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Claudius II Posthumous antoninianus. DIVO CLAVDIO, radiate head right / CONSECRATIO, garlanded altar with flames above, no decoration on front. Minster hoard 478.
*Claudius II ("Claudius Gothicus"), the first of the soldier-emperors, ruled for less than two years (268–270 AD). His destruction of the Gothic cavalry earned him the name of Gothicus. He died of smallpox in January 270 and was deified by his brother Quintillus who succeeded him for a short time.Antonivs Protti
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195 - 211, SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS, AR Denarius, Struck 210 at Rome, alluding to BritanniaObverse: SEVERVS PIVS AVG BRIT. Laureate head of Septimius Severus facing right.
Reverse: VICTORIAE BRIT. Victory standing right, holding palm branch in her right hand and placing uninscribed shield on palm tree with her left.
Diameter: 20mm | Weight: 2.83gms | Die Axis: 7h
RIC IV: 336 | RSC: 730 | SRCV: 6384 | SPINK: 651A
SCARCE
This coin commemorates the success of the Roman campaigns in Scotland during 209 and 210 culminating in the death of Severus at York, England, in February 211.
SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS
Lucius Septimius Severus was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna in the Roman province of Africa.
Severus seized power after the death of the emperor Pertinax in 193 (the Year of the Five Emperors).
After consolidating his rule over the western provinces, Severus waged a brief, successful war in the east against the Parthian Empire, sacked their capital Ctesiphon, expanded the eastern frontier to the Tigris and enlarged and fortified the Limes Arabicus in Arabia Petraea. In 202, he campaigned in Africa and Mauretania against the Garamantes, captured their capital Garama and expanded the Limes Tripolitanus along the southern desert frontier of the empire. In 198 he raised his elder son Caracalla to Augustus and in 209 did the same to his younger son, Geta.
In AD 209 Severus invaded Caledonia (modern Scotland) with an army of 50,000 men, but he fell fatally ill of an infectious disease in late 210 and died at Eboracum (York, England) early in 211.
SEVERUS' CAMPAIGNS IN BRITAIN
In 208 Septimius Severus travelled to Britain with the intention of conquering Caledonia (Scotland). Modern archaeological discoveries have helped to throw some light on the scope and direction of this northern campaign.
Severus began by occupying the territory up to the Antonine Wall, this is evidenced by extensive Severan era fortifications and the likely reoccupation of some of the forts on that wall. Over the previous years Hadrian's Wall had fallen into disrepair and Severus strengthened and repaired much of it, he did this to such an extent that many early Antiquarians thought that he was the emperor who had actually built it. Severus constructed a 165-acre (67 ha) camp south of the Antonine Wall at Trimontium, probably assembling the main body of his forces there. Severus then thrust north across the Antonine Wall into Caledonian territory, supported and supplied by a strong naval force. He retraced the steps of Agricola of over a century before, rebuilding many abandoned Roman forts along the east coast, and he re-garrisoned the naval base at Carpow, likely built by Commodus in 185, and possibly the place named as "Horrea Classis" or "Poreo Classis" in the Ravenna Cosmography.
By 210 Severus' campaigning had made significant gains, despite Caledonian guerrilla tactics and purportedly heavy Roman casualties.
According to Cassius Dio: “Severus did not desist until he approached the extremity of the island. Here he observed most accurately the variation of the sun's motion and the length of the days and the nights in summer and winter respectively. Having thus been conveyed through practically the whole of the hostile country (for he actually was conveyed in a covered litter most of the way, on account of his infirmity), he returned to the friendly portion, after he had forced the Britons to come to terms, on the condition that they should abandon a large part of their territory.”
The Caledonians had sued for peace, which Severus had granted on the condition that they relinquished control of the Central Lowlands of Scotland, but later that year (210), they, along with the Maeatae, revolted. Severus prepared for another campaign, now intent on exterminating the Caledonians. However the campaign was cut short when Severus fell ill and withdrew south to Eboracum (York) where he died on 4 February 211. Severus was succeeded by his sons, Caracalla and Geta. Caracalla continued campaigning in Caledonia during 212 but soon settled for peace, and shortly after that the frontier was withdrawn south to Hadrian's Wall.
On his death, Severus was deified by the Senate and his remains were buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome.
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*Alex
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195 - 211, SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS, AR Denarius, Struck 210 at Rome, alluding to BritanniaObverse: SEVERVS PIVS AVG BRIT. Laureate head of Septimius Severus facing right.
Reverse: VICTORIAE BRIT. Victory seated on shield facing left, holding another shield resting on her knee in her right hand and palm branch in her left.
Diameter: 19mm | Weight: 2.35gms | Die Axis: 12h
RIC IV: 335 | RSC: 731 | SRCV: 6385 | SPINK: 651C
SCARCE
This coin commemorates the success of the Roman campaigns in Scotland during 209 and 210 culminating in the death of Severus at York, England, in February 211.
SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS
Lucius Septimius Severus was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna in the Roman province of Africa.
Severus seized power after the death of the emperor Pertinax in 193 (the Year of the Five Emperors).
After consolidating his rule over the western provinces, Severus waged a brief, successful war in the east against the Parthian Empire, sacked their capital Ctesiphon, expanded the eastern frontier to the Tigris and enlarged and fortified the Limes Arabicus in Arabia Petraea. In 202, he campaigned in Africa and Mauretania against the Garamantes, captured their capital Garama and expanded the Limes Tripolitanus along the southern desert frontier of the empire. In 198 he raised his elder son Caracalla to Augustus and in 209 did the same to his younger son, Geta.
In AD 209 Severus invaded Caledonia (modern Scotland) with an army of 50,000 men, but he fell fatally ill of an infectious disease in late 210 and died at Eboracum (York, England) early in 211.
SEVERUS' CAMPAIGNS IN BRITAIN
In 208 Septimius Severus travelled to Britain with the intention of conquering Caledonia (Scotland). Modern archaeological discoveries have helped to throw some light on the scope and direction of this northern campaign.
Severus began by occupying the territory up to the Antonine Wall, this is evidenced by extensive Severan era fortifications and the likely reoccupation of some of the forts on that wall. Over the previous years Hadrian's Wall had fallen into disrepair and Severus strengthened and repaired much of it, he did this to such an extent that many early Antiquarians thought that he was the emperor who had actually built it. Severus constructed a 165-acre (67 ha) camp south of the Antonine Wall at Trimontium, probably assembling the main body of his forces there. Severus then thrust north across the Antonine Wall into Caledonian territory, supported and supplied by a strong naval force. He retraced the steps of Agricola of over a century before, rebuilding many abandoned Roman forts along the east coast, and he re-garrisoned the naval base at Carpow, likely built by Commodus in 185, and possibly the place named as "Horrea Classis" or "Poreo Classis" in the Ravenna Cosmography.
By 210 Severus' campaigning had made significant gains, despite Caledonian guerrilla tactics and purportedly heavy Roman casualties.
According to Cassius Dio: “Severus did not desist until he approached the extremity of the island. Here he observed most accurately the variation of the sun's motion and the length of the days and the nights in summer and winter respectively. Having thus been conveyed through practically the whole of the hostile country (for he actually was conveyed in a covered litter most of the way, on account of his infirmity), he returned to the friendly portion, after he had forced the Britons to come to terms, on the condition that they should abandon a large part of their territory.”
The Caledonians had sued for peace, which Severus had granted on the condition that they relinquished control of the Central Lowlands of Scotland, but later that year (210), they, along with the Maeatae, revolted. Severus prepared for another campaign, now intent on exterminating the Caledonians. However the campaign was cut short when Severus fell ill and withdrew south to Eboracum (York) where he died on 4 February 211. Severus was succeeded by his sons, Caracalla and Geta. Caracalla continued campaigning in Caledonia during 212 but soon settled for peace, and shortly after that the frontier was withdrawn south to Hadrian's Wall.
On his death, Severus was deified by the Senate and his remains were buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome.
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*Alex
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195 - 211, SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS, AR Denarius, Struck 210 at Rome, alluding to BritanniaObverse: SEVERVS PIVS AVG BRIT. Laureate head of Septimius Severus facing right.
Reverse: VICTORIAE BRIT. Victory advancing right, holding wreath in her outstretched right hand and palm branch in her left.
Diameter: 19mm | Weight: 3.5gms | Die Axis: 6h
RIC IV: 332 | RSC: 727 | SRCV: 6382 | SPINK: 650
SCARCE
This coin commemorates the success of the Roman campaigns in Scotland during 209 and 210 culminating in the death of Severus at York, England, in February 211.
SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS
Lucius Septimius Severus was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna in the Roman province of Africa.
Severus seized power after the death of the emperor Pertinax in 193 (the Year of the Five Emperors).
After consolidating his rule over the western provinces, Severus waged a brief, successful war in the east against the Parthian Empire, sacked their capital Ctesiphon, expanded the eastern frontier to the Tigris and enlarged and fortified the Limes Arabicus in Arabia Petraea. In 202, he campaigned in Africa and Mauretania against the Garamantes, captured their capital Garama and expanded the Limes Tripolitanus along the southern desert frontier of the empire. In 198 he raised his elder son Caracalla to Augustus and in 209 did the same to his younger son, Geta.
In AD 209 Severus invaded Caledonia (modern Scotland) with an army of 50,000 men, but he fell fatally ill of an infectious disease in late 210 and died at Eboracum (York, England) early in 211.
SEVERUS' CAMPAIGNS IN BRITAIN
In 208 Septimius Severus travelled to Britain with the intention of conquering Caledonia (Scotland). Modern archaeological discoveries have helped to throw some light on the scope and direction of this northern campaign.
Severus began by occupying the territory up to the Antonine Wall, this is evidenced by extensive Severan era fortifications and the likely reoccupation of some of the forts on that wall. Over the previous years Hadrian's Wall had fallen into disrepair and Severus strengthened and repaired much of it, he did this to such an extent that many early Antiquarians thought that he was the emperor who had actually built it. Severus constructed a 165-acre (67 ha) camp south of the Antonine Wall at Trimontium, probably assembling the main body of his forces there. Severus then thrust north across the Antonine Wall into Caledonian territory, supported and supplied by a strong naval force. He retraced the steps of Agricola of over a century before, rebuilding many abandoned Roman forts along the east coast, and he re-garrisoned the naval base at Carpow, likely built by Commodus in 185, and possibly the place named as "Horrea Classis" or "Poreo Classis" in the Ravenna Cosmography.
By 210 Severus' campaigning had made significant gains, despite Caledonian guerrilla tactics and purportedly heavy Roman casualties.
According to Cassius Dio: “Severus did not desist until he approached the extremity of the island. Here he observed most accurately the variation of the sun's motion and the length of the days and the nights in summer and winter respectively. Having thus been conveyed through practically the whole of the hostile country (for he actually was conveyed in a covered litter most of the way, on account of his infirmity), he returned to the friendly portion, after he had forced the Britons to come to terms, on the condition that they should abandon a large part of their territory.”
The Caledonians had sued for peace, which Severus had granted on the condition that they relinquished control of the Central Lowlands of Scotland, but later that year (210), they, along with the Maeatae, revolted. Severus prepared for another campaign, now intent on exterminating the Caledonians. However the campaign was cut short when Severus fell ill and withdrew south to Eboracum (York) where he died on 4 February 211. Severus was succeeded by his sons, Caracalla and Geta. Caracalla continued campaigning in Caledonia during 212 but soon settled for peace, and shortly after that the frontier was withdrawn south to Hadrian's Wall.
On his death, Severus was deified by the Senate and his remains were buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome.
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*Alex
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Divus Constantine I, Posthumous commemorative AE4, 337-341 CEObverse: DN CONSTANTI-NVS PT AVGG, veiled head right.
Reverse: No legend, the deified Constantine driving quadriga right, hand of god reaching down from above, star at upper left.
SMANS in ex. Antioch mint, 2nd officina. RIV VIII 37, 16.6 mm, 1.4 g.
It is ironic that Constantine, who tradition tells us was the first Christian emperor (although he only actually became one on his death bed), should have been honored with pagan deification and commemorated posthumously with traditional pagan symbolism as found on this coin. He was the last emperor to be so honored.
NORMAN K
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IONIA, Ephesos
PB Tessera (15mm, 6.51 g)
Diademed head of the deified Alexander right, with horn of Ammon
Blank
Gülbay & Kireç 195, 197-200Ardatirion
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011a. Julia TitiJulia Flavia (17 September 64 - 91) was the only child to the Emperor Titus from his second marriage to the well-connected Marcia Furnilla. Titus divorced Furnilla after Julia's birth. Julia was born in Rome.
When growing up, Titus offered her in marriage to his brother Domitian, but he refused because of his infatuation with Domitia Longina. Later she married her second cousin Titus Flavius Sabinus, brother to consul Titus Flavius Clemens, who married her first cousin Flavia Domitilla. By then Domitian had seduced her.
When her father and husband died, she became Emperor Domitian’s mistress. He openly showed his love. Falling pregnant, Julia died of a forced abortion. Julia was deified and her ashes her mixed with Domitian by an old nurse secretly in the Temple of the Flavians.
AEOLIS, Temnus. Julia Titi. Augusta, AD 79-91. Æ 16mm (2.18 gm). Draped bust right / EPI AGNOU THMNIT, Athena standing left, holding palladium and scepter, shield resting on ground. RPC II 981. Near VF, dark green patina, small flan crack. Ex-CNG
From the Garth R. Drewry Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group 51 (15 September 1999), lot 875; Marcel Burstein Collection.
ecoli
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013d. Deified Son of DomitianThere is no further identification of this infant.lawrence c
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015d. MarcianaUlpia Marciana. Sister of Trajan, whom he named as an Augusta, and on her death in 112, had her deified.
lawrence c
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015e. Trajan PaterMarcus Ulpius Traianus. Deified father of Trajan. Served as a senator and consul suffectus. The date of his death is uncertain, but it was before 98 AD.lawrence c
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016c. AntinousAntinous, a Greek youth, was a favorite of Hadrian who apparently was deeply in love with him. Antinous died in 130 AD. There are two main stories as to his death. The first is that he accidentally drowned. The second is that he voluntarily sacrificed himself to try to cure Hadrian of disease. After his death, he was deified, and Hadrian struck a series of provincial coins.lawrence c
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019b. Faustina JuniorWife of Marcus Aurelius. Had at least 14 (and perhaps more) children with him, of whom 6 reached adulthood. It was reputed that she engaged in a pattern of infidelity. Despite this, she was deified when she died in 175.lawrence c
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02. Claudius II: Thessalonica fractional.AE3 fractional (half follis?), 317-18, Thessalonica mint.
Obverse: DIVO CLAVDIO OPTIMO IMP / Veiled bust of Claudius II, Gothicus.
Reverse: REQVIES OPTIMORVM MERITORVM / Emperor seated on curule chair, raising right hand and holding sceptre.
Mint mark:: . TS . Γ .
1.35 gm., 16 mm.
RIC #26; PBCC #906; Sear #16399.
Around the years 317 - 318, Constantine issued commemorative coins honoring three deified emperors: Claudius II Gothicus, Constantius I, and Maximian. It is not real clear when these coins were issued, but RIC assigns them to the years 317-18 saying there is evidence they were issued near or at the end of the Sol coinage. They are small AE3 in size (16 mm), but on flans that are much thinner and weigh significantly less than other coins of the period. Therefore they are generally regarded as fractionals. They were minted at Treveri, Arelate, Rome, Aquileia, Siscia, and Thessalonica.
Why these three emperors? Constantine claimed Claudius II Gothicus was one of his ancestors (probably not true). Constantius I was Constantine's father, and Maximian was the father of Constantine's wife, Fausta.
Callimachus
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03. Constantius I: Thessalonica fractional.AE3 fractional (half follis?), 317-18, Thessalonica mint.
Obverse: DIVO CONSTANTIO PIO PRINCIPI / Veiled bust of Constantius I.
Reverse: REQVIES OPTIMORVM MERITORVM / Emperor seated on curule chair, raising right hand and holding sceptre.
Mint mark: . T . SB .
1.78 gm., 16 mm.
RIC #25; PBCC #908; Sear unlisted.
Around the years 317 - 318, Constantine issued commemorative coins honoring three deified emperors: Claudius II Gothicus, Constantius I, and Maximian. It is not real clear when these coins were issued, but RIC assigns them to the years 317-18 saying there is evidence they were issued near or at the end of the Sol coinage. They are small AE3 in size (16 mm), but on flans that are much thinner and weigh significantly less than other coins of the period. Therefore they are generally regarded as fractionals. They were minted at Treveri, Arelate, Rome, Aquileia, Siscia, and Thessalonica.
Why these three emperors? Constantine claimed Claudius II Gothicus was one of his ancestors (probably not true). Constantius I was Constantine's father, and Maximian was the father of Constantine's wife, Fausta.
Callimachus
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032b. PaulinaPresumed to be deified wife of Maximinus.lawrence c
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037d. Junius MarinusDeified father of Philip I.lawrence c
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04. Maximian: Siscia fractional.AE3 fractional (half follis?), 317-18, Siscia mint.
Obverse: DIVO MAXIMIANO SEN FORT IMP / Veiled bust of Maximian.
Reverse: REQVIES OPTIMORVM MERITORVM / Emperor seated on curule chair, raising right hand and holding sceptre.
Mint mark: SIS
1.61 gm., 15mm.
RIC #41; PBCC #838; Sear #16412.
Around the years 317 - 318, Constantine issued commemorative coins honoring three deified emperors: Claudius II Gothicus, Constantius I, and Maximian. It is not real clear when these coins were issued, but RIC assigns them to the years 317-18 saying there is evidence they were issued near or at the end of the Sol coinage. They are small AE3 in size (16 mm), but on flans that are much thinner and weigh significantly less than other coins of the period. Therefore they are generally regarded as fractionals. They were minted at Treveri, Arelate, Rome, Aquileia, Siscia, and Thessalonica.
Why these three emperors? Constantine claimed Claudius II Gothicus was one of his ancestors (probably not true). Constantius I was Constantine's father, and Maximian was the father of Constantine's wife, Fausta.
Callimachus
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1. Seleukos I Nikator SELEUKID KINGS of SYRIA. Seleukos I Nikator. 312-281 BC. Æ Seleukeia II mint. Horned horse head right / Anchor; monogram to right. SC 145.
Seleukos fled from Antigonus the one-eyed in Babylonia on horseback. He credited this animal with saving his life. He then deified the animal on his coinage and in other cult shrines.
He eventually made it to Egypt where Ptolemy sheltered him for a while until he could regroup and begin to definitively establish what would become the Seleucid empire.ecoli
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1.4 Egypt - Ptolemy IIPtolemy II - 248 BC
Egyptian bronze. 15 mm
obv. deified Alexander in Elephant headress
rev. eagle with spread wings, shield in front, H - lambda - year 38 PTOLEMAIOY BASILEOSEcgþeow
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1.5 Egypt - Ptolemy IIPtolemy II - 248 BC
Egyptian Bronze, 15 mm
obv. deified Alexander in elephant headress
rev. eagle with spread wings, shild in front, H Lambda - year 38, PTOLEMAIOY BASILEOSEcgþeow
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103. HadrianHadrian
With execution of four power men in the beginning of his reign, his relations with the senate were irrevocably damaged, never really to improve until his death, when the senate hoped to have posthumous revenge. Much was said against him after his death, and by many persons. The senate wished to annul his acts, and would have refrained from naming him "the Deified" had not Antoninus requested it. Antoninus, moreover, finally built a temple for him at Puteoli to take the place of a tomb, and he also established a quinquennial contest and flamens and sodales and many other institutions which appertain to the honour of one regarded as a god. It is for this reason, as has been said before, that many think that Antoninus received the surname Pius.
AR Denarius. IMP CAESAR TRAIAN HADRIANVS AVG, laureate bust right / P M TR P COS III, Victory flying right with trophy. RSC 1132, RIC 101ecoli
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103a. SabinaSabina
Vibia Sabina was born in 86 CE was the daughter of Salonia Matidia, daughter of Trajan's sister Marciana, and her first husband Lucius Vibius Sabinus. Hence she was a grand niece of emperor Trajan. By the intervention of Trajan's wife Plotina she married Hadrian in 100 CE, thus reinforcing Hadrian's claim to the throne.
The marriage was not happy and she didn't bear him any children. She did, however, follow Hadrian on his many travels, and she received the title of Augusta in 128 CE. She died in 136 or 137 CE and was dutifully deified after her death
AR denarius. SABINA AVGVSTA HADRIANI AVG Diademed and draped bust right, hair in plait behind / VES TA Vesta seated left, holding Palladium and scepter. RIC 410, RSC 81.ecoli
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104. Antoninus PiusAntoninus Pius
The long reign of the emperor Antoninus Pius is often described as a period of peace and quiet before the storm which followed and plagued his successor, Marcus Aurelius. In addition to the relative peacefulness, this emperor set the tone for a low-keyed imperial administration which differed markedly from those of his two immediate predecessors, Trajan and Hadrian. Antoninus managed to govern the empire capably and yet with such a gentle hand that he earned the respect, acclaim, and love of his subjects. Antoninus Pius died in March of A.D. 161, after giving the appropriate imperial watchword which so typified his reign, "equanimity". He was soon afterward deified by the Senate.
RI2. Denarius. ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XXIIII, laureate head right / FELIC SAEC COS IIII, Felicitas standing left, holding caduceus & leaning on short column. RSC 361. RIC 309ecoli
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107. PertinaxPertinax
Only a mediocre public speaker, Pertinax was first and foremost a gritty old soldier. He was heavily built, had a pot belly, although it was said, even by his critics, that he possessed the proud air of an emperor.
He possessed some charm, but was generally understood to be a rather sly character. He also acquired a reputation for being mean and greedy. He apparently even went as far as serving half portions of lettuce and artichoke before he became emperor. It was a characteristic which would not serve him well as an emperor.
When he took office, Pertinax quickly realized that the imperial treasury was in trouble. Commodus had wasted vast sums on games and luxuries. If the new emperor thought that changes would need to be made to bring the finances back in order he was no doubt right. But he sought to do too much too quickly. In the process he made himself enemies.
The gravest error, made at the very beginning of his reign, was to decide to cut some of the praetorian's privileges and that he was going to pay them only half the bonus he had promised.
Already on 3 January AD 193 the praetorians tried to set up another emperor who would pay up. But that senator, wise enough to stay out of trouble, merely reported the incident to Pertinax and then left Rome.
The ordinary citizens of Rome however also quickly had enough of their new emperor. Had Commodus spoilt them with lavish games and festivals, then now Pertinax gave them very little.
And a truly powerful enemy should be the praetorian prefect Laetus. The man who had after all put Pertinax on the throne, was to play an important role in the emperor's fate. It isn't absolutely clear if he sought to be an honest advisor of the emperor, but saw his advise ignored, or if he sought to manipulate Pertinax as his puppet emperor. In either case, he was disappointed.
And so as Pertinax grew ever more unpopular, the praetorians once more began to look for a new emperor. In early March, When Pertinax was away in Ostia overseeing the arrangements for the grain shipments to Rome, they struck again. This time they tried to set up one of the consuls, Quintus Sosius Falco.
When Pertinax returned to Rome he pardoned Falco who'd been condemned by the senate, but several praetorians were executed. A slave had given them away as being part of the conspiracy.
These executions were the final straw. On 28 March AD 193 the praetorians revolts.
300 hundred of them forced the gates to the palace. None of the guards sought to help their emperor.
Everyone, so it seemed, wanted rid of this emperor. So, too, Laetus would not listen as Pertinax ordered him to do something. The praetorian prefect simply went home, leaving the emperor to his fate.
Pertinax did not seek to flee. He stood his ground and waited, together with his chamberlain Eclectus. As the praetorians found him, they did not discover an emperor quivering with fear, but a man determined on convincing them to put down their weapons. Clearly the soldiers were over-awed by this brave man, for he spoke to them for some time. But eventually their leader found enough courage to step forwards and hurl his spear at the emperor. Pertinax fell with the spear in his chest. Eclectus fought bravely for his life, stabbing two, before he two was slain by the soldiers.
The soldiers then cut off Pertinax' head, stuck it on a spear and paraded through the streets of Rome.
Pertinax had ruled for only 87 days. He was later deified by Septimius Severus.
RI1. Pertinax. A.D. 193. AR denarius (18.0 mm, 2.74 g, 7 h). Rome mint. Rare. IMP CAES P HELV PERTIN AVG, laureate head right / OPI DIVIN TR P COS II, Ops seated left, holding two stalks of grain, resting hand on seat of throne. RIC 8a; RSC 33; BMCRE 19. aVF, flan crack.ecoli
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138-161 AD - ANTONINUS PIUS AR denarius - struck 158-159 ADobv: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS PP (laureate head right)
rev: TEMPLVM DIV AVG REST COS IIII (octastyle temple [8 columns] in which the statues of Augustus and Livia reside)
ref: RIC III 143D (R), Cohen 809 (8frcs)
3.01 gms, 18mm,
Rare
History: The Temple of Divus Augustus was built between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, behind the Basilica Julia. It is known from Roman coinage that the temple was originally built to an Ionic hexastyle design (see my Caligula sestertius). During the reign of Domitian the Temple of Divus Augustus was destroyed by fire but was rebuilt and rededicated in 89/90 with a shrine to his favourite deity, Minerva. The temple was redesigned as a memorial to four deified emperors, including Vespasian and Titus.
It was restored again in the late 150s by Antoninus Pius, who was perhaps motivated by a desire to be publicly associated with the first emperor. The exact date of the restoration is not known, but the restored temple was an octostyle design with Corinthian capitals and two statues - presumably of Augustus and Livia - in the cella. The pediment displayed a relief featuring Augustus and was topped by a quadriga. Two figures stood on the eaves of the roof, that on the left representing Romulus and the one on the right depicting Aeneas leading his family out of Troy, alluding to Rome's origin-myth. The steps of the temple were flanked by two statues of Victory.berserker
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1ap Claudius41-54
As
Bare head, left, TI CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG P M TR P IMP
Libertas, LIBERTAS AVGVSTA SC
RIC 97
According to Suetonius: Claudius was born at Lugdunum (Lyon) on the 1st of August 10BC in the consulship of Iullus Antonius and Fabius Africanus, on the day when the very first altar to Augustus was dedicated there, the child being given the name Tiberius Claudius Drusus. When his elder brother Germanicus was adopted into the Julian family (in 4 AD), he added the name Germanicus also. He lost his father when still an infant (in 9 BC), and throughout his childhood and youth was severely afflicted by various stubborn ailments so that his mind and body lacked vigour, and even when he attained his majority he was not considered capable of a public or private career.
Nevertheless, he applied himself to liberal studies from his earliest youth, and often published examples of his proficiency in each area, though even so he was excluded from public office and failed to inspire any brighter hopes for his future. His mother Antonia the Younger often condemned him as an unfinished freak of Nature, and when accusing someone of stupidity would say: ‘He’s a bigger fool than my son Claudius.’ His grandmother Augusta (Livia) always treated him with utter contempt, and rarely even spoke to him, admonishing him, when she chose to do so, in brief harsh missives, or via her messengers. When his sister Livilla heard the prophecy that he would be Emperor some day, she prayed openly and loudly that Rome might be spared so cruel and unmerited a fate.
Having spent the larger part of his life in such circumstances, he became emperor at the age of fifty (in AD41) by a remarkable stroke of fate. Caligula’s assassins had dispersed the crowd on the pretext that the Emperor wished for solitude, and Claudius, shut out with the rest, retired to a room called the Hermaeum, but shortly afterwards, terrified by news of the murder, crept off to a nearby balcony and hid behind the door-curtains. A Guard, who was wandering about the Palace at random, spotting a pair of feet beneath the curtain where Claudius was cowering, dragged the man out to identify him, and as Claudius fell to the ground in fear, recognised him, and acclaimed him Emperor.
Eutropius summarizes: His reign was of no striking character; he acted, in many respects, with gentleness and moderation, in some with cruelty and folly. He made war upon Britain, which no Roman since Julius Caesar had visited; and, having reduced it through the agency of Cnaeus Sentius and Aulus Plautius, illustrious and noble men, he celebrated a magnificent triumph. Certain islands also, called the Orcades, situated in the ocean, beyond Britain, he added to the Roman empire, and gave his son the name of Britannicus. . . . He lived to the age of sixty-four, and reigned fourteen years; and after his death was consecrated3 and deified.
This was the first "good" coin I ever bought and therefore marks the begiining of an addiction.Blindado
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1bi FaustinaWife of Antoninus Pius, died 141
Sestertius
Draped bust, right, DIVA FAVSTINA
Vesta stg, AVGVSTA SC
RIC 1178
The Historia Augusta recounts: On the death of his wife Faustina, in the third year of his reign, the senate deified her, and voted her games and a temple and priestesses and statues of silver and of gold. These the Emperor accepted, and furthermore granted permission that her statue be erected in all the circuses ; and when the senate voted her a golden statue, he undertook to erect it himself. Blindado
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1bj Marcus Aurelius161-180
Sestertius
Laureate head, right, IMP CAES M AVREL ANTONINVS AVG PM
Salus stg, SALVTI AVGVSTOR TR P XVII COS III SC
RIC 843
The Historia Augusta relates: He was reared under the eye of Hadrian, who called him Verissimus. . . . And so he was adopted in his eighteenth year, and at the instance of Hadrian exception was made for his age and he was appointed quaestor for the year of the second consulship of Antoninus [Pius], now his father. . . . 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. And when this was done, Pius designated him as his colleague in the consulship, though he was still only quaestor, gave him the title of Caesar. . . .
When Antoninus Pius saw that the end of his life was drawing near, having summoned his friends and prefects, he commended Marcus to them all and formally named him as his successor in the empire. . . . Being forced by the senate to assume the government of the state after the death of the Deified Pius, Marcus made his brother his colleague in the empire, giving him the name Lucius Aurelius Verus Commodus and bestowing on him the titles Caesar and Augustus.
Eutropius summarizes: They carried on a war against the Parthians, who then rebelled for the first time since their subjugation by Trajan. Verus Antoninus went out to conduct that war, and, remaining at Antioch and about Armenia, effected many important achievements by the agency of his generals; he took Seleucia, the most eminent city of Assyria, with forty thousand prisoners; he brought off materials for a triumph over the Parthians, and celebrated it in conjunction with his brother, who was also his father-in-law. He died in Venetia. . . . After him MARCUS ANTONINUS held the government alone, a man whom any one may more easily admire than sufficiently commend. He was, from his earliest years, of a most tranquil disposition; so that even in his infancy he changed countenance neither for joy nor for sorrow. He was devoted to the Stoic philosophy, and was himself a philosopher, not only in his way of life, but in learning. . . .
Under his rule affairs were successfully conducted against the Germans. He himself carried on one war with the Marcomanni, but this was greater than any in the memory of man,so that it is compared to the Punic wars. . . . Having persevered, therefore, with the greatest labour and patience, for three whole years at Carnuntum,14 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. . . . Having, then, rendered the state happy, both by his excellent management and gentleness of disposition, he died in the eighteenth year of his reign and the sixty-first of his life, and was enrolled among the gods, all unanimously voting that such honour should be paid him. Blindado
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204b. Julia MaesaJulia Maesa (about 170- about 226) was daughter of Julius Bassianus, priest of the sun god Heliogabalus, the patron god of Emesa in the Roman province of Syria, and grandmother of the Roman emperor Elagabalus. Like her younger sister Julia Domna, she was among the most important women ever to exercise power behind the throne in the Roman empire.
Julia Maesa was married to Julius Avitus and had two daughters, Julia Mamaea and Julia Soaemias, each one mother of an emperor. Following the accession to the throne of her brother in law Septimius Severus, Julia Maesa moved to Rome to live with her sister. After the murder of her nephew Caracalla, and the suicide of Julia Domna, she was compelled to return to Syria. But the new emperor Macrinus did not proscribe her and allowed her to keep her money. In Syria, Maesa engaged in a plot to overthrow Macrinus and place one of her grandsons, Elagabalus son of Julia Soaemias, in his place. In order to legitimise this pretension, mother and daughter rumoured that the 14-year-old boy was Caracalla's illegitimate son. The Julias were successful, mainly due to the fact that Macrinus was of an obscure origin without the proper political connections, and Elagabalus became emperor.
For her loyalty and support, Elagabalus honored Julia Maesa with the title Augusta avia Augusti (Augusta, grandmother of Augustus). When the teenager proved to be a disaster as emperor (even taking the liberty of marrying a Vestal virgin), Julia Maesa decided to promote Alexander Severus, another of her grandsons. Elagabalus was forced to adopt Alexander as son and was murdered shortly afterwards.
Julia Maesa died in an uncertain date around 226 AD and, like her sister Domna before her, was deified.
Julia Maesa Denarius. PVDICITIA, Pudicitia seated left, raising veil and holding sceptre.
Julia Maesa Denarius. IVLIA MAESA AVG, draped bust right / PVDICITIA, Pudicitia seated left, raising veil and holding sceptre. RIC 268, RSC 36. s2183. No.1502. nVF.
RSC 444, RIC 88ecoli
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268-270 AD - CLAUDIUS II (GOTHICUS) AE antoninianusobv: DIVO CLAVDIO (radiate head right)
rev: CONSECRATIO (eagle standing front, wings spread, head right)
ref: RIC Vi 266 (C), Cohen 43
mint: Rome
3.36gms, 19mm
Claudius II issued after his death by Quintillus and later emperors.
History: Late in 269 Claudius was preparing to go to war against the german Vandals tribe, who were raiding in Pannonia. Next year the pannonian legions led by Claudius defeated the Vandals, but the Emperor fell victim to an epidemic of plague and died in Sirmium early in August of 270. The Senate immediately deified Claudius as "Divus Claudius Gothicus", making him one of the few Roman emperors of the period to be so honored.berserker
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309. GallienusOne of the key characteristics of the Crisis of the Third Century was the inability of the Emperors to maintain their hold on the Imperium for any marked length of time. An exception to this rule was the reign of the Emperor Gallienus. The fact that Gallienus served as junior Emperor with his father, Valerian, from 253 to 260 may have had something to do with his successes. Father and son each wielded his authority over a smaller area, thus allowing for more flexible control and imperial presence. Another, more probable reason, lay in Gallienus's success in convincing Rome that he was the best man for the job. However, Gallienus had to handle many rebellions of the so-called "Gallienus usurpers".
In 260, Valerian was taken prisoner by Sapor, King of Persia while trying to negotiate a peace settlement. Although aware that his father had been taken alive (the only Emperor to have suffered this fate), Gallienus did not make public Valerian's death until a year later. His decision hinged on the fact that Romans believed that their fate rose and fell with the fate of the Emperor, which in turn depended upon his demonstrating the proper amount of piety (Latin pietas) to the gods and maintaining their favor. A defeated Emperor would surely have meant that the gods had forsaken Valerian and, by extension, Gallienus.
Gallienus's chief method of reinforcing his position is seen in the coinage produced during his reign (see Roman currency). The coinage provides clear evidence of a successful propaganda campaign. Gallienus took pains to make sure that he was regularly represented as victorious, merciful, and pious. The people who used these coins on a daily basis saw these messages and, with little evidence to the contrary, remained supportive of their Emperor.
There were, however, those who knew better. During Gallienus' reign, there was constant fighting on the western fringes of the Empire. As early as 258, Gallienus had lost control over a large part of Gaul, where another general, Postumus, had declared his own realm (typically known today as the Gallic Empire). As Gallienus' influence waned, another general came to the fore. In time-honored tradition, Claudius II Gothicus gained the loyalty of the army and succeeded Gallienus to the Imperium.
In the months leading up to his mysterious death in September of 268, Gallienus was ironically orchestrating the greatest achievements of his reign. An invasion of Goths into the province of Pannonia was leading to disaster and even threatening Rome, while at the same time, the Alamanni were raising havoc in the northern part of Italy. Gallienus halted the Allamanic progress by defeating them in battle in April of 268, then turned north and won several victories over the Goths. That fall, he turned on the Goths once again, and in September, either he or Claudius, his leading general, led the Roman army to victory (although the cavalry commander Aurelian was the real victor) at the Battle of Naissus.
At some time following this battle, Gallienus was murdered during the siege of usurper Aureolus in Mediolanum; many theories abound that Claudius and Aurelian conspired to have the emperor killed. Be that as it may, Claudius spared the lives of Gallienus' family — Gallienus' wife, Iulia Cornelia Salonina, had given him three sons: Valerianus (who died in 258), Saloninus (died in 260 after becoming co-emperor), and Egnatius Marinianus — and had the emperor deified.
Gallienus Antoninianus - Minerva
OBVERSE: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate, cuirassed bust right
REVERSE: MINERVA AVG, Minerva standing right with spear and shield.
23mm - 3.7 gramsecoli
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314. Claudius IIMarcus Aurelius Claudius Gothicus (May 10, 213/214 - January, 270), more often referred to as Claudius II, ruled the Roman Empire for less than two years (268 - 270), but during that brief time, he was so successful and beloved by the people of Rome that he attained divine status.
His origin is uncertain. Claudius was either from Syrmia (Sirmium; in Pannonia Inferior) or from Dardania (in Moesia Superior). Claudius was the commander of the Roman army that defeated decisively the Goths at the battle of Naissus, in September 268; in the same month, he attained the throne, amid charges, never proven, that he murdered his predecessor Gallienus. However, he soon proved to be less than bloodthirsty, as he asked the Roman Senate to spare the lives of Gallienus' family and supporters. He was less magnanimous toward Rome's enemies, however, and it was to this that he owed his popularity.
Claudius, like Maximinus Thrax before him, was of barbarian birth. After an interlude of failed aristocratic Roman emperors since Maximinus's death, Claudius was the first in a series of tough soldier-emperors who would eventually restore the Empire from the Crisis of the third century.
At the time of his accession, the Roman Empire was in serious danger from several incursions, both within and outside its borders. The most pressing of these was an invasion of Illyricum and Pannonia by the Goths. Not long after being named emperor (or just prior to Gallienus' death, depending on the source), he won his greatest victory, and one of the greatest in the history of Roman arms.
At the Battle of Naissus, Claudius and his legions routed a huge Gothic army. Together with his cavalry commander, the future Emperor Aurelian, the Romans took thousands of prisoners, destroyed the Gothic cavalry as a force and stormed their chariot laager (a circular alignment of battle-wagons long favored by the Goths). The victory earned Claudius his surname of "Gothicus" (conqueror of the Goths), and that is how he is known to this day. More importantly, the Goths were soon driven back across the Danube River, and a century passed before they again posed a serious threat to the empire.
While this was going on, the Germanic tribe known as the Alamanni had crossed the Alps and attacked the empire. Claudius responded quickly and swiftly, routing the Alamanni at the Battle of Lake Benacus in the late fall of 268, a few months after the battle of Naissus. He then turned on the "Gallic Empire", ruled by a pretender for the past 15 years and encompassing Britain, Gaul and Spain. He won several victories and soon regained control of Spain and the Rhone river valley of Gaul. This set the stage for the ultimate destruction of the Gallic Empire under Aurelian.
However, Claudius did not live long enough to fulfill his goal of reuniting all the lost territories of the empire. Late in 269 he was preparing to go to war against the Vandals, who were raiding in Pannonia. However, he fell victim to an epidemic of plague and died early in January of 270. Before his death, he is thought to have named Aurelian as his successor, although Claudius' brother Quintillus briefly seized power.
The Senate immediately deified Claudius as "Divus Claudius Gothicus", making him one of the few Roman emperors of the period to be so honored.
Historia Augusta reports Claudius and Quintillus having another brother named Crispus and through him a niece. Said niece Claudia reportedly married Eutropius and was mother to Constantius Chlorus. Historians however suspect this account to be a genealogical fabrication by Constantine the Great.
Claudius II Gothicus AE Antoninianus. Cyzicus mint. IMP CLAVDIVS P F AVG, radiate, draped bust right / FORTUNA REDUX, Fortuna standing left with rudder & cornucopiae. RIC 234, Cohen 88.ecoli
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316. Aurelian316. Aurelian
In 275, Aurelian marched towards Asia Minor, preparing another campaign against the Sassanids: the close deaths of Kings Shapur I (272) and Hormizd I (273), and the rise to power of a weakened ruler (Bahram I), set the possibility to attack the Sassanid Empire.
On on his way, the emperor suppressed a revolt in Gaul — possibly against Faustinus, an officer or usurper of Tetricus — and defeated barbarian marauders at Vindelicia (Germany).
However, Aurelian never reached Persia, since he was killed on his way. As an administrator, Aurelian had been very strict and handed out severe punishments to corrupt officials or soldiers. A secretary of Aurelian (called Eros by Zosimus) had told a lie on a minor issue. Scared of what the emperor might do, he told high ranking officials that the emperor wanted their life, showing a forged document. The notarius Mucapor and other high-ranking officiers of the Praetorian Guard, fearing punishment from the Emperor, murdered him in September of 275, in Caenophrurium, Thracia (modern Turkey).
Aurelian's enemies in the Senate briefly succeeded in passing damnatio memoriae on the emperor, but this was reversed before the end of the year and Aurelian, like his predecessor Claudius, was deified as Divus Aurelianus.
Ulpia Severina, wife of Aurelian and Augusta since 274, is said to have held the imperial role during the short interregnum before the election of Marcus Claudius Tacitus to the purple.
Siscia mint. IMP C AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate & cuirassed bust right / ORIENS AVG, Sol advancing left between two seated captives, holding up raised hand & whip, XXIT in ex. Cohen 158. RIC 255
ecoli
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703a, Tiberius, 19 August 14 - 16 March 37 A.D., Tribute Penny of Matthew 22:20-21Silver denarius, RIC I 30, RSC II 16a, SRCV 1763, gVF, Lugdunum mint, 3.837g, 18.7mm, 90o, 16 - 37 A.D.; obverse TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS, laureate head right; reverse PONTIF MAXIM, Pax/Livia seated right holding scepter and branch, legs on chair ornamented, feet on footstool; toned. Ex FORVM.
De Imperatoribus Romanis
An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors
Tiberius (A.D. 14-37)
Garrett G. Fagan
Pennsylvania State University
Introduction
The reign of Tiberius (b. 42 B.C., d. A.D. 37, emperor A.D. 14-37) is a particularly important one for the Principate, since it was the first occasion when the powers designed for Augustus alone were exercised by somebody else. In contrast to the approachable and tactful Augustus, Tiberius emerges from the sources as an enigmatic and darkly complex figure, intelligent and cunning, but given to bouts of severe depression and dark moods that had a great impact on his political career as well as his personal relationships.
. . . .
Early life (42-12 B.C.)
Tiberius Claudius Nero was born on 16 November 42 B.C. to Ti. Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. Both parents were scions of the gens Claudia which had supplied leaders to the Roman Republic for many generations. . . [I]n 39 B.C., his mother Livia divorced Ti. Claudius Nero and married Octavian, thereby making the infant Tiberius the stepson of the future ruler of the Roman world. Forever afterward, Tiberius was to have his name coupled with this man, and always to his detriment.
. . . .
Accession and Early Reign (A.D. 14 - 23)
The accession of Tiberius proved intensely awkward. After Augustus had been buried and deified, and his will read and honored, the Senate convened on 18 September to inaugurate the new reign and officially "confirm" Tiberius as emperor. Such a transfer of power had never happened before, and nobody, including Tiberius, appears to have known what to do. Tacitus's account is the fullest. . . Rather than tactful, he came across to the senators as obdurate and obstructive. He declared that he was too old for the responsibilities of the Principate, said he did not want the job, and asked if he could just take one part of the government for himself. The Senate was confused, not knowing how to read his behavior. Finally, one senator asked pointedly, "Sire, for how long will you allow the State to be without a head?" Tiberius relented and accepted the powers voted to him, although he refused the title "Augustus."
. . . .
Tiberius allowed a trusted advisor to get too close and gain a tremendous influence over him. That advisor was the Praetorian Prefect, L. Aelius Sejanus, who would derail Tiberius's plans for the succession and drive the emperor farther into isolation, depression, and paranoia.
Sejanus (A.D. 23-31)
Sejanus hailed from Volsinii in Etruria. He and his father shared the Praetorian Prefecture until A.D. 15 when the father, L. Seius Strabo, was promoted to be Prefect of Egypt, the pinnacle of an equestrian career under the Principate. Sejanus, now sole Prefect of the Guard, enjoyed powerful connections to senatorial houses and had been a companion to Gaius Caesar on his mission to the East, 1 B.C. - A.D. 4. Through a combination of energetic efficiency, fawning sycophancy, and outward displays of loyalty, he gained the position of Tiberius's closest friend and advisor.
. . . .
[I]n a shocking and unexpected turn of events, [a] letter sent by Tiberius from Capri initially praised Sejanus extensively, and then suddenly denounced him as a traitor and demanded his arrest. Chaos ensued. Senators long allied with Sejanus headed for the exits, the others were confused -- was this a test of their loyalty? What did the emperor want them to do? -- but the Praetorian Guard, the very troops formerly under Sejanus's command but recently and secretly transferred to the command of Q. Sutorius Macro, arrested Sejanus, conveyed him to prison, and shortly afterwards executed him summarily. A witch-hunt followed. . . All around the city, grim scenes were played out, and as late as A.D. 33 a general massacre of all those still in custody took place.
Tiberius himself later claimed that he turned on Sejanus because he had been alerted to Sejanus's plot against Germanicus's family. This explanation has been rejected by most ancient and modern authorities, since Sejanus's demise did nothing to alleviate that family's troubles.
. . . .
The Last Years (A.D. 31-37)
The Sejanus affair appears to have greatly depressed Tiberius. A close friend and confidant had betrayed him; whom could he trust anymore? His withdrawal from public life seemed more complete in the last years. Letters kept him in touch with Rome, but it was the machinery of the Augustan administration that kept the empire running smoothly. Tiberius, if we believe our sources, spent much of his time indulging his perversities on Capri.
. . . .
Tiberius died quietly in a villa at Misenum on 16 March A.D. 37. He was 78 years old. There are some hints in the sources of the hand of Caligula in the deed, but such innuendo can be expected at the death of an emperor, especially when his successor proved so depraved. The level of unpopularity Tiberius had achieved by the time of his death with both the upper and lower classes is revealed by these facts: the Senate refused to vote him divine honors, and mobs filled the streets yelling "To the Tiber with Tiberius!" (in reference to a method of disposal reserved for the corpses of criminals).
Tiberius and the Empire
Three main aspects of Tiberius's impact on the empire deserve special attention: his relative military inertia; his modesty in dealing with offers of divine honors and his fair treatment of provincials; and his use of the Law of Treason (maiestas).
. . . .
Conclusion
. . . Tiberius's reign sporadically descended into tyranny of the worst sort. In the right climate of paranoia and suspicion, widespread denunciation led to the deaths of dozens of Senators and equestrians, as well as numerous members of the imperial house. In this sense, the reign of Tiberius decisively ended the Augustan illusion of "the Republic Restored" and shone some light into the future of the Principate, revealing that which was both promising and terrifying.
[For the entire article please refer to http://www.roman-emperors.org/tiberius.htm]
Copyright © 1997, Garrett G. Fagan. Used by permission.
"Some of the things he did are hard to believe. He had little boys trained as minnows to chase him when he went swimming and to get between his legs and nibble him. He also had babies not weaned from their mother breast suck at his chest and groin . . . "
(Suetonius. The Twelve Caesars. Trans. Robert Graves. London: Penguin Books, 1979. XLIV).
Jesus, referring to a "penny" asked, "Whose is this image and superscription?" When told it was Caesar, He said, ''Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's" (Matthew 22:20-21). Since Tiberius was Caesar at the time, this denarius type is attributed by scholars as the "penny" referred to in the Bible(Joseph Sermarini).
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.
Cleisthenes
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710a, Vespasian, 1 July 69 - 24 June 79 A.D.Silver denarius, RIC II, 10, aVF, 3.5 g, 18mm, Rome mint, 69-71 AD; Obverse: IMP CAESA[R] VESPASIANV[S AV]G - Laureate head right; Reverse: COS ITER [T]R POT - Pax seated left holding branch and caduceus. Ex Imperial Coins.
De Imperatoribus Romanis:
An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families
Titus Flavius Vespasianus (A.D. 69-79)
John Donahue
College of William and Mary
Introduction
Titus Flavius Vespasianus (b. A.D. 9, d. A.D. 79, emperor A.D. 69-79) restored peace and stability to an empire in disarray following the death of Nero in A.D. 68. In the process he established the Flavian dynasty as the legitimate successor to the Imperial throne. Although we lack many details about the events and chronology of his reign, Vespasian provided practical leadership and a return to stable government - accomplishments which, when combined with his other achievements, make his emperorship particularly notable within the history of the Principate.
Early Life and Career
Vespasian was born at Falacrina near Sabine Reate on 17 November, A.D. 9, the son of T. Flavius Sabinus, a successful tax collector and banker, and Vespasia Polla. Both parents were of equestrian status. Few details of his first fifteen years survive, yet it appears that his father and mother were often away from home on business for long periods. As a result, Vespasian's early education became the responsibility of his paternal grandmother, Tertulla. [[1]] In about A.D. 25 Vespasian assumed the toga virilis and later accepted the wearing of the latus clavus, and with it the senatorial path that his older brother, T. Flavius Sabinus, had already chosen. [[2]] Although many of the particulars are lacking, the posts typically occupied by one intent upon a senatorial career soon followed: a military tribunate in Thrace, perhaps for three or four years; a quaestorship in Crete-Cyrene; and the offices of aedile and praetor, successively, under the emperor Gaius. [[3]]
It was during this period that Vespasian married Flavia Domitilla. Daughter of a treasury clerk and former mistress of an African knight, Flavia lacked the social standing and family connections that the politically ambitious usually sought through marriage. In any case, the couple produced three children, a daughter, also named Flavia Domitilla, and two sons, the future emperors Titus and Domitian . Flavia did not live to witness her husband's emperorship and after her death Vespasian returned to his former mistress Caenis, who had been secretary to Antonia (daughter of Marc Antony and mother of Claudius). Caenis apparently exerted considerable influence over Vespasian, prompting Suetonius to assert that she remained his wife in all but name, even after he became emperor. [[4]]
Following the assassination of Gaius on 24 January, A.D. 41, Vespasian advanced rapidly, thanks in large part to the new princeps Claudius, whose favor the Flavians had wisely secured with that of Antonia, the mother of Germanicus, and of Claudius' freedmen, especially Narcissus. [[5]] The emperor soon dispatched Vespasian to Argentoratum (Strasbourg) as legatus legionis II Augustae, apparently to prepare the legion for the invasion of Britain. Vespasian first appeared at the battle of Medway in A.D. 43, and soon thereafter led his legion across the south of England, where he engaged the enemy thirty times in battle, subdued two tribes, and conquered the Isle of Wight. According to Suetonius, these operations were conducted partly under Claudius and partly under Vespasian's commander, Aulus Plautius. Vespasian's contributions, however, did not go unnoticed; he received the ornamenta triumphalia and two priesthoods from Claudius for his exploits in Britain. [[6]]
By the end of A.D. 51 Vespasian had reached the consulship, the pinnacle of a political career at Rome. For reasons that remain obscure he withdrew from political life at this point, only to return when chosen proconsul of Africa about A.D. 63-64. His subsequent administration of the province was marked by severity and parsimony, earning him a reputation for being scrupulous but unpopular. [[7]] Upon completion of his term, Vespasian returned to Rome where, as a senior senator, he became a man of influence in the emperor Nero's court. [[8]] Important enough to be included on Nero's tour of Greece in A.D. 66-67, Vespasian soon found himself in the vicinity of increasing political turbulence in the East. The situation would prove pivotal in advancing his career.
Judaea and the Accession to Power
In response to rioting in Caesarea and Jerusalem that had led to the slaughter in the latter city of Jewish leaders and Roman soldiers, Nero granted to Vespasian in A.D. 66 a special command in the East with the objective of settling the revolt in Judaea. By spring A.D. 67, with 60,000 legionaries, auxiliaries, and allies under his control, Vespasian set out to subdue Galilee and then to cut off Jerusalem. Success was quick and decisive. By October all of Galilee had been pacified and plans for the strategic encirclement of Jerusalem were soon formed. [[9]] Meanwhile, at the other end of the empire, the revolts of Gaius Iulius Vindex, governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, and Servius Sulpicius Galba , governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, had brought Nero's reign to the brink of collapse. The emperor committed suicide in June, A.D. 68, thereby ensuring chaos for the next eighteen months, as first Galba and then Marcus Salvius Otho and Aulus Vitellius acceded to power. Each lacked broad-based military and senatorial support; each would be violently deposed in turn. [[10]]
Still occupied with plans against Jerusalem, Vespasian swore allegiance to each emperor. Shortly after Vitellius assumed power in spring, A.D. 69, however, Vespasian met on the border of Judaea and Syria with Gaius Licinius Mucianus, governor of Syria, and after a series of private and public consultations, the two decided to revolt. [[11]] On July 1, at the urging of Tiberius Alexander, prefect of Egypt, the legions of Alexandria declared for Vespasian, as did the legions of Judaea two days later. By August all of Syria and the Danube legions had done likewise. Vespasian next dispatched Mucianus to Italy with 20,000 troops, while he set out from Syria to Alexandria in order to control grain shipments for the purpose of starving Italy into submission. [[12]] The siege of Jerusalem he placed in the hands of his son Titus.
Meanwhile, the Danubian legions, unwilling to wait for Mucianus' arrival, began their march against Vitellius ' forces. The latter army, suffering from a lack of discipline and training, and unaccustomed to the heat of Rome, was defeated at Cremona in late October. [[13]] By mid-December the Flavian forces had reached Carsulae, 95 kilometers north of Rome on the Flaminian Road, where the Vitellians, with no further hope of reinforcements, soon surrendered. At Rome, unable to persuade his followers to accept terms for his abdication, Vitellius was in peril. On the morning of December 20 the Flavian army entered Rome. By that afternoon, the emperor was dead. [[14]]
Tacitus records that by December 22, A.D. 69, Vespasian had been given all the honors and privileges usually granted to emperors. Even so, the issue remains unclear, owing largely to a surviving fragment of an enabling law, the lex de imperio Vespasiani, which conferred powers, privileges, and exemptions, most with Julio-Claudian precedents, on the new emperor. Whether the fragment represents a typical granting of imperial powers that has uniquely survived in Vespasian's case, or is an attempt to limit or expand such powers, remains difficult to know. In any case, the lex sanctioned all that Vespasian had done up to its passing and gave him authority to act as he saw fit on behalf of the Roman people. [[15]]
What does seem clear is that Vespasian felt the need to legitimize his new reign with vigor. He zealously publicized the number of divine omens that predicted his accession and at every opportunity he accumulated multiple consulships and imperial salutations. He also actively promoted the principle of dynastic succession, insisting that the emperorship would fall to his son. The initiative was fulfilled when Titus succeeded his father in A.D. 79.[[16]]
Emperorship
Upon his arrival in Rome in late summer, A.D. 70, Vespasian faced the daunting task of restoring a city and a government ravaged by the recent civil wars. Although many particulars are missing, a portrait nevertheles emerges of a ruler conscientiously committed to the methodical renewal of both city and empire. Concerning Rome itself, the emperor encouraged rebuilding on vacated lots, restored the Capitol (burned in A.D. 69), and also began work on several new buildings: a temple to the deified Claudius on the Caelian Hill, a project designed to identify Vespasian as a legitimate heir to the Julio-Claudians, while distancing himself from Nero ; a temple of Peace near the Forum; and the magnificent Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheatre), located on the site of the lake of Nero 's Golden House. [[17]]
Claiming that he needed forty thousand million sesterces for these projects and for others aimed at putting the state on more secure footing, Vespasian is said to have revoked various imperial immunities, manipulated the supply of certain commodities to inflate their price, and increased provincial taxation. [[18]] The measures are consistent with his characterization in the sources as both obdurate and avaricious. There were occasional political problems as well: Helvidius Priscus, an advocate of senatorial independence and a critic of the Flavian regime from the start, was exiled after A.D. 75 and later executed; Marcellus Eprius and A. Alienus Caecina were condemned by Titus for conspiracy, the former committing suicide, the latter executed in A.D. 79.
As Suetonius claims, however, in financial matters Vespasian always put revenues to the best possible advantage, regardless of their source. Tacitus, too, offers a generally favorable assessment, citing Vespasian as the first man to improve after becoming emperor. [[19]] Thus do we find the princeps offering subventions to senators not possessing the property qualifications of their rank, restoring many cities throughout the empire, and granting state salaries for the first time to teachers of Latin and Greek rhetoric. To enhance Roman economic and social life even further, he encouraged theatrical productions by building a new stage for the Theatre of Marcellus, and he also put on lavish state dinners to assist the food trades. [[20]]
In other matters the emperor displayed similar concern. He restored the depleted ranks of the senatorial and equestrian orders with eligible Italian and provincial candidates and reduced the backlog of pending court cases at Rome. Vespasian also re-established discipline in the army, while punishing or dismissing large numbers of Vitellius ' men. [[21]]
Beyond Rome, the emperor increased the number of legions in the East and continued the process of imperial expansion by the annexation of northern England, the pacification of Wales, and by advances into Scotland and southwest Germany between the Rhine and the Danube. Vespasian also conferred rights on communities abroad, especially in Spain, where the granting of Latin rights to all native communities contributed to the rapid Romanization of that province during the Imperial period. [[22]]
Death and Assessment
In contrast to his immediate imperial predecessors, Vespasian died peacefully - at Aquae Cutiliae near his birthplace in Sabine country on 23 June, A.D. 79, after contracting a brief illness. The occasion is said to have inspired his deathbed quip: "Oh my, I must be turning into a god!" [[23]] In fact, public deification did follow his death, as did his internment in the Mausoleum of Augustus alongside the Julio-Claudians.
A man of strict military discipline and simple tastes, Vespasian proved to be a conscientious and generally tolerant administrator. More importantly, following the upheavals of A.D. 68-69, his reign was welcome for its general tranquility and restoration of peace. In Vespasian Rome found a leader who made no great breaks with tradition, yet his ability ro rebuild the empire and especially his willingness to expand the composition of the governing class helped to establish a positive working model for the "good emperors" of the second century.
Bibliography
Since the scholarship on Vespasian is more comprehensive than can be treated here, the works listed below are main accounts or bear directly upon issues discussed in the entry above. A comprehensive modern anglophone study of this emperor is yet to be produced.
Atti congresso internazionale di studi Flaviani, 2 vols. Rieti, 1983.
Atti congresso internazionale di studi Vespasianei, 2 vols. Rieti, 1981.
Bosworth, A.B. "Vespasian and the Provinces: Some Problems of the Early 70s A.D." Athenaeum 51 (1973): 49-78.
Brunt, P. A. "Lex de imperio Vespasiani." JRS (67) 1977: 95-116.
D'Espèrey, S. Franchet. "Vespasien, Titus et la littérature." ANRW II.32.5: 3048-3086.
Dudley, D. and Webster, G. The Roman Conquest of Britain. London, 1965.
Gonzalez, J. "The Lex Irnitana: A New Copy of the Flavian Municipal Law." JRS 76 (1986): 147-243.
Grant, M. The Roman Emperors: A Biographical Guide to the Rulers of Rome, 31 B.C. - A.D. 476. New York, 1985.
Homo, L. Vespasien, l'Empereur du bons sens (69-79 ap. J.-C.). Paris, 1949.
Levi, M.A. "I Flavi." ANRW II.2: 177-207.
McCrum, M. and Woodhead, A. G. Select Documents of the Principates of the Flavian Emperors Including the Year of the Revolution. Cambridge, 1966.
Nicols, John. Vespasian and the Partes Flavianae. Wiesbaden, 1978.
Scarre, C. Chronicle of the Roman Emperors. The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers of Imperial Rome. London, 1995.
Suddington, D. B. The Development of the Roman Auxiliary Forces from Caesar to Vespasian, 49 B.C. - A.D. 79. Harare: U. of Zimbabwe, 1982.
Syme, R. Tacitus. Oxford, 1958.
Wardel, David. "Vespasian, Helvidius Priscus and the Restoration of the Capitol." Historia 45 (1996): 208-222.
Wellesley, K. The Long Year: A.D. 69. Bristol, 1989, 2nd ed.
Notes
[[1]] Suet. Vesp. 2.1. Suetonius remains the major source but see also Tac. Hist. 2-5; Cass. Dio 65; Joseph. BJ 3-4.
[[2]] Suetonius (Vesp. 2.1) claims that Vespasian did not accept the latus clavus, the broad striped toga worn by one aspiring to a senatorial career, immediately. The delay, however, was perhaps no more than three years. See J. Nicols, Vespasian and the Partes Flavianae (Wiesbaden, 1978), 2.
[[3]] Military tribunate and quaestorship: Suet. Vesp. 2.3; aedileship: ibid., 5.3, in which Gaius, furious that Vespasian had not kept the streets clean, as was his duty, ordered some soldiers to load him with filth;,they complied by stuffing his toga with as much as it could hold. See also Dio 59.12.2-3; praetorship: Suet. Vesp. 2.3, in which Vespasian is depicted as one of Gaius' leading adulators, an account consistent with Tacitus' portrayal (Hist 1.50.4; 2.5.1) of his early career. For a more complete discussion of these posts and attendant problems of dating, see Nicols, Vespasian, 2-7.
[[4]] Marriage and Caenis: Suet. Vesp. 3; Cass. Dio 65.14.
[[5]] Nicols, Vespasian, 12-39.
[[6]] Suet. Vesp. 4.1 For additional details on Vespasian's exploits in Britain, see D. Dudley and G. Webster, The Roman Conquest of Britain (London, 1965), 55 ff., 98.
[[7]] Concerning Vespasian's years between his consulship and proconsulship, see Suet. Vesp. 4.2 and Nicols, Vespasian, 9. On his unpopularity in Africa, see Suet. Vesp. 4.3, an account of a riot at Hadrumentum, where he was once pelted with turnips. In recording that Africa supported Vitellius in A.D. 69, Tacitus too suggests popular dissatisfaction with Vespasian's proconsulship. See Hist. 2.97.2.
[[8]] This despite the fact that the sources record two rebukes of Vespasian, one for extorting money from a young man seeking career advancement (Suet. Vesp. 4.3), the other for either leaving the room or dozing off during one of the emperor's recitals (Suet. Vesp. 4.4 and 14, which places the transgression in Greece; Tac. (Ann. 16.5.3), who makes Rome and the Quinquennial Games of A.D. 65 the setting; A. Braithwaite, C. Suetoni Tranquilli Divus Vespasianus, Oxford, 1927, 30, who argues for both Greece and Rome).
[[9]] Subjugation of Galilee: Joseph. BJ 3.65-4.106; siege of Jerusalem: ibid., 4.366-376, 414.
[[10]] Revolt of Vindex: Suet. Nero 40; Tac. Ann. 14.4; revolt of Galba: Suet. Galba 10; Plut. Galba, 4-5; suicide of Nero: Suet. Nero 49; Cass. Dio 63.29.2. For the most complete account of the period between Nero's death and the accession of Vespasian, see K. Wellesley, The Long Year: A.D. 69, 2nd. ed. (Bristol, 1989).
[[11]] Tac. Hist. 2.76.
[[12]] Troops in support of Vespasian: Suet. Vit. 15; Mucianus and his forces: Tac. Hist. 2.83; Vespasian and grain shipments: Joseph. BJ 4.605 ff.; see also Tac. Hist. 3.48, on Vespasian's possible plan to shut off grain shipments to Italy from Carthage as well.
[[13]] On Vitellius' army and its lack of discipline, see Tac. Hist. 2.93-94; illness of army: ibid., 2.99.1; Cremona: ibid., 3.32-33.
[[14]] On Vitellius' last days, see Tac. Hist. 3.68-81. On the complicated issue of Vitellius' death date, see L. Holzapfel, "Römische Kaiserdaten," Klio 13 (1913): 301.
[[15]] Honors, etc. Tac. Hist. 4.3. For more on the lex de imperio Vespasiani, see P. A. Brunt, "Lex de imperio Vespasiani," JRS (67) 1977: 95-116.
[[16]] Omens: Suet. Vesp. 5; consulships and honors: ibid., 8; succession of sons: ibid., 25.
[[17]] On Vespasian's restoration of Rome, see Suet. Vesp. 9; Cass. Dio 65.10; D. Wardel, "Vespasian, Helvidius Priscus and the Restoration of the Capitol," Historia 45 (1996): 208-222.
[[18]] Suet. Vesp. 16.
[[19]] Ibid.; Tac. Hist. 1.50.
[[20]] Suet. Vesp. 17-19.
[[21]] Ibid., 8-10.
[[22]] On Vespasian's exploits in Britain, see esp. Tac., Agricola, eds. R. M. Ogilvie and I. A. Richmond (1967), and W. S. Hanson, Agricola and the Conquest of the North (1987); on the granting of Latin rights in Spain, see, e.g., J. Gonzalez, "The Lex Irnitana: a New Copy of the Flavian Municipal Law." JRS 76 (1986): 147-243.
[[23]] For this witticism and other anecdotes concerning Vespasian's sense of humor, see Suet. Vesp. 23.
Copyright (C) 1998, John Donahue. Published on De Imperatoribus Romanis, an Online Encyplopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families.
http://www.roman-emperors.org/vespasia.htm
Used by permission.
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.
Cleisthenes
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711a, Titus, 24 June 79 - 13 September 81 A.D. TITUS AUGUSTUS AR silver denarius. Struck at Rome, 80 AD. IMP TITVS CAESAR VESPASIAN AVG PM, laureate head right. Reverse - TRP IX IMP XV COS VIII PP, elephant walking left. Fully legible legends, about Very Fine, nice golden toning. Commemmorates the completion and dedication of the Colosseum and the opening of games. SCARCE. RCV 2512, valued at $544 in EF. 17mm, 3.1g. Ex Incitatus.
De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families
Titus Flavius Vespasianus (A.D. 79-81)
John Donahue
College of William and Mary
Titus Flavius Vespasianus was born on December 30, 39 A.D. He was the oldest of the three children of the founder of the Flavian Dynasty, Vespasian. Beginning in the year 70 Titus was named Cæsar and coregent; he was highly educated and a brilliant poet and orator in both Latin and Greek. He won military fame during the Jewish Revolt of 69-70. In April, 70, he appeared before the walls of Jerusalem, and conquered and destroyed the city after a siege of five months. He wished to preserve the Temple, but in the struggle with the Jews who rushed out of it a soldier threw a brand into the building. The siege and taking of the city were accompanied by barbarous cruelties. The next year Titus celebrated his victory by a triumph; to increase the fame of the Flavian dynasty the inscription on the triumphal arch represented the overthrow of the helpless people as a heroic achievement. Titus succeeded his father as Emperor in 79.
Before becoming emperor, tradition records that Titus was feared as the next Nero, a perception that may have developed from his association with Berenice, his alleged heavy-handedness as praetorian prefect, and tales of sexual debauchery. Once in office, however, both emperor and his reign were portrayed in universally positive terms. The suddenness of this transformation raises immediate suspicions, yet it is difficult to know whether the historical tradition is suspect or if Titus was in fact adept at taking off one mask for another. What is clear, however, is that Titus sought to present the Flavians as the legitimate successors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Proof came through the issuing of a series of restoration coins of previous emperors, the most popular being Augustus and Claudius. In A.D. 80 Titus also set out to establish an imperial cult in honor of Vespasian. The temple, in which cult (the first that was not connected with the Julio-Claudians) was housed, was completed by Domitian and was known as the Temple of Vespasian and Domitian.
Legitimacy was also sought through various economic measures, which Titus enthusiastically funded. Vast amounts of capital poured into extensive building schemes in Rome, especially the Flavian Amphitheater, popularly known as the Colosseum. In celebration of additions made to the structure, Titus provided a grand 100-day festival, with sea fights staged on an artificial lake, infantry battles, wild beast hunts, and similar activities. He also constructed new imperial baths to the south-east of the Amphitheater and began work on the celebrated Arch of Titus, a memorial to his Jewish victories. Large sums were directed to Italy and the provinces as well, especially for road building. In response to the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79, Titus spent large sums to relieve distress in that area; likewise, the imperial purse contributed heavily to rebuilding Rome after a devastating fire destroyed large sections of the city in A.D. 80. As a result of these actions, Titus earned a reputation for generosity and geniality. For these reasons he gained the honourable title of "amor et deliciæ generis humani" (the darling and admiration of the human race). Even so, his financial acumen must not be under-estimated. He left the treasury with a surplus, as he had found it, and dealt promptly and efficiently with costly natural disasters. The Greek historian of the third-century A.D., Cassius Dio, perhaps offered the most accurate and succinct assessment of Titus' economic policy: "In money matters, Titus was frugal and made no unnecessary expenditure." In other areas, the brevity of Titus' reign limits our ability to detect major emphases or trends in policy. As far as can be discerned from the limited evidence, senior officials and amici were well chosen, and his legislative activity tended to focus on popular social measures, with the army as a particular beneficiary in the areas of land ownership, marriage, and testamentary freedom. In the provinces, Titus continued his father's policies by strengthening roads and forts in the East and along the Danube.
Titus died in September, A.D. 81 after only 26 months in office. Suetonius recorded that Titus died on his way to the Sabine country of his ancestors in the same villa as his father. A competing tradition persistently implicated his brother and successor, Domitian, as having had a hand in the emperor's demise, but the evidence is highly contradictory and any wrongdoing is difficult to prove. Domitian himself delivered the funeral eulogy and had Titus deified. He also built several monuments in honor of Titus and completed the Temple of Vespasian and Titus, changing the name of the structure to include his brother's and setting up his cult statue in the Temple itself.
Titus was the beneficiary of considerable intelligence and talent, endowments that were carefully cultivated at every step of his career, from his early education to his role under his father's principate. Cassius Dio suggested that Titus' reputation was enhanced by his early death. It is true that the ancient sources tend to heroicize Titus, yet based upon the evidence, his reign must be considered a positive one. He capably continued the work of his father in establishing the Flavian Dynasty and he maintained a high degree of economic and administrative competence in Italy and beyond. In so doing, he solidified the role of the emperor as paternalistic autocrat, a model that would serve Trajan and his successors well. Titus was used as a model by later emperors, especially those known as the Five Good Emperors (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius).
Copyright (C) 1997, John Donahue.
Published: De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families http://www.roman-emperors.org/startup.htm. Used by permission.
Catholic Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14746b.htm
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.Cleisthenes
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711a, Titus, 24 June 79 - 13 September 81 A.D.Titus, 24 June 79 - 13 September 81 A.D. AR denarius, RCV 2512, aVF, struck at Rome, 80 A.D., 17.5mm, 3.4g. Obverse: IMP TITVS CAESAR VESPASIAN AVG PM, laureate head right; Reverse: TRP IX IMP XV COS VIII PP, elephant walking left. Fully legible legends; nice golden toning. This coin was struck in order to commemorate the completion and dedication of the Flavian Amphitheatre (the Colosseum) and its opening games. Very scarce. Ex Incitatus; photo courtesy Incitatus.
De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families
Titus Flavius Vespasianus (A.D. 79-81)
John Donahue
College of William and Mary
Titus Flavius Vespasianus was born on December 30, 39 A.D. He was the oldest of the three children of the founder of the Flavian Dynasty, Vespasian. Beginning in the year 70 Titus was named Cæsar and coregent; he was highly educated and a brilliant poet and orator in both Latin and Greek. He won military fame during the Jewish Revolt of 69-70. In April, 70, he appeared before the walls of Jerusalem, and conquered and destroyed the city after a siege of five months. He wished to preserve the Temple, but in the struggle with the Jews who rushed out of it a soldier threw a brand into the building. The siege and taking of the city were accompanied by barbarous cruelties. The next year Titus celebrated his victory by a triumph; to increase the fame of the Flavian dynasty the inscription on the triumphal arch represented the overthrow of the helpless people as a heroic achievement. Titus succeeded his father as Emperor in 79.
Before becoming emperor, tradition records that Titus was feared as the next Nero, a perception that may have developed from his association with Berenice, his alleged heavy-handedness as praetorian prefect, and tales of sexual debauchery. Once in office, however, both emperor and his reign were portrayed in universally positive terms. The suddenness of this transformation raises immediate suspicions, yet it is difficult to know whether the historical tradition is suspect or if Titus was in fact adept at taking off one mask for another. What is clear, however, is that Titus sought to present the Flavians as the legitimate successors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Proof came through the issuing of a series of restoration coins of previous emperors, the most popular being Augustus and Claudius. In A.D. 80 Titus also set out to establish an imperial cult in honor of Vespasian. The temple, in which cult (the first that was not connected with the Julio-Claudians) was housed, was completed by Domitian and was known as the Temple of Vespasian and Domitian.
Legitimacy was also sought through various economic measures, which Titus enthusiastically funded. Vast amounts of capital poured into extensive building schemes in Rome, especially the Flavian Amphitheater, popularly known as the Colosseum. In celebration of additions made to the structure, Titus provided a grand 100-day festival, with sea fights staged on an artificial lake, infantry battles, wild beast hunts, and similar activities. He also constructed new imperial baths to the south-east of the Amphitheater and began work on the celebrated Arch of Titus, a memorial to his Jewish victories. Large sums were directed to Italy and the provinces as well, especially for road building. In response to the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79, Titus spent large sums to relieve distress in that area; likewise, the imperial purse contributed heavily to rebuilding Rome after a devastating fire destroyed large sections of the city in A.D. 80. As a result of these actions, Titus earned a reputation for generosity and geniality. For these reasons he gained the honourable title of "amor et deliciæ generis humani" (the darling and admiration of the human race). Even so, his financial acumen must not be under-estimated. He left the treasury with a surplus, as he had found it, and dealt promptly and efficiently with costly natural disasters. The Greek historian of the third-century A.D., Cassius Dio, perhaps offered the most accurate and succinct assessment of Titus' economic policy: "In money matters, Titus was frugal and made no unnecessary expenditure." In other areas, the brevity of Titus' reign limits our ability to detect major emphases or trends in policy. As far as can be discerned from the limited evidence, senior officials and amici were well chosen, and his legislative activity tended to focus on popular social measures, with the army as a particular beneficiary in the areas of land ownership, marriage, and testamentary freedom. In the provinces, Titus continued his father's policies by strengthening roads and forts in the East and along the Danube.
Titus died in September, A.D. 81 after only 26 months in office. Suetonius recorded that Titus died on his way to the Sabine country of his ancestors in the same villa as his father. A competing tradition persistently implicated his brother and successor, Domitian, as having had a hand in the emperor's demise, but the evidence is highly contradictory and any wrongdoing is difficult to prove. Domitian himself delivered the funeral eulogy and had Titus deified. He also built several monuments in honor of Titus and completed the Temple of Vespasian and Titus, changing the name of the structure to include his brother's and setting up his cult statue in the Temple itself.
Titus was the beneficiary of considerable intelligence and talent, endowments that were carefully cultivated at every step of his career, from his early education to his role under his father's principate. Cassius Dio suggested that Titus' reputation was enhanced by his early death. It is true that the ancient sources tend to heroicize Titus, yet based upon the evidence, his reign must be considered a positive one. He capably continued the work of his father in establishing the Flavian Dynasty and he maintained a high degree of economic and administrative competence in Italy and beyond. In so doing, he solidified the role of the emperor as paternalistic autocrat, a model that would serve Trajan and his successors well. Titus was used as a model by later emperors, especially those known as the Five Good Emperors (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius).
Copyright (C) 1997, John Donahue.
Published: De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families http://www.roman-emperors.org/startup.htm. Used by permission.
Catholic Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14746b.htm
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.Cleisthenes
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78. Severus Alexander, deified.Antoninianus, 250 - 251 AD, Rome mint.
Obverse: DIVO ALEXANDRO / Radiate bust of Severus Alexander.
Reverse: CONSECRATIO / Eagle.
4.14 gm., 22 mm.
RIC Trajian Decius #97.Callimachus
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79. Severus Alexander, deified.Antoninianus, 250 - 251 AD, Rome mint.
Obverse: DIVO ALEXANDRO / Radiate bust of Severus Alexander.
Reverse: CONSECRATIO / Flaming altar.
3.96 gm., 22 mm.
RIC Trajian Decius #98.Callimachus
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Antoninus Pius Antoninus Pius Sestertius temple of Augustus and Livia
Catalog: Temple of Divus Augustus
weight 28,6gr. | bronze Ø 32mm.
obv. Laureate head right ANTONINVS AVG PIVS PP TR P XXII
rev. Octastyle temple of Divus Augustus, containing cult-statues of Augustus
and Livia TEMPLVM DIVI AVG REST COS IIII S C
The Temple of Divus Augustus was a major temple originally built to commemorate the deified first Roman emperor, Augustus. It was built between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, behind the Basilica Julia, on the site of the house that Augustus had inhabited before he entered public life in the mid-1st century BC. The temple′s construction took place during the 1st century AD, having been vowed by the Roman Senate shortly after the death of the emperor in AD 14. It is known from Roman coinage that the temple was originally built to an Ionic hexastyle design. However, its size, physical proportions and exact site are unknown. During the reign of Domitian the Temple of Divus Augustus was destroyed by fire but was rebuilt and rededicated in 89/90 with a shrine to his favourite deity, Minerva. The temple was redesigned as a memorial to four deified emperors, including Vespasian and Titus. It was restored again in the mid 150s by Antonius Pius, and that was the reason for this coinage. The last known reference to the temple was on 27 May 218 | at some point thereafter it was completely destroyed and its stones were presumably quarried for later buildings. Its remains are not visible and the area in which it lay has never been excavated.
Cohen 805 | RIC 1004 | BMC 2063 | Sear 4235 R
vfAncient Aussie
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Antoninus Pius, 138 - 161 AD (Posthumous issue)Obv: DIVVS ANTONINVS, bare-headed bust of Antoninus Pius facing right, drapery on left shoulder.
Rev: DIVO PIO, Column surmounted by a statue of the deified Antoninus Pius standing left, holding an eagle and a long scepter, trellis work balustrade around large base.
Silver Denarius, Rome mint, c. 161 AD
3.4 grams, 18.1 mm, 180°
RIC III Marcus Aurelius 440, RSC II 353, S5195
Ex: FORVMMatt Inglima
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Antoninus Pius, RIC 533a, As of AD 139 (Fortuna) Æ As (10.6.02g, Ø27m, 12h), minted AD 139, Rome
Obv.: IMP T AEL CAES HADR ANTONINVS AVG PIVS, bare head right
Rev.: P M TR POT COS II around, S C in field, Fortuna standing left, holding rudder and cornucopiae.
RIC 533; Cohen 651; Strack 753; BMCRE IV 1137.
ex old British collection (1996)
This type belongs to the second issue after the accession of Antoninus Pius. The names of Aelius and Hadrianus were added to his title to honour his adoptive father who had been deified on Antoninus' insistence and which earned him the title "Pius". In later issues the names of Aelius and Hadrianus will be dropped in later issues to reappear in his fourteenth to fifteenth tribunician year.Charles S
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Athena and Deified AlexanderThe deified Alexander the Great is depicted on the obverse of this coin of Lysimachos, dating to the early third century BC.
In the years following his death Alexander the Great came to be the subject of cult worship throughout the Mediterranean basin. His corpse was appropriated by Ptolemy I who transported it to Egypt, initially interring it at Memphis, then to a mausoleum and center of worship in Alexandria. It survived until the 4th century AD when Theodosius banned paganism, only to disappear without trace.
Athena depicted on the reverse of this coin was the patron goddess of Athens. She came to be worshiped throughout much of the Mediterranean basin during Hellenistic period.
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Augustus, 16 January 27 B.C. - 19 August 14 A.D. Silver denarius, RIC I 340 (R2), RSC I Julius Caesar 6, BnF I 273, BMCRE I 70, SRCV I 1622, VF, scratch on cheek, pitting, 3.572g, 19.8mm, 180o, Rome mint, moneyer M. Sanquinius, 17 B.C.; obverse AVGVST DIVI F LVDOS SAE (Augustus son of the divine [Julius Caesar], [has made the] secular games), Herald standing left, wearing helmet with two feathers and long robe, winged caduceus in right hand, round shield decorated with six-pointed star on his left arm; reverse M SANQVINIVS III VIR, youthful laureate head (the deified Julius Caesar or Genius Saeculari Novi?) right, above, four-rayed comet (sidus Iulium) with tail; ex CNG auction 145 (9 Aug 2006), lot 254. Very rare.
This type was struck to commemorate the Ludi Saeculares, the Secular Games held by Augustus in 17 B.C. to mark the commencement of a new age inaugurated by the divine Julius Caesar and led by his heir Augustus. The reverse portrait is traditionally identified as the head of a youthful divine Julius Caesar, however, it actually resembles Augustus and may be Genius Saeculari Novi, the personification of the new age.
EX; FORVM Ancient Coins.
*With my sincere thank and appreciation , Photo and Description courtesy of FORVM Ancient Coins Staff.
Per FORVM ; an EF example of this type recently sold on 26 May 2014 for 20,000 CHF (approximately $25,575) plus fees.
From The Sam Mansourati Collection.Sam
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Bithynia, Herakleia Pontika AR TetradrachmIn the name and types of Lysimachos. Circa 288/7-282/1 BC.
Diademed head of the deified Alexander right, with horn of Ammon。
Athena Nikephoros seated to left, resting left arm on shield, transverse spear in background; ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ to right, ΛΥΣΙΜΑXΟΥ crowned by Nike to left, HP monogram below throne, club in exergue.
SNG Stancomb 822; Thompson 178; Müller 365; HGC 7, 1750j.
17.04g, 28mm, 12h.
Good Very Fine.Leo
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Byzantion - AR tetradrachmin the name of Lysimachos
circa 125-75 BC
Head of the deified Alexander with Ammon's horns right
Athena Nikephoros seated left
BAΣIΛEΩΣ / ΛYΣIMAXOY
monogram (ΠΩΛYB) to left; BY below throne
trident in exergue
Dewing 1361, Müller 204. Marinescu 508 (O. 211 R. 483) issue 149; Gorny & Mosch: Auction 160 lot 1182, Künker Auction 174 lot 174
16,9g 34mmJ. B.
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Caracalla and Julia Domna, 28 January 198 - 8 April 217 A.D., Marcianopolis, Moesia Inferior.Bronze pentassarion, H-J Marcianopolis 6.19.20.2 (R5), Varbanov I 1005 (R3), AMNG I 671, BMC Thrace -, SNG Cop -, F, full legends, brown tone with brassy high points, light marks, light deposits, central depressions, Markianopolis (Devnya, Bulgaria) mint, 13.496 grams, 27.3 mm, die axis 180o, consular legate Quintilianus, 215 A.D.; obverse ANTΩNINOC AYΓOYCTOC IOΛIA ∆OMNA (MN ligate), laureate bust of Caracalla right confronting draped bust of Julia Domna left; reverse YΠ KYNTIΛIANOY MAPKIANOΠOΛEITΩ,N (final letter lower left field), Asklepios standing slightly right, head left, himation around waist and over left shoulder, snake-entwined staff in right hand, E (mark of value) in left field.
When Severus died in 211, Julia became the mediator between their two quarreling sons, Caracalla and Geta, who were to rule as joint emperors. Caracalla convinced his mother to call Geta for a reconciliation meeting in her residence. It was a trick. In his mother`s house, Caracalla`s soldiers attacked and Geta died in their mother`s arms. afterward, Julia`s relationship with Caracalla was understandably difficult. Nevertheless, she accompanied him on his Parthian campaign in 217. During this trip, Caracalla was assassinated, after which Julia committed suicide. Her body was brought to Rome and she was later deified.
FORVM Ancient Coins / The Sam Mansourati Collection.
Given as a souvenir to my great brother and a superb physician Dr. Fadi Mansourati.Sam
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Chalcedon - AR Tetradrachmin the name of Lysimachos
c. 250-100 BC
Head of the deified Alexander with diadem and Ammon's horns right
Athena enthroned left, holding Nike with wreath, transverse spear, resting hand on shield
BAΣIΛEΩΣ / ΛYΣIMAXOY
AΣ
KAΛXA
Marinescu 115 (O. 44 R. 104) issue 50
17,1g 32,5mm
ex LanzJ. B.
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Claudius IIDIVO CLAVDIO, radiate head right / CONSECRATIO, eagle standing left, head right.
RIC 266, Cohen 43; Sear 11459.
*Claudius Gothicus or Claudius II, the first of the soldier-emperors, ruled for less than two years (268–270 AD). His destruction of the Gothic cavalry earned him the name of Gothicus. He died of smallpox in January 270 and was deified by his brother Quintillus who succeeded him for a short time.Antonivs Protti
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Claudius II Gothicus DIVO CLAVDIOClaudius II Gothicus, September 268 - August or September 270 AD
Obverse:
Radiate head right
DIVO CLAVDIO
DIVO, god
CLAVDIO, Cladius
Dot in right field
Reverse:
CONSECRATIO
Showing: eagle standing left, head right
Domination: Antoninianus, Copper, size 17 mm
Mint: ???
The Helvetica tables list this as RIC V (1) 266 this also according to The helvetica is the same reference number for all mints..
It lists 2 dots below on the obverse , but my coin shows the dots to the right if I see them correctly
I'm still not sure on the mint it's either Lyons, Rome or Aquileia .
Comment: Consecratio. In the first and second centuries when a popular emperor or their family member dies, they were consecrated as gods. Their successors built a personality cult around the dead emperor, serving as chief priest, and often dedicating temples to the dead. In the third century this custom faded out as the Cristian era evolved. Some common types of these depict a cult item or temple of the deified emperor. Some include: a cart drawing the cult image of the deified emperor, an emperor throne, a funeral pyre, an eagle, altar or peacock
Peter Wissing
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Claudius II Gothicus EagleClaudius II issued after his death by Quintillus and later emperors.
Postumous issue for the deified Claudius II Gothicus with legend DIVO CLAVDIO and eagle on reverse, legend CONSECRATIO. 16 - 18mm, 1.5g, RCV 3227 (1988 ed.), RIC vi 266, Cohen 43SRukke
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Constantine I "the Great," 307 - 337 AD (Posthumous Issue)Obv: (DV CONST)ANTINVS PT AVGG, veiled head of the deified Constantine facing right.
Rev: VN - MR in field separated by Constantine veiled, standing right; CONSA in exergue.
AE 4, Constantinople mint, 347 - 348 AD
1.7 grams, 14 mm, 0°
RIC VIII Constantinople 68, VM 96Matt Inglima
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Constantine I "the Great," 307 - 337 AD (Posthumous Issue)Obv: DV CONSTANTINVS AVGG, veiled bust of the deified Constantine facing right.
Rev: No legend, Constantine, veiled, riding right in a quadriga being welcomed into heaven by the hand of God which reaches down from above; SMALB in exergue.
AE 4, Alexandria mint, 337 - 340 AD
1.6 grams, 14 mm, 180°
RIC VIII Alexandria 12, VM 95Matt Inglima
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Constantine the Great Constantine the Great, Deified, Antioch Mint, AD 347
AE Commemorative
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Constantine the Great, early 307 - 22 May 337 A.D.Silvered AE 3, RIC VII 92, EF, 3.456g, 18.1mm, 0o, Heraclea mint, 327 - 329 A.D.; Obverse: CONSTAN-TINVS AVG, diademed head right, eyes to God; Reverse: D N CONSTANTINI MAX AVG, VOT XXX in wreath, •SMHB in exergue.
As leading numismatist Joseph Sermarini notes, "The 'looking upwards' portraits of Constantine are often described as 'gazing to Heaven (or God).' The model of these portraits is of course that of the Deified Alexander the Great
(https://www.forumancientcoins.com/ssl/myforum.asp).
The Emperor Constantine I was effectively the sole ruler of the Roman world between 324 and 337 A.D.; his reign was perhaps one of the most crucial of all the emperors in determining the future course of western civilization. By beginning the process of making Christianity the religious foundation of his realm, he set the religious course for the future of Europe which remains in place to this very day. Because he replaced Rome with Constantinople as the center of imperial power, he made it clear that the city of Rome was no longer the center of power, and he also set the stage for the Middle Ages. His philosophical view of monarchy, largely spelled out in some of the works of Eusebius of Caesarea, became the foundation for the concept of the divine right of kings which prevailed in Europe.
Constantine was not a "Christian convert" in any traditional sense. He was not baptized until close to death, and while that was not an uncommon practice, the mention of Christ in his speeches and decrees is conspicuous by its absence. Eusebius, Church historian and Constantine biographer, is responsible for much of the valorization of Constantine as the Christian Emperor. The somnambulant "sign" in which Constantine was to become victor at the Milvian Bridge is, not so surprisingly, revealed to posterity long after the "fact." Throughout his reign, Constantine continues to portray himself on coins as a sun god (Freeman, Charles. Egypt, Greece and Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean; Second Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. 582). Above all, Constantine was a pragmatist. It would be cynical to egregiously disavow his commitment to Christianity, but it would be equally wrong to think that he would allow Christianity to meddle in the governance of his empire. As he reputedly told a group of bishops, "You are bishops of those within the church, but I am perhaps a bishop appointed by God of those outside." Whatever the motives for his decision to support Christianity, Christianity benefitted from the arrangement; so, too, did Constantine. It was a match made in heaven.
Which brings us to Crispus.
Whenever I am engaged in any discussion concerning Constantine I, Crispus is never far from my mind. As historian Hans Pohlsander from SUNY notes, "Crispus' end was as tragic as his career had been brilliant. His own father ordered him to be put to death. We know the year of this sad event, 326, from the Consularia Constantinopolitana, and the place, Pola in Istria, from Ammianus Marcellinus. The circumstances, however, are less clear. Zosimus (6th c.) and Zonaras (12th c.) both report that Crispus and his stepmother Fausta were involved in an illicit relationship." And Pohlsander continues with, "There may be as much gossip as fact in their reports, but Crispus must have committed, or at least must have been suspected of having committed, some especially shocking offense to earn him a sentence of death from his own father. He also suffered damnatio memoriae, his honor was never restored, and history has not recorded the fate of his wife and his child (or children)(Copyright (C) 1997, Hans A. Pohlsander. Published on De Imperatoribus Romanis;An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors and their Families:http://www.roman-emperors.org/crispus.htm).
But there is something terribly illogigical about Constantinian apologetics. In 294 BC, prior to the death of his father, Seleucus I; Antiochus married his step-mother, Stratonice, daughter of Demetrius Poliorcetes. His elderly father reportedly instigated the marriage after discovering that his son was in danger of dying of lovesickness. If this is the way a "Pagan" father is able to express love for his son, then would not a saintly Christian love his son in at least similar measure? This particular Christian father, about whom St. Nectarios writes, "Hellenism spread by Alexander, paved the way for Christianity by the Emperor Constantine the Great," is unique. It is important to our discussion to take note of the fact that in the Greek Orthodox Church, Constantine the Great is revered as a Saint.
Now would be an appropriate time to recall what Joseph Sermarini noted above, "The 'looking upwards' portraits of Constantine are often described as 'gazing to Heaven (or God).' The model of these portraits is of course that of the Deified Alexander the Great(https://www.forumancientcoins.com/ssl/myforum.asp).
Isn’t it all too possible--even probable--that Constantine had been growing obsessively jealous of his ever more successful and adulated son? It is completely out of character for Constantine to merely acquiesce to being Philip to Crispus' Alexander. Remember the Constantine who has proven time and again (recall Constantine's disingenuous promise of clemency to Licinius) that he is a completely self-serving liar and a murderer, and Constantine decides to murder again. Why "must we, "as Pohlsander adamantly suggests, "resolutely reject the claim of Zosimus that it was Constantine's sense of guilt over these deeds which caused him to accept Christianity, as it alone promised him forgiveness for his sins? A similar claim had already been made by Julian the Apostate [Philosopher]."
Perhaps it is time to cease being apologists for the sometime megalomaniacal Constantine. As Michael Grant notes, "It is a mocking travesty of justice to call such a murderer Constantine the Great . . ." (Grant, Michael. The Emperor Constantine. London: Phoenix Press, 1998. 226).
Keep in mind that the obverse device of this coin shows Constantine I "gazing toward God" and was struck within a year or possibly two of Constantine I murdering his first-born son and condemning him to damnatio memoriae.
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.Cleisthenes
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Crawford 497/2, ROMAN IMPERATORIAL, Octavian, AR DenariusRome, The Imperators.
Octavian, 44-27 BCE.
AR Denarius (3.96g; 21mm).
Military Mint, 42 BCE.
Obverse: CAESAR·III-VIR·R·P·C; Bare head of Octavian with slight beard, facing right.
Reverse: Curule chair with legs decorated by eagles and wreath on empty seat; inscribed C[ÆS](AR) [•DIC •PE]R.
References: Crawford 497/2a; HCRI 137; Sydenham 1322; BMCRR Gaul 76; Banti-Simonetti 386 (this coin illustrated).
Provenance: Ex John L. Cowan Collection [CNG eSale 469 (Jun 2020) Lot 351]; acquired from Pegasi (6/8/2013); CNG Triton XVI (2013) Lot 968; Goldman Roman Imperatorial Collection [Rauch 83 (2008), Lot 170]; Kunker 124 (2007) Lot 8562; L. Simonetti Collection [Banti-Simonetti (1974) 386]; Hess-Leu Auction 41 (24-5 Apr 1969), Lot 68.
Octavian is depicted with a beard of mourning for Julius Caesar, which he would not shave until Brutus and Cassius were defeated at Philippi later in the year. While the obverse visually reflects Octavian’s personal status as the mourning, adopted son and heir of the recently deified Julius, the obverse inscription highlights his new political status as a member of the triumvirate with Antony and Lepidus. The reverse honors Julius Caesar by referencing his Senatorial appointment as dictator for life and showing a memorial wreath on the curule chair representing Caesar’s imperium. Curule chairs were symbols of political and/or military power in the Roman Republic, perhaps originating from the folding campaign stool of a general, and also derived from the Etruscan kings who dispensed justice from a seat in the royal chariot (“currus”). In the Republic, only high-level magistrates would use curule chairs, including consuls, praetors and certain aediles (so-called “curule aediles”).
Carausius
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Deified Claudius IIDeified Claudius II
Siscia mint
DIVO CLAVDIO OPTIMO IMP
Laureate, veiled bust right
REQVIES OPTIMORVM MERITVM
Claudius seated left on curule chair
-/-//SIS
RIC (VII) Siscia 43mauseus
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Deified Claudius IIDeified Claudius II
Rome mint
DIVO CLAVDIO OPT IMP
Laureate, veiled bust right
MEMORIAE AETERNAE
Eagle standing right with head turned back left
-/-//RP
RIC (VII) Rome 112mauseus
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Deified Maximianus IDeified Maximianus I
Siscia mint
DIVO MAXIMIANO SEN FORT IMP
Laureate, veiled bust right
REQVIES OPTIMORVM MERITVM
Maximianus seated left on curule chair
-/-//SIS
RIC (VII) Siscia 41mauseus
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Divus Augustus SestertiusObv.
DIVO AVGVSTO S P Q R
Statue of the deified Augusts riding left in Quadriga pulled by four elephants, who each have their own mahout
Rev.
TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVST P M TR POT XXXVI
Large SC
Struck by Tiberius 34-35 A.D. in honour of the deified Augustusancientdave
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Divus Julius Caesar under AugustusObv: M SANQVINIVS (moneyer) III VIR, youthful laureate head of the deified Julius Caesar right, above, a comet with four rays and a tail.
Rev: AVGVST DIVI F LVDOS SAE, herald or ludius standing left, wearing long robe reaching to ankles and helmet with two long feathers, and holding winged caduceus upright in right hand and round shield with a six pointed star.
2.48g, 17 mm.
RIC 340; BMCRE 70; RSC (Julius Caesar) 6; BN 273-4; FFC 4.
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Divus Julius Caesar under AugustusObv: M SANQVINIVS (moneyer) III VIR, youthful laureate head of the deified Julius Caesar right, above, a comet with four rays and a tail.
Rev: AVGVST DIVI F LVDOS SAE, herald or ludius standing left, wearing long robe reaching to ankles and helmet with two long feathers, and holding winged caduceus upright in right hand and round shield with a six pointed star.
2.48g, 17 mm.
RIC 340; BMCRE 70; RSC (Julius Caesar) 6; BN 273-4; FFC 4.JayAg47
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Egypt , Ptolemaic Kingdom: Ptolemy III / AE Obol.AE Obol. Alexandria Mint , between 246-222 BC. 11 Gr.
Obverse: Deified head of Alexander the Great right, wearing elephant skin.
Reverse: Eagle standing left on thunderbolt, head right, cornucopia over shoulder; E between legs.
References: Svoronos 976; SNG Copenhagen 232. Super Rare.
Sam
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Egypt - Ptolemy I - 305 - 282 B.C.AE Hemiobol, 305 – 282 B.C., Alexandria, 21.8mm, 8.37g, 0°, Sear 7765
Obv: Deified head of Alexander the Great right.
Rev: ΠTOΛEMAIOY BAΣIΛEΩΣ. Eagle standing left on thunderbolt.Marti Vltori
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EGYPT - Ptolemy II PhiladelphosEGYPT - Ptolemy II Philadelphos (285-246 B.C.) Year Δ (267 BC) Bronze Denomination E. Obv.: Horned head of deified Alexander in elephant headdress right; dotted border. Rev.: ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ on left, ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ on right. Eagle with spread wings standing left on thunderbolt, head left. Dotted border. Central depression on reverse. Delta between legs. References: SV-439; SNG Cop. 158. dpaul7
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Egypt, AlexandriaPTOLEMAIC KINGS of EGYPT. Ptolemy II Philadelphos. 285-246 BC. Æ Alexandreia mint. Struck circa 260 BC. Deified head of Alexander the Great right, wearing elephant skin headdress / Eagle standing left on thunderbolt.ecoli
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Elephants, Divus Augustus SestertiusObv.
DIVO AVGVSTO S P Q R
Statue of the deified Augusts riding left in Quadriga pulled by four elephants, who each have their own mahout
Rev.
TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVST P M TR POT XXXVI
Large SC
Struck by Tiberius 34-35 A.D. in honour of the deified Augustus ancientdave
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Ephesos Drachm of Lysimachos.Thrace. Lysimachos. 323-281 BC. AR Drachm (3.44 gm, 12.7mm, 6h) of Ephesos. Diademed head of the deified Alexander right, with horn of Ammon. / Athena Nikephoros seated left, arm resting on shield, holding Nike. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ. Α below throne, remnants of spearhead or kithara to left. gF. Bt. Gables Coin 1998. HGC 3.2 #1753d; Müller 60; M.Thompson 173. Same dies: Savoca Numismatik 34th Silver Auction #49; Triskeles Auctions Sale 26 (7 Dec 2018) #131. cf. CNG 505 #81.Anaximander
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Faustina I (Senior) * Vesta, 141-161 AD. AR Denarius
Faustina I (Senior) * Vesta, Silver Denarius
‘In Honor & Remembrance of the beloved and deified Augusta.’
Obv: DIVA FAUSTINA * draped bust right.
Rev: AVGVSTA * Vesta standing left, holding simpulum in right hand, arm partially extended, and the palladium in her left, also partially extended.
Exergue: (Blank)
Mint: Rome
Struck: 148-161 AD.
Size: 18 mm.
Weight: 3.24 grams
Die axis: 180°
Condition: Very bright, clear luster and a pretty portrait despite the subtle effects of time and usage. Wonderful detail in the coiffure of piled & adorned hair. Greater wear evident to Vesta who nonetheless still reveals the numerous details the celator gave her. In all, a lovely & appealing coin.
Refs:*
Cohen, 108
RIC III, 368, page 71
SEAR RCV II (2002), 4587, page 269
Tiathena
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Faustina Jr. , Wife of Marcus Aurelius, Mother of Lucilla, and CommodusThe daughter, wife and mothers of emperors and empresses, Faustina II was born around 130 A.D. to Antoninus Pius and Faustina I. She was married to her cousin Marcus Aurelius in 145 A.D. In 146 A.D., she gave birth to the first of many children. To celebrate this occasion she was given the Title Augusta, which technically made her superior in rank then her husband. Faustina II was a devoted wife and mother, and accompanied her husband on all his military campaigns. Her son Commodus went on to became emperor after his father’s death, and her daughter Lucilla became Augusta when she married Lucius Verus in 164 A.D. She died at the city of Halala in Asia Minor in 175 A.D. plagued by many baseless rumors about her infidelity. She was deified soon after and a grand temple was erected to her in the city where she died.Dumanyu2
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Faustina Sr. Wife of Antoninus PiusFaustina I was the wife of Antoninus Pius. Little is known of her, except that she was regarded as vain and frivolous, though this may have just been malicious gossip. Antoninus Pius loved her greatly, and upon her death in 141 A.D. she was deified and a temple was built in her honor.
Silver denarius, RIC 362, BM 421, RSC 104, S 4584, Fair, Rome mint, 3.110g, 17.9mm, 0o, 147 - 161 A.D.; obverse DIVA FAVSTINA, draped bust right; reverse AVGVSTA, Ceres standing half left, holding long torch in right and raising drapery with left; fire damaged, wavy and frosty;
Dumanyu2
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FAVSTINA AVGVSTA / AVGVSTI PII FIL / Ӕ As or Dupontius (156-161 A.D.)FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust right, hair arranged in a chignon (bun) behind the head / AVGVSTI PII FIL, Venus standing left holding Victory and leaning on shield set on a helmet, S-C across fields in the lower half
Ó”, 22.5-24+mm, 9.56g, die axis 11h
There may be a countermark across the front part of the face on obverse, but due to its location it is difficult to be sure and identify it.
AVGVSTI PII FIL(ia) = daughter of August Antoninus Pius, points out to the ruling of Fausta's father Antoninus Pius rather than her husband Marcus Aurelius. Reverse: Unlike Greek Aphrodite, in addition to her other aspects Roman Venus was also a goddess of victory, this embodied in her representation as Venus Victrix (Victorious) or Victris (of Victory), like in this case: she offers a little winged representation of victory, resting on defensive military attributes (as a female goddess, she represented passive, defensive aspects of war, active ones being the domain of male Mars). SC = [Ex] Senatus Consulto (Senatus is genitive, Consulto is ablative of Consultum) = by decree of the Senate, i. e. the authority of the Senate approved minting of this coin (necessary to justify issue of copper alloy coins for which the intrinsic value was not obvious).
Of two Ó” coins with the same legends and Venus with shield, RIC 1367 and 1389a, the first is a sestertius and its typical dimensions are characteristic of the type: 30+ mm and 20+g. This one is definitely smaller. Material seems reddish, so this one is more likely an as. Minted in Rome. Some sources give issue dates as 156-161 (the end of Faustina's father's reign), others as 145-146 (her marriage).
Annia Galeria Faustina Minor (Minor is Latin for the Younger), Faustina Minor or Faustina the Younger (born probably 21 September c. 130 CE, died in winter of 175 or spring of 176 CE) was a daughter of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and Roman Empress Faustina the Elder. She was a Roman Empress and wife to her maternal cousin Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. She was held in high esteem by soldiers and her own husband and was given divine honours after her death. Faustina, named after her mother, was her parents' fourth and youngest child and their second daughter; she was also their only child to survive to adulthood. She was born and raised in Rome. Her great uncle, the emperor Hadrian, had arranged with her father for Faustina to marry Lucius Verus. On 25 February 138, she and Verus were betrothed. Verus’ father was Hadrian’s first adopted son and his intended heir; however, when Verus’ father died, Hadrian chose Faustina’s father to be his second adopted son, and eventually, successor. Faustina’s father ended the engagement between his daughter and Verus and arranged for Faustina's betrothal to her maternal cousin, Marcus Aurelius; Aurelius was also adopted by her father.
In April or May 145, Faustina and Marcus Aurelius were married, as had been planned since 138. Since Aurelius was, by adoption, Antoninus Pius' son, under Roman law he was marrying his sister; Antoninus would have had to formally release one or the other from his paternal authority (his patria potestas) for the ceremony to take place. Little is specifically known of the ceremony, but it is said to have been "noteworthy". Coins were issued with the heads of the couple, and Antoninus, as Pontifex Maximus, would have officiated. Marcus makes no apparent reference to the marriage in his surviving letters, and only sparing references to Faustina. Faustina was given the title of Augusta on 1 December 147 after the birth of her first child, Galeria Faustina (or Domitia? sources differ which of them was born in 147 and was the first child).
When Antoninus died on 7 March 161, Marcus and Lucius Verus ascended to the throne and became co-rulers. Faustina then became empress. Unfortunately, not much has survived from the Roman sources regarding Faustina's life, but what is available does not give a good report. Cassius Dio and the Augustan History accuse Faustina of ordering deaths by poison and execution; she has also been accused of instigating the revolt of Avidius Cassius against her husband. The Augustan History mentions adultery with sailors, gladiators, and men of rank; however, Faustina and Aurelius seem to have been very close and mutually devoted.
Faustina accompanied her husband on various military campaigns and enjoyed the love and reverence of Roman soldiers. Aurelius gave her the title of Mater Castrorum or ‘Mother of the Camp’. She attempted to make her home out of an army camp. Between 170–175, she was in the north, and in 175, she accompanied Aurelius to the east.
That same year, 175, Aurelius's general Avidius Cassius was proclaimed Roman emperor after the erroneous news of Marcus's death; the sources indicate Cassius was encouraged by Marcus's wife Faustina, who was concerned about her husband's failing health, believing him to be on the verge of death, and felt the need for Cassius to act as a protector in this event, since her son Commodus, aged 13, was still young. She also wanted someone who would act as a counterweight to the claims of Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus, who was in a strong position to take the office of Princeps in the event of Marcus’s death. The evidence, including Marcus's own Meditations, supports the idea that Marcus was indeed quite ill, but by the time Marcus recovered, Cassius was already fully acclaimed by the Egyptian legions of II Traiana Fortis and XXII Deiotariana. "After a dream of empire lasting three months and six days", Cassius was murdered by a centurion; his head was sent to Marcus Aurelius, who refused to see it and ordered it buried. Egypt recognized Marcus as emperor again by 28 July 175.
Faustina died in the winter of 175, after a somewhat suspicious accident, at the military camp in Halala (a city in the Taurus Mountains in Cappadocia). Aurelius grieved much for his wife and buried her in the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome. She was deified: her statue was placed in the Temple of Venus in Rome and a temple was dedicated to her in her honor. Halala’s name was changed to Faustinopolis and Aurelius opened charity schools for orphan girls called Puellae Faustinianae or 'Girls of Faustina'. The Baths of Faustina in Miletus are named after her.
In their thirty years of marriage, Faustina bore Marcus Aurelius thirteen children, of whom 6 reached adulthood and were significant in history. The best known are emperor Commodus and the closest to him sister Lucilla (both depicted in a very historically inaccurate movie "Gladiator" and, together with their parents, in a much more accurate 1st season "Reign of Blood" of the TV series "Roman Empire").Yurii P
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Gordian III AE Sestertius. IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / LAETITIA AVG N SC, Laetitia standing left, with wreath and anchor.
RIC 300a, Cohen 122.
*Caesar under Pupienus and Balbinus: April–July AD 238. Augustus: AD 238–244. It is uncertain where he died. Some believe he was murdered by his army at Zaitha, whilst others believe that he died in battle against the Sassanids. He was deified under Philip I.Antonivs Protti
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GREEK Lesbos Mytilene Lysimachos TetradrachmGREEK Thracian kings, Lysimachos (323-281) Tetradrachm (17,09g), Mytilene, ca. 294-290 Obverse Head of the deified Alexander III. With Diadem and Ammonshorn right. Reverse BAΣIΛEΩΣ / ΛYΣIMAXOY, Athena Nikephoros with lance on throne with shield left, in the inner l. Field monogram and lyra, in the section Δ. Thompson - (cf. 133), Müller - (cf. 403). Minimal double strike.
H.D. Rauch auction 97 lot 98, 2015.
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GREEK, Arachosia, ca. 220-200 BC, Lysimachos/Alexander Hybrid Imitative AR Tetradrachm - Coin Hoards X Plate 16, 181 (this coin)Diademed head of deified Alexander right, with horn of Ammon.
Barbarized legend …ΛΕΞA... Zeus left seated on a backless throne, eagle in right hand, scepter held in left hand, pellet beneath throne above poorly defined dotted strut, indistinct possible mint control in left field.
Miller East Arachosia Hoard (Quetta Hoard, 2002 (CH 10.275), 181 (this coin) in Hoover, Meadows and Wattenberg Coin Hoards X Plate 16, 181 (this coin); SC p 483-488 Addenda III A Third Century Hoard from Arachosia.
(23 mm, 16.7 g, 6h)
ex- the East Arachosia (Quetta) Hoard 2001 (CH 10.275) buried ca. 206-200 BC.
This is a challenge for all but the cognoscenti. Notwithstanding its superficially shabby appearance, it qualifies as the best of its type because that is what it is, the best of four examples known. To appreciate this it is necessary to understand the background to the coin. This imitative hybrid was unknown to numismatists until 2001 when four examples were discovered in the East Arachosia (Quetta) Hoard in southwestern Pakistan, to date the only known find of the type. Three of the four examples, in lesser condition than this one, Miller (CH 10.275) 180 and 182 & 183 are now in the collection of the ANS as noted by van Alfen in AJN 14 (2002) p. 183-186 & pl. 29, #6, #7 & #8 (ANS 2002 acquisitions #460- #462; accession numbers: 2002.19.3 - 19.5). This fourth specimen is the only example outside of a museum collection.
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GREEK, Macedonian Kingdom, Lysimachos (305-281 BC), AR Drachm, ThraceKINGS of THRACE, Macedonian. Lysimachos. 305-281 BC. AR Drachm (19mm, 4.34 g, 1h). Ephesos mint. Struck 294-287 BC. Diademed head of the deified Alexander right, with horn of Ammon / Athena Nikephoros seated left, left arm resting on shield, spear behind; tripod to inner left, Greek Z in exergue. Thompson 170 var. (monogram); Müller –; CNG 75, lot 114 corr. = Gorny & Mosch 152, lot 1287 (same obv. die); Numismatica Genevensis SA VII, lot 165 = Gorny & Mosch 155, lot 59. Superb EF, toned.
This issue parallels Thompson 170, which has the tripod to the inner left and a monogram on the throne or in exergue. For a drachm of the present variety, with the Greek Z on the throne, see CNG E-199, lot 98 (struck from the same die as the present coin).Leo
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Greek, Macedonian Kingdom, Lysimachos [unlisted rev. die]KINGS of THRACE, Macedonian. Lysimachos. 305-281 BC. AR Tetradrachm (28mm, 16.83 g, 1h). Alexandreia Troas mint. Struck circa 297/6-282/1 BC. Diademed head of the deified Alexander right, with horn of Ammon / Athena Nikephoros seated left, left arm resting on shield, transverse spear in background BAΣIΛEΩΣ , ΛYΣIMAXOY ; monogram to inner left, ligate ΘE on throne. Meadows, Earliest 22 (A13/R– [unlisted rev. die]); Thompson 161; Müller –; SNG Berry 438 (same obv. die). Good VF, toned, some porosity, a few minor marks under tone. Rare.
From The Sam Mansourati Collection
Classical Numismatic Group, Inc.
Sam
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GREEK, Macedonian Kingdom, Lysimachos, AR Drachm, Ephesos, 294 - 287 B.C.Kingdom of Thrace, Lysimachos AR Drachm. Ephesos, circa 294-287 BC.
Obv: Diademed head of the deified Alexander with horn of Ammon right
Rev: Athena enthroned left, holding Nike, resting left elbow on shield, spear behind.
Thompson 171.
4.13g, 18mm, 1h.
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GREEK, Macedonian Kingdom, Lysimachos, AR Tetradrachm, 297-281B.C.Kings of Thrace, Lysimachos AR Tetradrachm. Lampsakos, circa 297-281 BC. Diademed head of the deified Alexander the Great right, wearing horn of Ammon / Athena enthroned left, holding Nike and resting left elbow on shield, spear resting to her right; ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ to right, ΛΥΣΙΜΑΞΟΥ crowned by Nike to left, monogram in inner left field, crescent in exergue. Thompson 49; SNG Copenhagen 1097. 16.65g, 30mm, 1h.
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GREEK, THRACE, Lysimachos Drachm (305-281 BC )AR Drachm (17mm, 4.18 g, 8h). Ephesos mint. Struck circa 294-287 BC. Diademed head of the deified Alexander right, with horn of Ammon / Athena Nikephoros seated left, left arm resting on shield, spear behind; lyre to inner left, A on throne. Thompson 174; Müller 355. XF. Drachms of this type are Rare.
From The Sam Mansourati Collection
Sam
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GREEK, Thrace, Lysimachus. 297-281 BC. AR tetradrachm. 297-281 BC. Lampsakos mint. Head of the deified Alexander right, wearing horn of Ammon / BASILEWS LYSIMAXOY, Athena seated left, holding Nike in her extended right hand, left arm leaning on her shield; monogram in inner left field, crescent in exergue. Thompson 50
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HERENNIA ETRUSCILLA sestertius - 249-251 ADobv: HERENNIA.ETRVSCILLA.AVG (diademed & draped bust right)
rev: FECVNDITAS.AVG / S.C. (Fecunditas standing left, holding out hand to child at foot left & cornucopiae)
ref: RIC135a (Trajan Decius), C.12(10fr.)
18.14gms, 28mm
Rare
Ex Richard Beale
The ’FECVNDITAS.AVG’ honours Etruscilla as mother of the two young princess (Etruscus & Hostilian). She had also a daughter, who later married Volusian (perhaps in the summer of 251, after the death of Decius and Etruscus – both of them deified, thus the girl was a daughter of an God!). Etruscilla took her Augusta title, and the wife of Trebonianus Gallus, Afinia Gemina Baebiana never got that (and there’s no coins, either).berserker
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Italy, Rome, Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, with the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda, view from Palatine Hill, May 2005.Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, with the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda, view from Palatine Hill, May 2005. The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina is an ancient Roman temple in Rome, adapted as a Roman Catholic church, Chiesa di San Lorenzo in Miranda. It is in the Forum Romanum, on the Via Sacra, opposite the Regia. The temple was begun by Antoninus Pius in 141 and was initially dedicated to his deceased and deified wife, Faustina the Elder. When Antoninus Pius was deified after his death in 161 AD, the temple was re-dedicated jointly to Antoninus and Faustina at the instigation of his successor, Marcus Aurelius. The ten monolithic Corinthian columns of its pronaos are 17 metres high. The rich bas-reliefs of the frieze under the cornice, of garlanded griffons and candelabri, were often copied from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Antoninus_and_Faustina Photograph released to the public domain. Joe Sermarini
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Italy, Rome, The temple of the Divine Antoninus Pius, Roman ForumThis is what remains of the Templs of the Divine Antoninus Pius. It was constructed by the Emperor Antoninus Pius, beginning in 141 AD in honor of his deified wife, Faustina the Elder. Faustina was the first Roman empress with a permanent presence in the Forum Romanum. When Antoninus Pius was deified in 161 AD, the temple was re-dedicated to both Antoninus and Faustina by Marcus Aurelius.
Apart from the baroque church facade that replaced the ancient roof the building is remarkably intact compared to the rest of the Forum.Ron C2
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Kingdom of Thrace, Lysimachos AR Tetradrachm.Kingdom of Thrace, Lysimachos AR Tetradrachm. Early-mid 3rd century BC. Diademed head of the deified Alexander right / BASILEWS LYSIMAXOY, Athena Nikephoros seated left.ancientone
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Kingdom of Thrace, Lysimachos, 305-281 BCSilver tetradrachm, 33.17mm, 17.09g, Choice aEF
Struck at Byzantion c. 200-195 BC
Diademed head of deified Alexander the Great right, wearing horn of Ammon / BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΛYΣIMAXOY, Athena enthroned left holding Nike and resting left arm on shield, transverse spear resting against her right side. Monogram in left field, BY on throne.
Certificate of Authenticity by David R. Sear, ACCS
Sear 1589v; SNG Cop 1121v; Müller 142-6v; Morkholm p. 147 and pl. XXXIV, 499v; Seyrig pg. 23, #5 & 6Lawrence W
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Kingdom of Thrace, Lysimachos, Silver tetradrachmObv:– Diademed head of the deified Alexander right, with horn of Ammon.
Rev:– BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΛYΣMAXOY, Athena seated left, holding Nike in extended right hand, left arm resting on shield, spear behind, monogram in inner left field, monogram under Throne
Ainos mint. Posthumous issue struck after 281 B.C.
Reference:- Thompson -, Muller -.
Allocated to Ainos thanks to Barry Murphy who stated "Not the same dies or the same monograms, but clearly the same engraver as Meydicikkale 2691".maridvnvm
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Kingdom of Thrace, Lysimachos, Silver tetradrachmObv:– Diademed head of the deified Alexander right, with horn of Ammon.
Rev:– BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΛYΣMAXOY, Athena seated left, holding Nike in extended right hand, left arm resting on shield, spear behind, monogram in inner left field, monogram under Throne
Ainos mint. Posthumous issue struck after 281 B.C.
Reference:- Thompson -, Muller -.
Allocated to Ainos thanks to Barry Murphy who stated "Not the same dies or the same monograms, but clearly the same engraver as Meydicikkale 2691".
The coin has a dark blue-black toning that makes it tricky to photograph.
Updated image using new photography setup.maridvnvm
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Kingdom of Thrace, Lysimachos, Silver tetradrachm - PortraitObv:– Diademed head of the deified Alexander right, with horn of Ammon.
Rev:– BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΛYΣMAXOY, Athena seated left, holding Nike in extended right hand, left arm resting on shield, spear behind, monogram in inner left field, monogram under Throne
Ainos mint. Posthumous issue struck after 281 B.C.
Reference:- Thompson -, Muller -.
Allocated to Ainos thanks to Barry Murphy who stated "Not the same dies or the same monograms, but clearly the same engraver as Meydicikkale 2691".
New photo of obverse.maridvnvm
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