Nummata

Fel Temp Reparatio

2008-01-10T09:59:00.000-05:00

Resembles R.I.C VIII 107
minted 348-351 in Thessalonica
Emperor Constantius
Reverse is Fel Temp Reparatio- "Happy Days Are Here Again"

Republican Denarius

2007-11-20T10:13:00.000-05:00

On the Obverse of this coin it has a Helmeted head. Under this head it says Roma because she represents Rome.
On the Reverse side of the coin, it has a chariot that is pulled by four horses. The driver is Jupiter and he is accompanied by Victory. There also is a shield on the right hand side of the horses' legs. The person who supervised the minting of this particular coin is Acilius Balbus, around the time period of B.C.E. 125. The abbreviation of Acilius Balbus is on the left hand side behind Roma's head and that would be, BALB.

By Jovis!

2007-11-06T12:45:00.000-05:00

This antoninianus of the Emperor Diocletian is 22 mm. in diameter and weighs 4.6 grams.

Diocletian decided that the Roman empire was too big for one man and divided it into east and west. He ruled the east while Maximian ruled the west beginning in 286 CE. They ruled as co-emperors. In 293 CE he brought on two more men to help rule the empire as Caesars. He and his co-emperor took on the names Jovis and Herculius respectively after 287 CE. Around 295 CE of Diocletian's reign he reformed the coin system by eliminating the silver in antoniniani. Coins of this type are known as post-reform radiates. This coin however, is before the reform. We know this because of the XXI on the reverse, which most likely denotes the silver content in the coin.

The obverse of the coin shows a bust of Emperor Diocletian, draped and cuirassed, wearing a radiate crown. The obverse inscription reads " IMP C C VAL DIOCLETIANVS P F AVG".

The reverse is inscribed "IOV ET HERCV CONSER AVGG"(To Jovis and Hercules the preservers of the Emperors). It shows Jupiter( Jovis), on the left, with a scepter in one hand and a globe in the other and Hercules on the right with the personification of victory on a globe. Below Victory is a crescent and a delta. This coin resembles RIC275v. The coin is from between 287-295 because it was made after after Diocletian and Maximianus took on the personas of Gods and before the coinage reform.

The symbolism on the back shows the unequal relationship between the co-emperors. Jovis, representing Diocletian, is the King of the gods and father of Hercules, representing Maximianus. His scepter and globe are traditional symbols of power.

Unresolved questions about this coin include: Does the Victory on the globe represent a particular victory ? Is Hercules handing the Victory on a globe to Jovis or just showing it off? Where was the coin minted?

FORTUNA REDUX

2007-10-15T12:44:00.000-04:00

One of the coins in our museum collection was issued in the name of the emperor Aurelian, who managed during his brief reign (270-275 CE) to restore some order and unity to the Roman Empire after the messy, chaotic years of the mid-third century. The coin on the right is in somewhat better condition than our museum coin, but is very similar to it. The reverse, or tails, side shows the personification Fortuna Redux, a woman who is seated on a wheel and holds a cornucopia and a ship's rudder. The Romans' Fortuna, "Fortune," had many aspects. She was often associated with happy or lucky outcomes, but she was also sometimes portrayed as fickle, blind, or malicious. Fortuna Redux is often described as the aspect of Fortuna who brought travelers (and maybe specifically emperors) safely home. The emperor Domitian had a temple dedicated to her after he returned triumphantly from fighting the German tribes. Even earlier, the Senate erected an altar to Fortuna Redux after Augustus came back from a trip to the east.

Aurelian, too, had more than one triumphal return to Rome from war before he was assassinated in 275. But what about this image of Fortuna Redux on a coin of Gordian III, who was emperor about 30 years before Aurelian? Gordian, who never made it out of his teens, died of illness or was killed on campaign in Mesopotamia before he could make it safely home to Rome. Maybe in this case the image of Fortuna Redux (which means "Returning Fortune") was meant to suggest in a general way that the luck of the Romans was taking a turn for the better. If so, it wouldn't be the first time that Roman coin reverses were illustrations of wishful thinking, rather than reflections of reality.

For another version of Fortuna Redux on a Gordian III coin, along with some commentary by one of our donors, see this page of the Ancient Coins for Education website. Information on Rome's temple and altar of Fortuna Redux is here. Both photos in this post are courtesy of Beast Coins (thank you!).

BONA SPES

2007-10-08T11:10:00.000-04:00

This Roman coin reverse shows the personification of Hope, or Spes, here identified in the inscription as "BONA SPES," "Good Hope." She is shown as a young woman who trips lightly to the left, holding a flower in one hand and the edge of her skirt in the other.

This particular coin, a silver denarius, was minted early in the reign of the emperor Septimius Severus, in 194 or 195 CE. Septimius Severus is famous for his North African birthplace, Lepcis or Leptis Magna in present-day Libya. After winning the power struggle that followed the murder of Commodus (of "Gladiator" fame), he went on to rule the empire for eighteen years. His wife Julia Domna was one of the most talented, powerful, and famous empresses in all of Roman history.