA SC

RIC 1253

Marcus was 24, and Faustina 14. The Historia Augusta records: The wedding [In 145] of [Antoninus Pius'] daughter Faustina, whom he espoused to Marcus Antoninus, he made most noteworthy, even to the extent of giving a donative to the soldiers. . . . [Marcus] married Faustina, and when they had a daughter [30 November 147] he was granted tribunician power and proconsular imperium outside the city.

In a letter to his teacher Fronto not long after the marriage, Marcus wrote with obvious affection, "Faustina has been feverish today also, and, in fact, I fancy I have noticed it more today. But the gods me thanked, she herself makes me less anxious by being such an obedient patient." In a letter written in 148-149, Marcus provided a small glimpse into his family life: "We are still experiencing summer heat. But since our little girls--we mustn't boast--are quite well, we think that we are enjoying the healthiest of weather and the balmy temperature of spring."
1 commentsBlindadoOct 15, 2013
AntPiusSestBetrothal.jpg
MAFJ1 The Betrothal of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina JuniorAntoninus Pius

Sestertius
ca 140

Laureate head of Antoninus Pius, right, ANTONINVS AVG PIVS PP TRP COS III
CONCORDIAE - Antoninus Pius standing right on left, holding Concordia, shaking hands with Faustina I to right; Marcus Aurelius and Faustina below in center, also shaking hands.

RIC 601

Marcus Annius Verus was born in Rome in 121. He was first betrothed to the daughter of Aelius Caesar, but after Aelius' death, Antoninus Pius adopted him. He took the name Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus.

The Historia Augusta records: Marcus Antoninus was a man who devoted himself to philosophy throughout his life and he excels all the principles in purity of character. His father was Annius Verus, who died during his praetorship. . . . His mother was Domitia Lucilla, daughter of the consul Calvisius Tullus. . . .He was brought up partly in the place where he was born and partly in the house of his grandfather Verus, next to the Lateran Palace. He was to marry his first cousin, Annia Faustina. . . . He assumed the toga of manhood in his fifteenth year [134] and at once was betrothed, at Hadrian's wish, to the daughter of Lucius Commodus. . . . After Hadrian's death, Pius immediately got his wife to ask Marcus if he would break off his betrothal to the daughter of Lucius Commodus and marry their own daughter Faustina (whom Hadrian had wanted to marry Commodus' son, even though he was badly matched in age). After thinking the matter over, Marcus replied he was willing. When this was arranged, Pius designated Marcus to be consul with himself [139]. . . and gave him the name of Caesar.

Marcus, at least, was given a choice, and would already have known Faustina well. One can imagine that Faustina, if she was old enough to grasp the implications, was relieved at the prospect of marrying the studious young man rather than someone far older than her.
1 commentsBlindadoOct 15, 2013
DomitianAsMoneta.jpg
1az Domitian81-96

As

Laureate head right, IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM COS XV CENS PER P P
Moneta std, MONETA AVGVSTI S C

RIC 708

Suetonius wrote: Domitian was born on the 24th of October AD51, a month before his father Vespasian took up office as consul. . . . When Vespasian died, Domitian considered granting his soldiers twice the bounty offered by his brother Titus, and had no qualms in claiming that his father’s will had been tampered with, since he had been due a half-share of the Empire. From then on, he plotted continually against his brother, openly and in secret. When Titus was gripped by his fatal illness, Domitian ordered him to be left for dead, before he had actually breathed his last. . . .

He governed inconsistently, displaying a mixture of virtue and vice, but after some time his virtues too gave way to vice, since he seems to have been made avaricious through lack of funds, and cruel through fear, contrary to his natural disposition. . . . Domitian was diligent and conscientiousness in his administration of justice, often holding special sittings on the tribunal in the Forum. . . . [I]n his private life, and even for some time after becoming Emperor, he was considered free of greed and avarice; and indeed often showed proof not only of moderation, but of real generosity. . . . His moderation and clemency however were not destined to last, his predilection to cruelty appearing somewhat sooner than his avarice. . . . In this way he became an object of terror to all, and so hated that he was finally brought down by a conspiracy of his companions and favourite freedmen, which also involved his wife, Domitia Longina.

Domitian was tall, and of a ruddy complexion, with large rather weak eyes, and a modest expression. He was handsome and attractive when young, his whole body well-made except for his feet with their short toes. Later, he lost his hair, and developed a protruding belly, while his legs became thin and spindly after a long illness. . . . He found exercise intolerable, seldom walked when in Rome and while travelling and on campaign rarely rode but used a litter. Weaponry in general held no interest for him, though he was exceptionally keen on archery. There are plenty of witnesses to his killing a hundred wild creatures or more at a time on his Alban estate, bringing them down with successive arrows planted so deftly as to give the effect of horns. . . .

At the beginning of his reign, he had the libraries, which had been damaged by fire, restored at great expense, instituting a search for copies of lost works, and sending scribes to Alexandria to transcribe and edit them. Yet he himself neglected liberal studies, and never bothered to interest himself in history or poetry, or even to acquire a decent writing style.
BlindadoOct 11, 2013
JuliaTitiDupVesta.jpg
1ax2 Julia TitiDupondius

Draped bust right, hair in bun at back of head, IVLIA IMP T AVG F AVGVSTA
S-C either side of Vesta enthroned left holding Victory, VESTA in ex

RIC 398

The daughter of Titus and Marcia Furnilla, she lived with her uncle Domitian for a time as his wife. Suetonius records, "He had been offered marriage with his niece, Julia, Titus’s daughter, while she was still a young girl, but refused her repeatedly because of his infatuation with Domitia Longina, yet he seduced Julia shortly afterwards, while Titus was still alive, and when she was newly married to Flavius Sabinus. After the deaths of her father and husband, he loved her ardently and openly, and indeed caused her death by forcing her to abort a child by him." When Domitian died at the age of 44, his nurse cremated his body and "secretly carried [the ashes] to the Flavian Temple and there mingled them with those of his niece Julia, Titus’s daughter whom she had also nurtured."
BlindadoOct 11, 2013
SextPompeyAs~0.jpg
1bd1 Sextus Pompey Battles OctavianPompey the Great

As, minted by son Sextus Pompey
43-36 BC

Janiform head with features of Pompey the Great, MAGN above.
Prow of galley, PIVS above, IMP below.

This engraver had at best a dim notion of what the great man looked like! Pompey was a member of the first triumvirate, 59-53 BC.
Struck by Sextus Pompey after his victory over Salvidienus and relates to his acclamation as the Son of Neptune. Although Sextus Pompey was the supreme naval commander, Octavian had the Senate declare him a public enemy. He turned to piracy and came close to defeating Octavian. He was, however, defeated by Marcus Agrippa at the naval battle of Naulochus (3 September 36 B.C.). He was executed by order of Mark Antony in 35 B.C.

Sydenham 1044a
BlindadoOct 03, 2013
PompeyDenNeptune.jpg
1ac1 Pompey the GreatFormed First Triumvirate with Caesar and Crassus in 60 BC. Murdered in Egypt, 48 BC.

Denarius, minted by son Sextus Pompey

42-40 BC

Head of Pompey the Great right between jug and lituus
Neptune right foot on prow, flanked by the Catanaean brothers, Anapias and Amphinomus, with their parents on their shoulders

Struck by Sextus Pompey after his victory over Salvidienus and relates to his acclamation as the Son of Neptune. Although Sextus Pompey was the supreme naval commander, Octavian had the Senate declare him a public enemy. He turned to piracy and came close to defeating Octavian. He was, however, defeated by Marcus Agrippa at the naval battle of Naulochus (3 September 36 B.C.). He was executed by order of Mark Antony in 35 B.C.

SRCV I 1392, RSC I Pompey the Great 17, Sydenham 1344, Crawford 511/3a, BM Sicily 93

Plutarch said of Pompey: In Pompey, there were many [causes] that helped to make him the object of [the Roman people's] love; his temperance, his skill and exercise in war, his eloquence of speech, integrity of mind, and affability in conversation and address; insomuch that no man ever asked a favour with less offence, or conferred one with a better grace. When he gave, it was without assumption; when he received, it was with dignity and honour.
1 commentsBlindadoOct 03, 2013
CaligulaAE27Caesonia.jpg
1ao2 Caesonia (?)AE 27 of Carthago Nova, Spain

Laureate head of Caligula, right, C CAESAR AVG GERMANIS
Draped bust of Caesonia (as Salus) right, DN ATEL FLAC CN POM FLAC II VIR Q V I N C, SAL AVG across field

Generally held to portray the fourth wife of Caligula.

Sear 624

Caesonia, Milonia, (d41AD) was the fourth and last wife of Caligula. Her younger half-brother was the Consul Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo. Her niece, Domitia Longina, married Domitian. In 41, Caligula was assassinated and Caesonia and her daughter Julia Drusilla murdered.

Suetonius states: As for Caesonia, who was neither young nor beautiful, had three daughters by another man, and was wildly promiscuous and extravagant, he not only loved her more passionately for it, but also more faithfully, taking her out riding, and showing her to the soldiers, dressed in a cloak with helmet and shield: while he exhibited her to his friends stark naked. He did not honour her with the title of wife until she had given him a child, announcing his paternity and the marriage on the very same day. This child, whom he named Julia Drusilla, he carried round all the temples of the goddesses, before finally entrusting her to Minerva’s lap, calling on that goddess to nurture and educate his daughter. Nothing persuaded him more clearly that she was his own issue than her violent temper, which was so savage the infant would tear at the faces and eyes of her little playmates. . . .

And as [Caligula] kissed the neck of wife or sweetheart, he never failed to say: ‘This lovely thing will be slit whenever I say.’ Now and then he even threatened his dear Caesonia with torture, if that was the only way of discovering why he was so enamoured of her. . . . Some think that Caesonia his wife administered a love potion that had instead the effect of driving him mad.
BlindadoSep 27, 2013
Tituria1DenSabines.jpg
0a Abduction of the SabinesL Titurius Sabinus, moneyer
90-85 BC

Head of Tativs, right, SABIN behind
Two Roman soldiers bearing women

Seaby, Tituria 1

When the hour for the games had come, and their eyes and minds were alike riveted on the spectacle before them, the preconcerted signal was given and the Roman youth dashed in all directions to carry off the [Sabine] maidens who were present. The larger part were carried off indiscriminately, but some particularly beautiful girls who had been marked out for the leading patricians were carried to their houses by plebeians told off for the task. One, conspicuous amongst them all for grace and beauty, is reported to have been carried off by a group led by a certain Talassius, and to the many inquiries as to whom she was intended for, the invariable answer was given, "For Talassius." Hence the use of this word in the marriage rites. Alarm and consternation broke up the games, and the parents of the maidens fled, distracted with grief, uttering bitter reproaches on the violators of the laws of hospitality and appealing to the god to whose solemn games they had come, only to be the victims of impious perfidy. The abducted maidens were quite as despondent and indignant. Romulus, however, went round in person, and pointed out to them that it was all owing to the pride of their parents in denying right of intermarriage to their neighbours. They would live in honourable wedlock, and share all their property and civil rights, and - dearest of all to human nature - would be the mothers of freemen. He begged them to lay aside their feelings of resentment and give their affections to those whom fortune had made masters of their persons. An injury had often led to reconciliation and love; they would find their husbands all the more affectionate, because each would do his utmost, so far as in him lay, to make up for the loss of parents and country. These arguments were reinforced by the endearments of their husbands, who excused their conduct by pleading the irresistible force of their passion - a plea effective beyond all others in appealing to a woman's nature.

The feelings of the abducted maidens were now pretty completely appeased, but not so those of their parents.

Livy, History of Rome 1.9-1.10
1 commentsBlindadoSep 21, 2013
Caecilia47Den.jpg
0aa2 Defeat of Hannibal in the Second Punic War, 202 BCQ. Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio
Imperator 47-46 BC

Denarius

Head of Jupiter, right, Q METEL PIVS
Elephant, right, SCIPIO IMP

Seaby, Caecilia 47

At least one theory for the depiction of the elephant on the reverse of this coin is that it refers to Scipio Africanus' defeat of Hannibal in the Battle of Zama in 202 BC, which ended the Second Punic War. It could also simply refer to the location of the mint in Africa. Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio became Pompey's father-in-law in 53 BC. in 49, he got the Senate to issue the ultimatum that Caesar disband his army before crossing the Rubicon River or be branded a public enemy. He commanded Pompey's center at Pharsalus. After Pompey's death, he fought on from North Africa. At Thapsus, Caesar routed Scipio again (46 BC). He escaped again only to fall on his sword and drown a few months later in a naval battle near Hippo.
BlindadoSep 08, 2013
SeverinaAntConcord.jpg
1dl SeverinaWife of Aurelian

AE antoninianus

Diademed, draped bust right, on crescent, right, SEVERINA AVG
Severina standing right, clasping hand of Emperor, standing left, CONCORDIA AVGG. Mintmark digamma XXIR.

RIC 3
BlindadoSep 08, 2013
MagniaUrbicaAntVenus.jpg
1dr2 Magnia UrbicaWife of Carinus

AE Antoninianus

Diademed & draped bust right, resting on crescent, right, MAGNIA VRBICA AVG
Venus standing left, leaning against shield, & holding helmet in right hand, scepter in left VENVS VICTRIX

RIC 347
BlindadoSep 08, 2013
JuliusCaesarDenEleph.jpg
1af Julius Caesar Wages Civil WarJulius Caesar

Denarius
49-48 BC

Elephant right, trampling on serpent [probably], CAESAR in ex
Simpulum, sprinkler, axe and priest's hat

Evidently a military issue, no agreement exists on the meaning of the coin's imagery (See a related thread on of the Classical Numismatic Discussion.)

Seaby 49

Given the chance that the coin was minted to pay Caesar's armies in the civil war, here is a description of the beginning, according to Suetonius: He then overtook his advanced guard at the River Rubicon, which formed the boundary between Gaul and Italy. There he paused for a while and, realising the magnitude of the step he was taking, turned to his staff, to remark: ‘We could turn back, even now; but once over that little bridge, and it will all come down to a fight.’ . . . As he stood there, undecided, he received a sign. A being of marvellous stature and beauty appeared suddenly, seated nearby, and playing on a reed pipe. A knot of shepherds gathered to listen, but when a crowd of his soldiers, including some of the trumpeters, broke ranks to join them, the apparition snatched a trumpet from one of them, ran to the river, and sounding the call to arms blew a thunderous blast, and crossed to the far side. At this, Caesar exclaimed: ‘Let us follow the summons, of the gods’ sign and our enemy’s injustice. The die is cast.’ And crossing with the army, he welcomed the tribunes of the people, who had fled to him from Rome. Then, in tears, he addressed the troops and, ripping open the breast of his tunic, asked for their loyalty.
BlindadoSep 07, 2013
VespDenSalus.jpg
1aw Vespasian69-79

Denarius
Laureate head, right, IMP CAES VESP AVG CEN
Salus seated left with patera, SALVS AVG

RIC 513 (C2)

Suetonius wrote: The Flavians seized power, and the Empire, long troubled and adrift, afflicted by the usurpations and deaths of three emperors, at last achieved stability. True they were an obscure family, with no great names to boast of, yet one our country has no need to be ashamed of. . . . Vespasian was born in the Sabine country, in the little village of Falacrinae just beyond Reate (Rieti), on the 17th of November 9 AD in the consulship of Quintus Sulpicius Camerinus and Gaius Poppaeus Sabinus, five years before the death of Augustus. He was raised by his paternal grandmother Tertulla on her estate at Cosa. . . .

Under Claudius, he was sent to Germany (in 41 AD) to command a legion, thanks to the influence of Narcissus. From there he was posted to Britain (in 43 AD), where partly under the leadership of Aulus Plautius and partly that of Claudius himself, he fought thirty times, subjugating two powerful tribes, more than twenty strongholds, and the offshore island of Vectis (the Isle of Wight). This earned him triumphal regalia, and a little later two priesthoods and the consulship (in 51 AD) which he held for the last two months of the year. . . . He won, by lot, the governorship of Africa (in 63 AD), ruling it soundly and with considerable dignity. . . .

An ancient and well-established belief became widespread in the East that the ruler of the world at this time would arise from Judaea. This prophecy as events proved referred to the future Emperor of Rome, but was taken by the Jews to apply to them. They rebelled, killed their governor, and routed the consular ruler of Syria also, when he arrived to restore order, capturing an Eagle. To crush the rebels needed a considerable force under an enterprising leader, who would nevertheless not abuse power. Vespasian was chosen, as a man of proven vigour, from whom little need be feared, since his name and origins were quite obscure. Two legions with eight divisions of cavalry and ten cohorts of auxiliaries were added to the army in Judaea, and Vespasian took his elder son, Titus, along as one of his lieutenants. . . .

Yet Vespasian made no move, though his follower were ready and eager, until he was roused to action by the fortuitous support of a group of soldiers unknown to him, and based elsewhere. Two thousand men, of the three legions in Moesia reinforcing Otho’s forces, despite hearing on the march that he had been defeated and had committed suicide, had continued on to Aquileia, and there taken advantage of the temporary chaos to plunder at will. Fearing that if they returned they would be held to account and punished, they decided to choose and appoint an emperor of their own, on the basis that they were every bit as worthy of doing so as the Spanish legions who had appointed Galba, or the Praetorian Guard which had elected Otho, or the German army which had chosen Vitellius. They went through the list of serving consular governors, rejecting them for one reason or another, until in the end they unanimously adopted Vespasian, who was recommended strongly by some members of the Third Legion, which had been transferred to Moesia from Syria immediately prior to Nero’s death. . . .

Vespasian, an unheralded and newly-forged emperor, as yet lacked even a modicum of prestige and divine majesty, but this too he acquired. . . . Returning to Rome (in 70 AD) attended by such auspices, having won great renown, and after a triumph awarded for the Jewish War, he added eight consulships (AD 70-72, 74-77, 79) to his former one, and assumed the censorship. He first considered it essential to strengthen the State, which was unstable and well nigh fatally weakened, and then to enhance its role further during his reign. . . .
2 commentsBlindadoSep 04, 2013
HonoriusAE3Emperors.jpg
1fa Honorius393-423

AE3

RIC 403

Pearl diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right, DN HONORIVS PF AVG
Two emperors standing facing, heads turned to one another, each holding spear and resting hand on shield, GLORIA ROMANORVM. Mintmark SMKA.

Zosimus wrote: [Theodosius] proceeded with his army to the war [against Eugenius], leaving behind him his son Arcadius, who had some time previously been made emperor. . . . Having done this, he took with him his younger son Honorius, quickly passed through the intermediate countries, and having exceded his expectations in crossing the Alps, arrived where the enemy was stationed. . . . The emperor Theodosius after these successes proceeded to Rome, where he declared his son Honorius emperor, and appointing Stilico to the command of his forces there, left him as guardian to his son. . . . The emperor Theodosius, having consigned Italy, Spain, Celtica, and Libya to his son Honorius, died of a disease on his journey towards Constantinople. . . .

THE whole empire being vested in Arcadius and Honorius, they indeed appeared by their title to possess the sovereign authority, although the universal administration of affairs was under Rufinus in the east, and under Stilico in the west. By these all causes were determined, at their own pleasure; for whoever bribed plentifully, or by any other means of friendship or consanguinity could make the judge his advocate, was sure to succeed in the process. From hence it happened that most of those great estates, which cause the possessors to be generally esteemed fortunate, devolved to these two; since some endeavoured by gifts to avoid false accusations, and others relinquished all their possessions to obtain an office, or in any other manner to purchase the ruin of particular cities. While iniquity of every kind presided, therefore, in the respective cities, the money from all quarters flowed into the coffers of Rufinus and Stilico ; while on the reverse, poverty preyed on the habitations of those who had formerly been rich. Nor were the emperors acquainted with anything that was done, but thought all that Rufinus and Stilico commanded was done by virtue of some unwritten law. . . .

After the autumn was terminated, and winter had commenced, Bassus and Philippus being chosen consuls, the emperor Honorius, who had long before lost his wife Maria, desired to marry her sister Thermantia. But Stilico appeared not to approve of the match, although it was promoted by Serena, who wished it to take place from these motives. When Maria was about to be married to Honorius, her mother, deeming her too young for the marriage-state and being unwilling to defer the marriage, although she thought that to submit so young and tender a person to the embraces of a man was offering violence to nature, she had recourse to a woman who knew how to manage such affairs, and by her means contrived that Maria should live with the emperor and share his bed, but that he should not have the power to deprive her of virginity. In the meantime Maria died a virgin, and Serena, who, as may readily be supposed, was desirous to become the grandmother of a young emperor or empress, through fear of her influence being diminished, used all her endeavours to marry her other daughter to Honorius. This being accomplished, the young lady shortly afterwards died in the same manner as the former. . . . .

For Stilico was desirous of proceeding to the east to undertake the management of the affairs of Theodosius, the son of Arcadius, who was very young, and in want of a guardian. Honorius himself was also inclined to undertake the same journey, with a design to secure the dominions of that emperor. But Stilico, being displeased at that, and laying before the emperor a calculation of the immense sum of money it would require to defray the expence of such an expedition, deterred him from the enterprise. . . .

In the mean time, the emperor Honorius commanded his wife Thermantia to be taken from the imperial throne, and to be restored to her mother, who notwithstanding was without suspicion. . . . Alaric began his expedition against Rome, and ridiculed the preparations made by Honorius. . . . The emperor Honorius was now entering on the consulship, having enjoyed that honour eight times, and the emperor Theodosius in the east three times. At this juncture the rebel Constantine sent some eunches to Honorius, to intreat pardon from him for having accepted of the empire. When the emperor heard this petition, perceiving that it was not easy for him, since Alaric and his barbarians were so near, to prepare for other wars ; and consulting the safety of his relations who were in the hands of the rebel, whose names were Verenianus and Didymius; he not only granted his request, but likewise sent him an imperial robe. . . .

Note: No ancient source reports the sack of Rome by the Goths in 410, they having besieged the city three times, all while Honorius huddled in a besieged Ravenna. Honorius retained his nominal capacity until he died in 423.
BlindadoSep 04, 2013
TheodosAE4VotMult~0.jpg
1eu Theodosius379-395

AE4

Pearl diademed, draped & cuirassed bust right, D N THEODOSIVS P F AVG
VOT V MVLT X within wreath, ASISC in ex

RIC 29d

Zosimus recorded: [Valentinian] commanded some legions from the stations in Pannonia and Moesia, to embark for Africa [to crush a rebellion]. On this the Sarmatians and the Quadi. . . , availing themselves, of the opportunity afforded by the departure of the legions for Africa, invaded the Pannonians and Moesians. . . . The barbarians therefore revenged themselves by plundering all the country along the Ister, carrying off all that they found in the towns. The Pannonians were by these means exposed to the cruelty of the barbarians, while the soldiers were extremely negligent in the defence of their towns, and committed as much mischief as the Barbarians themselves in all places on this side of the river. But Moesia was free from harm, because Theodosius, who commanded the forces there, courageously resisted the Barbarians, and routed them when they attacked him. By that victory he not only acquired great renown, but subsequently attained the imperial dignity. . . .

When the affairs of the empire were reduced to this low condition, Victor, who commanded the Roman cavalry, escaping the danger with some of his troops, entered Macedon and Thessaly. From thence he proceeded into Moesia and Pannonia, and informed Gratian, who was then in that quarter, of what had occurred, and of the loss of the emperor [Valens] and his army. Gratian received the intelligence without uneasiness, and was little grieved at the death of his uncle, a disagreement having existed between them. Finding himself unable to manage affairs, Thrace being ravaged by the Barbarians, as were likewise Pannonia and Moesia, and the towns upon the Rhine being infested by the neighbouring Barbarians without controul, he chose for his associate in the empire, Theodosius, who was a native of a town called Cauca, in the part of Spain called Hispania Callaecia, and who possessed great knowledge and experience of military affairs. Having given him the government of Thrace and the eastern provinces, Gratian himself proceeded to the west of Gaul, in order, if possible, to compose affairs in that quarter. . . .

During the stay of the new emperor, Theodosius, at Thesslonica, a great concourse arrived there from all parts of persons soliciting him on business, both public and private; who having obtained of him whatever he could conveniently grant, returned, to their homes. As a great multitude of the Scythians beyond the Ister, the Gotthi, and the Taiphali, and other tribes that formerly dwelt among them, had crossed the river, and were driven to infest the Roman dominions, because the Huns, had expelled them from their own country, the emperor Theodosius prepared for war with all his forces. . . . The army having made this good use of the occasion afforded by fortune, the affairs of Thrace, which had been on the brink of ruin, were now, the Barbarians being crushed beyond all hope, re-established in peace. . . .

Meanwhile, the emperor Theodosius, residing in Thessalonica, was easy of access to all who wished to see him. Having commenced his reign in luxury and indolence, he threw the magistracy into disorder, and increased the number of his military officers. . . . As he squandered the public money without consideration, bestowing it on unworthy persons, he consequently impoverished himself. He therefore sold the government of provinces to any who would purchase them, without regard to the reputation or ablity of the persons, esteeming him the best qualified who brought him the most gold or silver. . . .

Maximus, who deemed his appointments inferior to his merits, being only governor of the countries formerly under Gratian, projected how to depose the young Valentinian from the empire. . . . This so much surprised Valentinian, and rendered his situation so desperate, that his courtiers were alarmed lest he should be taken by Maximus and put to death. He, therefore, immediately embarked,and sailed to Thessalonica with his mother Justina. . . . [A]rriving at Thessalonica, they sent messengers to the emperor Theodosius, intreating him now at least to revenge the injuries committed against the family of Valentinian. . . . The emperor, being delivered from this alarm, marched with great resolution with his whole army against Maximus. . . . Theodosius, having passed through Pannonia and the defiles of the Appennines, attacked unawares the forces of Maximus before they were prepared for him. A part of his army, having pursued them with the utmost speed, forced their way through the gates of Aquileia, the guards being too few to resist them. Maximus was torn from his imperial throne while in the act of distributing money to his soldiers, and being stripped of his imperial robes, was brought to Theodosius, who, having in reproach enumerated some of his crimes against the commonwealth, delivered him to the common executioner to receive due punishment. . . . The emperor Theodosius, having consigned Italy, Spain, Celtica, and Libya to his son Honorius, died of a disease on his journey towards Constantinople.
BlindadoSep 04, 2013
JulianIIAE3VotX.jpg
1en Julian II "Apostate"360-363

AE3

Pearl-diademed, helmeted, cuirassed bust left, holding shield & spear, D N FL CL IVLIANVS P F AVG
VOT X MVLT XX in four lines within wreath, palm branch-BSIS-palm branch in ex [?].

RIC 415

According to Zosimus: Constantius, having so well succeeded in his design against Vetranio, marched against Magnentius, having first conferred the title of Caesar on Gallus, the son of his uncle, and brother to Julian who was afterwards emperor, and given him in marriage his sister Constantia. . . . CONSTANTIUS, after having acted towards Gallus Caesar in the manner I have related, left Pannonia to proceed into Italy. . . . He scarcely thought himself capable of managing affairs at this critical period. He was unwilling, however, to associate any one with himself in the government, because he so much desired to rule alone, and could esteem no man his friend. Under these circumstances he was at a loss how to act. It happened, however, that when the empire was in the greatest danger, Eusebia, the wife of Constantius, who was a woman of extraordinary learning, and of greater wisdom than her sex is usually endowed with, advised him to confer the government of the nations beyond the Alps on Julianus Caesar, who was brother to Gallus, and grandson to Constantius. As she knew that the emperor was suspicious of all his kindred, she thus circumvented him. She observed to him, that Julian was a young man unacquainted with the intrigues of state, having devoted himself totally to his studies; and that he was wholly inexperienced in worldly business. That on this account he would be more fit for his purpose than any other person. That either he would be fortunate, and his success would be attributed to the emperor's conduct, or that he would fail and perish; and that thus Constantius would have none of the imperial family to succeed to him.

Constantius, having approved her advice, sent for Julian from Athens, where he lived among the philosophers, and excelled all his masters in every kind of learning. Accordingly, Julian returning from Greece into Italy, Constantius declared him Caesar, gave him in marriage his sister Helena, and sent him beyond the Alps. . . .

Constantius, having thus disposed of Julian, marched himself into Pannonia and Moesia, and having there suppressed the Quadi and the Sarmatians, proceeded to the east, and was provoked to war by the inroads of the Persians. Julian by this time had arrived beyond the Alps into the Gallic nations which he was to rule. Perceiving that the Barbarians continued committing the same violence, Eusebia, for the same reasons as before, persuaded Constantius to place the entire management of those countries into the hands of Julian. . . . Julian finding the military affairs of Gallia Celtica in a very ruinous state, and that the Barbarians pased the Rhine without any resistance, even almost as far as the sea-port towns, he took a survey of the remaining parts of the enemy. And understanding that the people of those parts were terrified at the very name of the Barbarians, while those whom Constantius had sent along with him, who were not more than three hundred and sixty, knew nothing more, as he used to say, than how to say their prayers, he enlisted as many more as he could and took in a great number of volunteers. He also provided arms, and finding a quantity of old weapons in some town he fitted them up, and distributed them among the soldiers. The scouts bringing him intelligence, that an immense number of Barbarians had crossed the river near the city of Argentoratum (Strasburg) which stands on the Rhine, he no sooner heard of it, than he led forth his army with the greatest speed, and engaging with the enemy gained such a victory as exceeds all description.

After these events he raised a great army to make war on the whole German nation; He was opposed however by the Barbarians in vast numbers. Caesar therefore would not wait while they came up to him, but crossed the Rhine, preferring that their country should be the seat of war, and not that of the Romans, as by that means the cities would escape being again pillaged by the Barbarians. A most furious battle therefore took place; a great number of the Barbarians being slain on the field of battle, while the rest fled, and were pursued by Caesar into the Hercynian forest, and many of them killed. . . .

But while Julian was at Parisium, a small town in Germany, the soldiers, being ready to march, continued at supper till midnight in a place near the palace, which they so called there. They were as yet ignorant of any design against Caesar [by Constantius], when some tribunes, who began to suspect the contrivance against him, privately distributed a number of anonymous billets among the soldiers, in which they represented to them, that Caesar, by his judicious conduct had so managed affairs, that almost all of them had erected trophies over the Barbarians ; that he had always fought like a private soldier, and was now in extreme danger from the emperor, who would shortly deprive him of his whole army, unless they prevented it. Some of the soldiers having read these billets, and published the intrigue to the whole army, all were highly enraged. They suddenly rose from their seats in great commotion, and with the cups yet in their hands went to the palace. Breaking open the doors without ceremony, they brought out Caesar, and lifting him on a shield declared him emperor and Augustus. They then, without attending to his reluctance, placed a diadem upon his head. . . .

Arriving at Naisus, he consulted the soothsayers what measures to pursue. As the entrails signified that he must stay there for some time, he obeyed, observing likewise the time that was mentioned in his dream. When this, according to the motion of the planets, was arrived, a party of horsemen arrived from Constantinople at Naisus, with intelligence that Constantius was dead, and that the armies desired Julian to be emperor. Upon this he accepted what the gods had bestowed upon him, and proceeded on his journey. On his arrival at. Byzantium, he was received with joyful acclamations. . . .

[After slashing through Persia and crossing the Tigris,] they perceived the Persian army, with which they engaged, and having considerably the advantage, they killed a great number of Persians. Upon the following day, about noon, the Persians drew up in a large body, and once more attacked the rear of the Roman army. The Romans, being at that time out of their ranks, were surprised and alarmed at the suddenness of the attack, yet made a stout and spirited defence. The emperor, according to his custom, went round the army, encouraging them to fight with ardour. When by this means all were engaged, the emperor, who sometimes rode to the commanders and tribunes, and was at other times among the private soldiers, received a wound in the heat of the engagement, and was borne on a shield to his tent. He survived only till midnight. He then expired, after having nearly subverted the Persian empire.

Note: Julian favored the pagan faith over Christianity and was tarred by the church as "the apostate."
BlindadoSep 04, 2013
ConstansAE3GlorEx.jpg
1ei Constans337-350

AE3

RIC 93

Rosette diademed, draped & cuirassed bust, right, CONSTANS P F AVG
Two soldiers standing to either side of one standard with chi-rho on banner, GLORIA EXERCITVS, [A]SIS-crescent in ex.

Constans received Italy, Africa, and the Balkans when the empire was divided. He took charge of the remainder of the West after Constantine II imprudently attacked him in 340. Zosimus recorded, "Constans, having thus removed his brother, exercised every species of cruelty toward his subjects, exceeding the most intolerable tyranny. He purchased some well favoured Barbarians, and had others with him as hostages, to whom he gave liberty to harrass his subjects as they pleased, in order to gratify his vicious disposition. In this manner he reduced all the nations that were subject to him to extreme misery. This gave uneasiness to the court guards, who perceiving that he was much addicted to hunting placed themselves under the conduct of Marcellinus prefect of the treasury, and Magnentius who commanded the Joviani and Herculiani (two legions so termed), and formed a plot against him in the following manner. Marcellinus reported that he meant to keep the birth-day of his sons, and invited many of the superior officers to a feast. Amongst the rest Magnentius rose from table and left the room; he presently returned, and as it were in a drama stood before them clothed in an imperial robe. Upon this all the guests saluted him with the title of king, and the inhabitants of Augustodunum, where it was done, concurred in the same sentiment. This transaction being rumoured abroad, the country people flocked into the city; while at the same time a party of Illyrian cavalry who came to supply the Celtic legions, joined themselves with those that were concerned in the enterprize. When the officers of the army were met together, and heard the leaders of the conspiracy proclaim their new emperor, they scarcely knew the meaning of it; they all, however, joined in the acclamation, and saluted Magnentius with the appellation of Augustus. When this became known to Constans, he endeavoured to escape to a small town called Helena, which lies near the Pyrenean mountains. He was taken by Gaison, who was sent with some other select persons for that purpose, and being destitute of all aid, was killed. "
BlindadoSep 04, 2013
ConstantineIIAE3BeataTr.jpg
1eh Constantine II337-340

AE3, London

Radiate, draped, cuirassed bust left, seen from the back, CONSTANTINVS IVN N C
Altar inscribed VOT-IS-XX, F-B across fields, three stars above, BEAT TRANQVILLITAS. Mintmark PLON.

Constantine II received Britain, Gaul, and Spain of the empire after Constantine's death. He quarreled with his brother Constans over territory, invaded Italy, and died in an ambush.

RIC 255
BlindadoSep 04, 2013
DelmatiusAE3GlorEx.jpg
1eg DelmatiusCaesar 335-337

AE3, Thessalonica

Laureate, cuirassed bust, right, FL DELMATIVS NOB C two soldiers holding spears and shields with two standards between them, O on banner, GLORIA EXERCITVS. Mintmark: SMTSD.

RIC 202D

Zosimus recorded: After Constantine had oppressed and tormented the people in these various modes, he died of a disease, and was succeeded by his three sons, who were not born of Fausta the daughter of Maximianus Herculius, but of another woman, whom he had put to death for adultery. They devoted themselves more to the pleasures of youth than to the service of the state. They began by dividing the nations between them. Constantine the eldest, and Constans the youngest, having for their share all beyond the Alps, together with Italy and Illyricum, the countries bordering on the Euxine sea and all that belonged to Carthage in Africa; Constantius obtained all Asia, the east, and Egypt. There were likewise others who shared in the government; Dalmatius, whom Constantine made Caesar, Constantius his brother, and Hanniballianus, who had all worn robes of purple embroidered with gold, and were promoted to the order of Nobilissimates by Constantine, from respect to their being of his own family. . . . The empire being thus divided, Constantius who appeared to take pains not to fall short of his father in impiety, began by shedding the blood of his nearest relations. He first caused Constantius, his father's brother, to be murdered by the soldiers ; next to whom he treated Dalmatius in the same manner, as also Optatus whom Constantine had raised to the rank of a Nobilissimate.

A great-nephew of Constantine the Great.
BlindadoSep 04, 2013
CrispusAE3Victoria.jpg
1ef CrispusCaesar 317-326

AE3, Thessalonica

Laureate, draped & cuirassed bust, right, D N FL IVL CRISPVS NOB CAES
Victory advancing left, holding wreath and palm, VICTORIA CAESS NN. Mintmark dot TS dot epsilon dot.

Zosimus recorded Crispus' elevation to Caesar: "Constantine, having taken Cibalis, and Sirmium, and all the towns that Licinius had abandoned, sent five thousand men in pursuit of him. But as these were ignorant of the course he had taken, they could not overtake him. Constantine however, having rebuilt the bridge over the Saus, which Licinius had broken down, was with his army almost at his heels. Having entered Thrace, he arrived at the plain where Licinius lay encamped. On the night of his arrival there he marshalled his army, and gave orders for his soldiers to be ready for battle by day-break. As soon as it was light, Licinius, perceiving Constantine with his army, drew up his forces also, having been joined by Valens, whom he styled Caesar, after the battle of Cibalis. When the armies engaged, they first fought with bows at a distance ; but when their arrows were spent, they began to use their javelins, and poignards. Thus the battle continued very obstinately for a considerable time, until those whom Constantine had sent in pursuit of Licinius descended from an eminence upon the armies while they were engaged. These wheeled round the hill |46 before they arrived at them, deeming it best to join their own party from the higher ground, and to encompass the enemy. The troops of Licinius, being aware of them, courageously withstood against them all, so that many thousands were slain on both sides, and the advantage was equal, till the signal was given for both to retire. Next day they agreed on a truce, and entered into an alliance with each other, on condition that Constantine should possess Illyricum and all the nations westward, and that Licinius should have Thrace and the east; but that Valens, whom Licinius had made Caesar, should be put to death, because be was said to be the author of all the mischief which had happened. Having done this, and sworn on both sides to observe the conditions, Constantine conferred the rank and title of Caesar on Crispus, his son by a concubine called Minervina, who was as yet but a youth, and on Constantine, who was born but a few days before at Arelatum. At the same time Licinianus, the son of Licinius, who was twenty months of age, was declared Caesar, Thus ended the second war."

According to Zonaras, "By a concubine he also had another son, called Crispus, older than his other sons, who distinguished himself often in the war against Licinius. His stepmother Fausta, being erotically obsessed with him, since she did not find him compliant, denounced him to his father as being in love with her and as having often attempted to use force against her. Hence, Crispus was condemned to death by his father, who had been persuaded by his spouse."

Constantine had his son strangled to death in Pula.

RIC 62
BlindadoSep 04, 2013
JuliaDomDenVenus.jpg
1bt Julia DomnaDenarius

Draped bust, right, IVLIA AVGVSTA
Venus with bare bottom, VENERI VICTR

RIC 536

According to the Historia Augusta, "Next [Septimius Severus] was appointed legate of Lugdunensis. When he wished to marry a second time, after losing his wife, he investigated the horoscopes of potential brides, being very skilled in astrology himself, and since he had heard that there was a certain woman in Syria whose horoscope forecast that she would marry a king, he sought her hand. It was of courseJulia, and he gained her as his bride through the mediation offriends. She at once made him a father! . . . [A]s concerns his family he was less careful, retaining his wife Julia who was notorious for her adulteries and was also guilty of conspiracy."
BlindadoSep 02, 2013
JulianIIAE1Bull.jpg
1i Last Bid to Revitalize Pagan ReligionJulian II
360-363

AE1

Portrait, right, D N FL CL IVLIANVS P F AVG
Bull, eagle, and two stars, SECVRITAS REIPVB, PCONST in ex.

Julian "the Apostate" issued this coin with the symbols of Jupiter on the reverse as part of his campaign to breath life back into pagan faith.

RIC 318
BlindadoAug 31, 2013
PhillipISestertMILSECVLARUM.jpg
1f 1,000 Years of RomePhilip I
244-249

Sestertius

IMP M IVL PHILIPPVS AVG, laureate, draped & cuirassed bust right
MILITARIVM SAECVLVM, Cippus inscribed COS/III; S C across fields

Struck in 248 too commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of the founding of Rome

RIC 157A
BlindadoAug 31, 2013
TrajanSestMesopotamia.jpg
1cd Conquests of Trajan: Armenia and MesopotamiaTrajan
98-117

Sestertius

Portrait, right, IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTI]MO AVG GER DAC PARTHICO PM [TR P COS VI PP]
Armenia in attitude of mourning at Trajan's feet right, Euphrates and Tigris reclining, SC

RIC 642
BlindadoAug 31, 2013
TrajanSestParthia.jpg
1cc Conquests of Trajan: ParthiaTrajan
98-117

Sestertius

Laureate & draped bust right
REX PARTHIS DATVS, Trajan seated left on platform presenting Parthamaspates to kneeling Parthian, SC in ex

Trajan waged the Parthian War from 114 to 117. Roman victory brings Armenia, Mesopotamia and Assyria as new provinces into the Empire.

RIC 667
BlindadoAug 31, 2013
APlautiusDenJudea.jpg
1ab Conquest of JudeaA. Plautius, moneyer
c. 54 BC

Denarius

Turreted head of Cybele, A PLAVTIVS before, AED CVR SC behind
Bacchius kneels right with camel at his side, extending olive branch, BACCHIVS in ex., IVDAEVS in right

Seaby, Plautia 13

The reverse appears to Pompey's conquest of Judaea in 63 BC.

Josephus recorded of Pompey's conquest of Jerusalem: And when he was come to the city, he looked about where he might make his attack; for he saw the walls were so firm, that it would be hard to overcome them; and that the valley before the walls was terrible; and that the temple, which was within that valley, was itself encompassed with a very strong wall, insomuch that if the city were taken, that temple would be a second place of refuge for the enemy to retire to. . . . Aristobulus's party was worsted, and retired into the temple, and cut off the communication between the temple and the city, by breaking down the bridge that joined them together, and prepared to make an opposition to the utmost; but as the others had received the Romans into the city, and had delivered up the palace to him, Pompey sent Piso, one of his great officers, into that palace with an army, who distributed a garrison about the city, because he could not persuade any one of those that had fled to the temple to come to terms of accommodation; he then disposed all things that were round about them so as might favor their attacks, as having Hyrcanus's party very ready to afford them both counsel and assistance. . . . But Pompey himself filled up the ditch that was oil the north side of the temple, and the entire valley also, the army itself being obliged to carry the materials for that purpose. And indeed it was a hard thing to fill up that valley, by reason of its immense depth, especially as the Jews used all the means possible to repel them from their superior situation; nor had the Romans succeeded in their endeavors, had not Pompey taken notice of the seventh days, on which the Jews abstain from all sorts of work on a religious account, and raised his bank, but restrained his soldiers from fighting on those days; for the Jews only acted defensively on sabbath days.
BlindadoAug 31, 2013
TrajanDupColumn.jpg
1ca Conquests of Trajan: DaciaTrajan
98-117

Dupondius

Portrait, right, IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V PP
Trajan's column, SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI SC

Trajan's Column records the military history of the emperor's conquest of Dacia in 104.

RIC 603
BlindadoAug 31, 2013
TrajanDenArabia.jpg
1cb Conquests of Trajan: ArabiaTrajan
98-117

Denarius

Portrait, right, IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS VI P P
Arabia and camel, SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI

Trajan annexed the Nabatean kingdom of Petra in 106.

RIC 245

BlindadoAug 31, 2013
GermanicusDupDEVICTISGERM.jpg
1be Germanicus Recovers the Legionary Standards Lost by VarusGermanicus

Dupondius, struck by Caligula
37-41

GERMANICVS CAESAR, Germanicus in quadriga right.
SIGNIS RECEPT DEVICTIS GERM S-C, Germanicus standing left with eagle-tipped scepter

Commemorates the recovery by Germanicus, who was Caligila's father, of the legionary standards lost by Varus in the Teutoburg Forest

RIC 57
BlindadoAug 31, 2013
ClaudiusAE28Caesar_Augustus.jpg
1bb Octavian's Succession of Julius CaesarClaudius, Philippi, Macedon
Date unknown

AE 26

TI CLAVDIVS CAES AVG P M TR P IMP P P, Bare head left
COL AVG IVL PHILIP, Statue of Divus Julius being crowned by statue of Divus Augustus

I'm guessing this coin was meant to emphasize the succession of legitimacy from Julius Caesar to Augustus.

RPC 1654
BlindadoAug 31, 2013
MarcAntonyDenGalley.jpg
1bd Mark Antony Battles OctavianMark Antony
32-31 BC

Denarius

Galley, ANT AVG III VIR R P C, counter-marked
Legionary eagle between two standards, counter-marked

Seaby, Mark Antony 26ff

Plutarch described the outbreak of the conflict thusly: That night Antony had a very unlucky dream, fancying that his right hand was thunderstruck. And, some few days after, he was informed that Caesar was plotting to take his life. Caesar explained, but was not believed, so that the breach was now made as wide as ever; each of them hurried about all through Italy to engage, by great offers, the old soldiers that lay scattered in their settlements, and to be the first to secure the troops that still remained undischarged. Cicero was at this time the man of greatest influence in Rome. He made use of all his art to exasperate the people against Antony, and at length persuaded the senate to declare him a public enemy, to send Caesar the rods and axes and other marks of honour usually given to proctors, and to issue orders to Hirtius and Pansa, who were the consuls, to drive Antony out of Italy.
BlindadoAug 31, 2013
Aemilia10.jpg
0ac Conquest of MacedoniaPaullus Aemilius Lepidus, moneyer
109-100 BC

Denarius

Veiled head of Concord, right, PAVLLVS LEPIDVS CONCORDIA
TER above trophy, L. Aemelius Lepidus on right, Perseus and his two sons as prisoners on left, PAVLLVS in ex.

Seaby, Aemelia 10

L. Aemelius Paullus defeated the Macedonians in 168 BC and brought Perseus and his sons to Rome to adorn his triumph.

Three days after the battle Perseus arrived at Amphipolis, and from that city he sent heralds with a caduceus to Paulus. In the meanwhile Hippias, Midon, and Pantauchus, the principal men among the king's friends who had fled from the field of battle to Beroea, went and made their surrender to the Roman consul. In the case of others also, their fears prompted them, one after another, to do the same. The consul sent his son Q. Fabius, together with L. Lentulus and Q. Metellus, with despatches to Rome announcing his victory. He gave the spoils taken from the enemy's army lying on the field of battle to the foot soldiers and the plunder from the surrounding country to the cavalry on condition that they were not absent from the camp more than two nights. The camp at Pydna was shifted to a site nearer the sea. First of all Beroea, then Thessalonica and Pella, and almost the whole of Macedonia, city by city, surrendered within two days.

Livy, History of Rome, 44.45
BlindadoAug 31, 2013
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