Volume19

Journalof the NumismaticAs soc ratron of Austraha

2007Conference Papers Images in the Roman world

Hugh Preston

The role of the visual in establishing, themselves as Roman. The use of imagery reinforcing and transforming Roman seems to have created a significant degree culture is sometimes overlooked in of cohesion, and that surely was one of the traditional historical accounts. It is perhaps reasons that the Empire lasted for centuries. no surprise that the visual receives more Images reinforced cultural and attention in art history. Thus, art historian political identity. The same or similar Jas Elsner, in Imperial Rome and Christian images were used across the Empire and Triumph, wrote ‘In several significant were reused over hundreds of years, ways the Roman world was a visual although the use of imagery became more culture’ and ‘With the vast majority of the sophisticated with time as its propaganda empire’s inhabitants illiterate and often value was increasingly appreciated. unable to speak the dominant languages of The vast visual heritage left by the the elite, which were Greek in the East and Romans is an important source of infor- Latin in the West, the most direct way of mation to complement the written word, communicating was through images.’1,2 and to illuminate the vision we have of their The Roman state was immense and world. While it is important to recognize lasted for centuries. It comprised a host of visual and pictorial imagery as legitimate different ethnic groups and geophysical sources of historical information, care environments. Figure 1 shows the Empire should be taken not to rely exclusively on at its greatest extent. A lot of work has the interpretation of these. gone into analysing the decline and fall of In this paper, I will first present an the Empire. I have always thought this overview of images of all sizes of the approach has focused on the wrong Roman world, and follow that with a question. People with a science background discussion of imagery on coins, how it are trained to believe that, in non- evolved and how it related to Roman reversible systems, entropy (that is visual imagery in general. Finally, I will disorder) will tend to increase.3 So I think comment on the image record as an the question to be asked is ‘why did the information source, what it seems to tell us last so long?’ and what it does not, or at least what we The reasons for this are complex and should treat as speculation. related to such factors as trade, governance, and military organization. But there was a The images that permeated Roman life further underlying unifying theme. The Roman images came in a great variety different groups were interconnected of forms including: art in many media, through images that helped them identify buildings and other public works, and of

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Figure 1. Theatres and amphitheatres in the Roman Empire. course coins. Coins are not the most were built. Aqueducts, that were visually powerful images. They don’t have the huge similar, interlaced the Roman world from visual impact of the Sydney Opera House, Volubilis to Byzantium. Towns were built or the Statue of Liberty or the Colosseum, to a set formula and included similar or even the impact of classical statuary or decorative structures, arches and columns. larger two-dimensional art works. They do Another aspect of Rome as a visual culture have a special advantage for scholarship was the mounting of public rituals, and understanding; the images are often religious and intellectual debates, and labelled and dateable. This is often not so mass entertainment, the last including with artwork, statuary and architecture. So gladiatorial displays, chariot races and coins are an important part, indeed a animal fights, and the entertainment critical part, of the image story, and most of venues in which all of these took place. this paper will focus on them. But first they Many dramatic events and games took need to be put in the larger context of place in circuses, theatres and amphitheatres, visual imagery throughout the extensive which followed similar patterns throughout Roman territories. the Empire, with most towns having such facilities. The remains of at least 220 Large structures amphitheatres have been located in widely A first-time visitor to any part of what scattered areas of the Roman Empire, and was the Roman Empire—Europe, Asia these seem to have been remarkably similar, Minor and North Africa—would have with a consistent visual impact (Fig. 1). been struck by the extent of Roman public Many large functional structures and works. As Rome expanded, and colonies buildings were often enhanced with relief were set up, roads and other infrastructure sculpture; indeed triumphal arches were

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events, military campaigns, buildings and religious topics, virtues, mythological subjects, and portraits of individuals and family groups. Images of the imperial family were particularly important in public art, as here they were designed to promote the imperial regime. Greco-Roman mythology is important for the understanding of Roman imagery because much of it dealt with mythological subjects and, particularly, with the mytho- logy of the foundation of Rome (outlined in Fig. 2) in its various versions. Often these images of myth seem to be allegorical and so, to make sense of the implied message, we need to know the version extant at the time the image was Figure 2. Schematic chart of Rome’s mythological produced. This is an area where any attempt origin and foundation relationships. at interpretation requires extreme care because, even with most expert knowledge created for the sole purpose of displaying of foundation mythology, it is not possible glorious achievements. By the end of the to know precisely, some 2000 years later, Republic, mosaics, some of them with what allegorical message was intended. elaborate decorative designs as well as Figure 3 illustrates the use of different copies of paintings, were commonly used media to depict an important element of as a floor covering throughout the Empire, Rome’s foundation mythology in which not only in the great public buildings and Mars comes to Rhea Silvia, as a lover or villas but in more modest private houses as seducer (or worse) in a scene depicting the well. conception of Romulus and Remus. The objects, including the coin (as of Pictorial images , RIC 694a), are dated to Roman pictorial imagery had two major the second century AD. uses, as decoration and for communication. The importance of this theme is A great variety of media were used, demonstrated by its ubiquity. It has been including: sculpture in the round and relief found executed in a large number of in bronze, marble, fired clay, decorative different media5, each in numerous metal work, mosaics, paintings as frescoes or examples, including wall paintings, reliefs, on wood4, and engraved gems and coins. sarcophagi, metal ornaments and clay. The The subject matter of Roman art, both earliest images are gem intaglios from the public and private, ranged across a large first century BC, while the latest securely variety of themes. Some of the most datable images are coins, the Gallienus important were: daily life, historical issues c. AD 260 (RIC 67 and 345).

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AS, Antoninus Pius AD 140

Figure 3. Mars and Rhea Silvia in various media.

Figure 4. Images of wolf and twins.

Figure 4 shows the ‘wolf and twins’ struck c. 265 BC, just before the First Punic foundation theme that was depicted War, to the Constantine commemorative virtually unchanged for hundreds of years. VRBS ROMA issue c. AD 335; a span of The coins range from the silver didrachm six hundred years.

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One of the early images of the wolf is nature of some images, but that is only the fifth century BC Capitoline wolf, which part of the story. In some periods there is thought to be an Etruscan creation and is was a profusion of imagery, much of it regarded as one of the best examples of new. In fact, the reuse of some traditional Etruscan bronze sculpture. The twins were images, together with images that had added to this sculpture by Antonio del contemporary themes, seems to have Pollaiolo c. 1509 although it has been assisted some Roman administrations to argued that they replaced earlier versions.6 promote specific aims and policies, and In this context, the Republican denarius of initiate changes, while still giving the 77 BC which shows a she-wolf without the appearance of harmony with traditional twins (Satriena 1 in Fig. 4) is of some values. interest.7 Changes in imagery and the These images were used or at least appearance of new images are easier to reused sporadically over a very long time. document in the coin record, because Just as there was a consistent use of visual dating and sequencing are easier. So, it is images across the Empire, so there was a useful at this point to move to the second periodic reinforcing of Rome’s cultural part of this paper, the development of memory, often perhaps in the context of imagery in Roman coinage and its change. This leads to further questions, such relationship to visual imagery in other as the ethnic origins of the ‘wolf and twins’ media. This is a huge subject, and I will story in remote antiquity, the extent to approach it through examples taken from which it was shaped for political purposes, two periods, the Republic around 140–130 and why certain Roman politicians and BC, and portraiture and reverse images of administrations chose to reuse the image. the Antonine period. It is sometimes useful for historians to Roman coinage changed significantly speculate on the reappearance at particular in the late BC. The innovations of times of certain motifs, such as the wolf this period led to a redefinition of the use and twins. Nevertheless, it is also impor- of Roman coinage and set a pattern for tant, particularly for numismatists making hundreds of years. From the third century use of academic explanations, to recognize to the mid second century BC, Roman coin such speculation for what it is and not treat types had changed only slowly as did the it as fact. William Metcalf8 has discussed coinage of the Greek city states and the this point in the context of Michael Hellenistic nations. Crawford’s suggestion9 that the reverse of Nevertheless, from its introduction the Pompeia 1 denarius (Fig. 4, RRC about 211 BC the denarius evolved at first 235/1) alludes indirectly to the repudiation gradually. There were small obverse of the Treaty of Numantia. changes such as variations to the helmet of Roma, and two new reverse types: Luna in Coin imagery; development and relationship biga and Victory in biga. From the 140s to other Roman imagery BC there were one or even more types per So far, I have been stressing conser- year, and among them a rapid proliferation vatism in the context of the unchanging of new reverses.

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Figure 5. The evolving denarius – types, obverse and reverse legends10 and moneyers’ names11.

Reverse changes began in 143 BC denarii, were (generally) more clearly with Diana in a biga of stags. Over the identified—as in the legend of the denarius next ten years we see bigas of stags, goats, of C. Renius in Figure 5 (Juno in biga of and centaurs, an oath-taking scene, the goats). Since the office of moneyer was a wolf and twins and the Columna Minucia step in a career progression via elective (Fig. 5). offices, the right to have one’s name on So why did the imagery change at circulating currency and bring it to public this time? The problem is that many of attention was clearly valuable to both the these types cannot be understood with moneyer and his/her family. Reference to certainty—there is no ancient source past deeds, offices, ancestry (sometimes material explaining them, and symbolism from the gods) and places of origin was also that was obvious at the time is no longer politically useful. The proliferation of types clear to us. Consequently, interpretations might have begun haphazardly, but the are necessarily speculative and need to be potential of the coinage as an advertising approached with caution. tool for the moneyer would have been A change that occurred with, or readily apparent. slightly before, this sudden proliferation of Some scholars believe that the types was that moneyers’ names, absent or introduction, via the Lex Gabinia in given only as monograms on most early 139 BC, of the secret ballot for Roman

98 JNAA 19 2008 Images in the Roman world elections was very important. In the days The Republican images of deceased before secret ballots it was much easier to family members were realistic and showed ensure that one’s constituents remained all blemishes with no concessions, and this loyal. Once the secret ballot came into use, practice is thought to have led to a style of the nobility seeking election had to portraiture known as late Republican advertise themselves and what they stood verism, which portrays the actual features for. In the words of Andrew Burnett ‘The of the subject in a manner that ranges from moneyership suddenly became more hard objectivity to caricature. Veristic popular among Roman nobles, since coins portraiture was no doubt also influenced provided an opportunity for the self- by Etruscan sepulchral portraiture. This advertisement which now became was produced in quantity, and large necessary to launch a successful political numbers of Etruscan sarcophagi with career’.12 On the same point Crawford lifelike portrait busts (Fig. 6 top left) are to notes that from 137 to 127 BC the be seen in museums in Tuscany and moneyers’ names form a virtual roll-call of Umbria today. the nobilitas.13 The moneyers had the right to choose Early Roman Portraits: The combination designs, and used them to make a variety of the Hellenistic Greek approaches to of references, some quite subtle. Even the portraiture and Etrusco-Roman funerary choice of an old traditional type might well practices led to the evolution of the Roman have been an indication that the moneyer portraiture that we see in stone and bronze adhered to traditional values. in the museums of Europe, and of course The use of the coinage of Rome as a on the coins. Nevertheless the interplay means of political advertising of people between the veristic and the idealistic and policies and of propaganda had begun. styles was to continue over the entire It was to become increasingly sophisticated imperial period. over the centuries, because the coinage was The neoclassical images of Augustus the closest approximation to a mass (Fig. 6) that appeared on coins and statues medium of the time. helped to create the myth of him as the almost divine ruler of a Rome now Portraiture entering a golden age. On the other hand, Portraiture was a major theme of the rugged first images of the Flavians Roman art, primarily as statuary adorning helped to convey a no-nonsense image of a the piazzas, on sarcophagi, as frescoes, new pragmatic leadership which would re- and on coins. Traditionally, the evolution establish Rome after the excesses of Nero. of Roman portrait imagery is discussed in terms of two influences, one drawn from Identification of portraits: As Roman the Greek classical concept of the ideal portraiture evolved, the alterations or human form, and a second from the improvements were not necessarily Republican practice of keeping ancestral aimed at producing a more accurate funerary masks. representation, rather they seem to have

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Figure 6. Early Roman portraiture. been aimed at creating images that were Massimo, one finds attributions like politically evocative. Coin portraits, which ‘Poppea Claudia Ottavia? / Agrippina were seen in all corners of the Empire, Minore?’ The sculptured head of Vespasian were relatively standardized, varying of on the right of Figure 6 would have needed course with particular dies, depending on some supporting evidence for attribution the current fashion at the time. There was because it is more finely featured than is much more variability in sculptured usual for that emperor. portraits, many of which appear to have There have been some spectacular mis- been produced for particular viewing attributions. The statue of audiences or private use. This practice on horseback now (actually a copy) in the makes the identification today of statues Piazza Campidoglio was thought for a time and reliefs difficult. An additional to be that of Constantine. It probably owes complication for those now identifying its survival to that misconception. The true statues is that private citizens commis- identity was recognized in the fifteenth sioned statues of themselves that copied century from portraits on coins.14 The the fashions and styles of the ruling family. confusion might seem surprising because Clearly identified sculptured images the image of Marcus Aurelius is quite provide greater detail than coin images. distinctive, and is found on many statues However, unlike coins, most sculptures are and coins; one would not think it could be not found labelled. That is why in major easily confused with Constantine (Fig. 7). Italian museums, such as the Palazzo Presumably these images were not

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Figure 7. Marcus and Constantine. Figure 8. Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. identified in the pre-Renaissance times relation to the emperors themselves and when the mistake occurred. their wives’.16 The images of Antoninus The process of identifying ancient convey a sense of dignity and gravity as images goes back to the beginnings of art well as humanity, suggesting a trusted history in the sixteenth century. One of the leader. key figures in this was Fulvio Orsini, While the portraits of Antoninus secretary and librarian to Cardinal Ranuccio changed only a little over his lifetime Farnese. In 1570, Orsini published Imagines (mainly in the hairstyle) those of Marcus et elogia virorum illustrium (Portraits and Aurelius carefully report his ageing of sayings of famous men) in which he nearly forty years (Fig. 8). Some of the compared coins, sculpture and gems in a portrait heads, particularly those in marble, quest for reliable identification of images. capture the melancholy, contemplative Orsini laid the groundwork15 for identifying disposition of the philosopher emperor. major Roman figures on the basis of The coins from his young manhood period detailed comparison, but the process is one tend to show more strength and vigour. The of continual refinement. portraits on these coins show the head of the future leader, to be seen in all parts of Antonine portraits: The Antonine era the Empire. (AD 138–192) produced some superb The previously mentioned bronze portraits. There is less softening of the mounted statue of Marcus is one of images than for previous generations, and the most powerful images we have of more vitality in some of the best work. the Roman world. Possibly produced Michael Grant commented that ‘The art of after his death (the Italians date it to making portrait busts attained remarkable AD 170–180) it seems to depict him at an heights under the Antonines, especially in age of around 40.

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Figure 9. Antonine women.

There is a profusion of images of the images seem to have been rendered more Antonine women. Large quantities of attractive (Fig. 10). coins were struck in the names of the two It has been suggested by Gabucci18 and Faustinas and Lucilla (Fig. 9), even though others that the coins helped to transmit the those of Faustina I were mainly post- fashionable hairstyles of the princesses humous and Lucius Verus died after a across the Empire. Faustina II with her marriage of about five years. The coinage extensive coinage showing many hairstyles of Faustina the Elder is extensive (though provides the best example. There have mainly posthumous). Women were been many attempts to classify her explicitly honoured for the first time, with hairstyles, as they seem to provide clues coin legends like Puellae Faustinianae not only for dating her coinage, but also (daughters of Faustina I), Matri Castrorum dating female statuary with similar (mother of the camp) and Fortunae coiffure. Muliebri (having womanly fortune), both Building on work by Strack and Faustina II. Wegner, Klaus Fittschen19 for example The crown princess, Faustina II, divided her hairstyles into nine groups.20 reputedly beautiful and sophisticated, The problem is that specific details seem was promoted as a Princess Diana-like to vary with individual dies. Styles seem to figure. She remained popular, though change slowly in some periods and some controversial17, as a matron. Her coinage, styles re-appear. Nevertheless there is a spanning over more than 30 years, is the clear gradual trend.21 most extensive of any Roman woman. There is a large quantity of provincial Reverse types of the Antonines. coinage, as in the example in Figure 9, in During the Antonine age images on addition to the imperial. As with Marcus the coin obverse and reverse, and in other Aurelius, her portraits show the ageing media such as sculpture, were used process up to a point, after which the extensively over a sustained period

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Figure 10. Coinage of Faustina II over thirty years. to transmit the messages of the Religion and heritage: A considerable administration. Taken as a whole, these proportion of Antonine coinage was images make a particularly important devoted to reinforcing Roman belief and contribution to our understanding of the traditions, and to emphasizing the eternal period, as there is a gap in the major nature of the city. The gods are often literary sources for the second century. featured, and perhaps because of the 900th Cassius Dio’s account of the reign of anniversary of the city of Rome in AD 147, Antoninus Pius is missing and in fact was a number of coin issues recalled the already lost when the Byzantine foundation myths. Other issues honoured summaries were written.22 more concrete and recent figures from the The Antonine period had an interesting past such as Augustus and Livia. variety of reverse types. Four broad themes Figure 11 shows some examples. are apparent in the first twenty years: From the left: Mars comes to Rhea Silvia, religion and heritage, morality and who then gives birth to Romulus (founder desirable virtues, prosperity delivered, and of Rome) and his twin Remus, both nursed the imperial family. For the reign of Marcus by a she-wolf. The shields shown on the a fifth must be added: Victory in war. This next reverse are the ancilia, the sacred was to become a dominant theme of the shields of Numa Pompilius, Rome’s later Roman Empire. second king. Many coin issues show the

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Figure 11. Heritage—foundation, religion, the eternal city. long worshipped divinities of Rome: head of Faustina II. Other images hint at Venus, Mars, Minerva, and Ceres, together Rome as an eternal city, for example, the with somewhat newer divinities, for personification of Aeternitas (on post- example Cybele as Magna Mater. The humous issues), the river god Tiberis statue of Venus and Cupid (second row of (River Tiber), and Italia sitting on a globe Fig. 11) is sometimes thought to have the as befits the queen of the earth. The

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Figure 12. Children of the Antonines. consecratio issue and the bas-relief of course, have been clearer at the time. sculpture beside it show deification of Thus there are two tasks for the historian: members of the imperial family. to establish a chronology for the coins and to identify the children. A broad outline Dynasty: The concept of an imperial that fits the coins to epigraphic evidence is family was strongly promoted by the fairly obvious23, as shown in Figure 12, but Antonines. Some of the children of there has been some controversy over the Faustina II were featured not only on her detail. The reverses depicting children, own coinage, but also on those of sometimes corresponding with similar Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. reverses on dated coins of Antoninus and Faustina gave birth to thirteen children, Marcus, provide clues to the unravelling of many of whom died in infancy, and there the sequence of these coins (as do the were no sons surviving infancy until the hairstyles mentioned earlier). The arrival of the twins Commodus and identification of the children is more Antoninus in AD 161. difficult. There is plenty of opportunity for Faustina’s own coins are undated and circular reasoning here because in some the children appearing on them are not cases neither the coin evidence, which identified; details of who and when would, does not identify the children, nor the

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Each layer of interpretation presents problems, however, and we will conclude this paper with three references to the Antonine period. The first problem relates to identifying the image and recognising its significance; the second relates to incompleteness of available data; and the third to evaluating the message. The Roman use of images can tell us a great deal if we know what we are looking at, if we can fill in the primary data like dates and if we know the motive for the implicit message.

Identifying the image and recognising its significance: Many coin reverse types are puzzling in terms of the image and its significance. The as in Figure 13 (RIC 1680) is an example. The legend reads FAVSTINA AVGVSTA / VENERI VICTRICI S C, and the obverse hairstyle suggests that it was struck around AD 165 Figure 13. Faustina II and Marcus Aurelius as Venus or later. The reverse shows Venus, naked to and Mars. the waist, holding the arm of Mars. There is also a statue in the Musei Capitolini in epigraphic evidence, which sometimes Rome, dated to AD 148–9, of Venus and gives names but not dates, suffice on Mars where the heads are clearly those of a their own. much younger Marcus and Faustina, as may be seen on the denarii of similar The image record as an information vintage. This sculpture, made some twenty source years or so earlier than the coin, does not of At the beginning of this paper we stated course explain the issue, but it does that images reinforced cultural and political underscore its importance as an Antonine identity in the Roman World. The same or theme rather than a one-off. similar images were used across the Empire, So what is the coin image telling us? and were reused over hundreds of years in a One possibility is that it refers to the blended form to promote or support newer adultery of Mars and Venus, which was a ideas. There are numerous examples— popular theme of Renaissance painting images of Roma, Hercules and the wolf and (Botticelli, Veronese, Tintoretto and twins appear throughout Roman coinage, Rubens etc). The Historia Augusta contains sometimes standing alone and sometimes as a number of references (now largely elements of a more complex composition.24 discounted) to misbehaviour by Faustina,

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that he had been poisoned25). Given the gap in the sources for the second century mentioned earlier, however, there may well be other plausible explanations of the type.

Incompleteness of available data: A good example of the problems that arise when primary data is deficient is shown in the identification of the twins of AD 149, and consequently fixing the date of birth of Lucilla. Leaving the coins aside for a moment, other evidence includes:

– sources from the Prosopographia Imperii Romani tell us the names of some of Faustina’s children (the first, possibly Annia Faustina, Lucilla, Domitia and two boys who died as babies) – the Fasti Ostienses26 gives the birth of a child on 30 November 147, a date which coincides with the bestowing of honours for the parents (tribunicia potestas for Marcus, Augusta for Faustina), and Figure 14. The twins of AD 149 and other children. – Marcus’s letter to the people of Smyrna mentions the birth of a male child who dies soon afterwards on 28 but it seems unlikely that the image infers March, year uncertain. any adultery on her part—especially given that the sculpture with the same theme Now, if we look at the coins in Figure dates back to a period when she and 14, we see a baby in swaddling clothes on Marcus were newly married, and were an early sestertius of Faustina (not promoted extensively in the coinage. An conclusively dated), a daughter on a second alternative possibility is that the purpose of brass of Marcus (dated to AD 148–9), and the image was to once again associate twins on a sestertius of Antoninus (dated to Marcus Aurelius and Faustina II with Mars AD 149). Later coins dated to the AD mid and Venus, two divine ancestors of the show two girls. Roman people. Perhaps it even signalled Garzetti infers from this evidence that official rejection of the rumours that seem the child of AD 147 was Annia Faustina to have circulated after the death of Verus and that Lucilla was one of the twins.27 This (that he had had relations with Faustina and gives a date of birth for Lucilla of March

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AD 149, which is generally accepted; this propagated, the second is to recognize is the date of birth in Sear, for example.28 why, and the third is to recognize what it However, if you look at RIC or meant to convey to the common people at BMCRE (which predate the Fasti the time. Ostienses evidence), Mattingly describes the twins of AD 149 as boys, and the Acknowledgements images show little gender differentiation. The images of coins shown here are Fittschen argues for a different interpretation, from the Preston collection, with the with Lucilla as the first surviving girl; exception of the wolf and twins didrachm otherwise why was Verus not betrothed to downloaded from Wikimedia Commons. Annia Faustina if she was the elder? Other images are the authors own photographs and drawings, or Wikimedia Evaluating the message: Given that these Commons, with the exception of (i) the coin images were created nearly 2000 image of Mars and Rhea Silvia in Figure 3, years ago, there will always be dangers in left, and the silver patera handle from the attempting to interpret the implicit British Museum (inventory number 1902, messages. Much will depend on the 0116.1), photograph ‘The V Roma project’, availability of other sources and on (ii) the image of Faustina II in Figure 10, whether the allusion is to a short term top left, which is from the University of matter, important at the time but long Goettingen, Archaeological Institute, forgotten, or has an on-going context, in Collection of Plaster Casts, photo Stephan which case we might expect related Eckardt. images in other media. In the case of the Antonines we have a Notes period rich in imagery, but perhaps not so 1. Jas Elsner, Imperial Rome and Christian rich in written source material. We can use triumph, Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. the images from the coins and the bas- 11–12. reliefs to form an impression of the age and 2. Other writers on this subject include the German its culture. For example, through the archaeologist and art historian Paul Zanker, for expressive portraits and the emphasis on example in his essay, ‘Il mondo delle immagine virtue, prosperity, heritage and family, we e la comunicazione’, a cura di Andrea Giardina, are given a picture of a caring and Roma Antica, Editori Lateranza, 2005. 3. This is the essence of the Second Law of responsible regime. But we are looking at Thermodynamics, see for example Steven S the official line and there are few putting a Zumdahl, Chemistry, D C Heath and Company, counter case. History has judged Antoninus 1993. p. 774. Pius and Marcus Aurelius well, and they 4. Some of the best Roman period portraiture was probably were among the best of the produced by a technique which used pigments Emperors, but this is not conclusively mixed into hot beeswax and applied to wood. See supported by the evidence. for example Eve D’Ambra, Roman art, Cambridge University Press, 1998, p. 119. To summarize, images usually require 5. Numerous examples have been listed by Sonia several levels of interpretation: the first is Gersht and Rivká Mucznik, Geriòn, No. 6, 1988, to recognize the particular message being pp. 115–168 (posted on the internet).

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6. Amanda Claridge, Rome: An Oxford of new reverse types, and dated provincial archaeological guide, Oxford University Press, coinage is also important. 1998, p. 384. 22.Anthony Birley, Lives of the later Caesars, 7. Perhaps images without the twins refer to Penguin, 1976, p. 8. Luperca, an ancient Italian divinity identified 23.The illustrative outline shown here follows that with the deified she-wolf. See William Smith, given by Clive Foss, Roman historical coins, Classical dictionary of biography, mythology Seaby, 1990, p. 143. and geography, B. A. Seaby reprint, 1972. 24.Roma, for instance, had her head on many 8. William Metcalf, in Roman coins and public life Republican coins as the personification of the under the Empire, Salmon Papers II, University city of Rome; she appeared from the earliest time of Michigan Press, 1999. together with Victory to promote the idea of 9. M H Crawford, Roman Republican coinage, military success; she appears clasping hands with Cambridge, 1976, pp. 267–8. Crawford suggests Italia on a denarius of 70 BC (RRC 403), which that the choice of this motif may have had a presumably alludes to the reconciliation of Rome political purpose, emphasizing the divine descent and Italy after the Social War; and she is seated of the rulers of Rome in early times. (leaning on a shield showing the wolf and twins) 10.Many of the coin legends use monograms to at the bottom right of the bas relief (Vatican save space—for example in number 4 the P Museum) of the apotheosis of Antoninus and SVLA has the VL in monogram and is indicated Faustina I shown in Figure 11. with underlining in the figure. 25.Grant p. 37. 11.The names of moneyers given here (and the 26.Albino Garzetti, From Tiberius to the Antonines, catalogue references) are from Crawford. Given Methuen, 1974, p. 710. the abbreviated rendition in coin titles and the 27.Garzetti, p. 470, p. 710. reuse of the same names over several generations, 28.David R Sear, Roman coins and their values II, some have been the subject of debate. Spink, 2002, p. 367. 12.Andrew Burnett, Coinage in the Roman world, Seaby, 1987, p. 22. 13.Crawford, p.728. Hugh Preston has collected Roman 14.Claridge p. 236. coins for over 30 years and in 1996 he 15.See for example Beard and Henderson, Classical established the Ancient Coin business art from Greece to Rome, Oxford University Romanorum, now owned by Matthew and Press, 2001, p. 210. 16.Michael Grant, The Antonines, Routledge, 1994, Katrina Shillam. He has a PhD in p. 136. Chemistry and a Grad. Dip. in Economic 17. She receives a bad press in the Augustan Statistics. He is a member of both the History, see. Anthony Birley, Lives of the later Numismatic Association of Australia and Caesars, Penguin, 1976. the Australian Society for Ancient 18.Ada Gabucci, Roma, Electa, 2005, p. 181. Numismatics, an Associate of the 19. Klaus Fittschen, Die Bildnistypen der Faustina Minor und die Fecunditas Augustae, American Numismatic Society, and a Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1982, pp. 34–37. Fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society. 20.See also, for the reign of Marcus, Wolfgang He writes regularly for Coin and Banknote Szaivert, Die Münzprägung der Kaiser Marcus Magazine under the Roman World banner Aurelius, Lucius Verus und Commodus, pp. and has also published articles in 161–192, Wien, 1986. 21.The arrangement and dating of hairstyles is not, Archaeological Digs and The Canberra of course, based solely on appearance—evidence Dante Review, and a paper in the Annali such as legends, hoard evidence, the appearance degli Istituto Italiano di Numismatica.

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