c. h. v. sutherland - the historical evidence of greek and roman coins

8/12/2019 c. h. v. Sutherland - The Historical Evidence of Greek and Roman Coins

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The Historical Evidence of Greek and Roman Coins

Author(s): C. H. V. SutherlandSource: Greece & Rome, Vol. 9, No. 26 (Feb., 1940), pp. 65-80Published by: Cambridge University Presson behalf of The Classical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/641208

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GREECE N D ROMVOL. IX, NO. 26 FEBRUARY 1940

THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF GREEKAND ROMAN COINSBy C. H. V. SUTHERLAND

T HE historicalevidence yielded by the coins of Greece andRome is abundant, concise, essentially practical, andeasily assimilated. Comparison of this evidence with what isprovided by other branches of historical research is out ofplace, and seldom profitable: it is enough to point out thefundamentaldifferencebetween coin-evidence and that whichis furnished, for example, by works of art or inscriptions. Apeople's artisticor literaryachievement is mainly a free expres-sion of individual tendencies: though Phrynichus offended an

influentialsection of public opinion with his play on the Sackof Miletus, and though Pericles was able to yoke Pheidias tohis imperialist policy, it is true to say that such achievementwas generally the result of free minds working their will.Artistic evidence for history is therefore 'unofficial', or in-formal. It is, of course, all the better for that; yet it must lackthe precision which we look for in inscriptions-let us say, inan Athenian list of tribute-payments,or in a municipalcharterunder the RomanEmpire. Inscriptions,indeed, arevery oftenthe product of private enterprise-the wish to record familyhonours, to mourn the dead parent,wife, or child, or to blessthe emperorof the day; but they include a large class in whichthe information given is official in its purpose, and thereforefull and accurate.In contrast to works of art and inscriptions, Greek andRoman coins are wholly officialin the information which theyimpart, for the simple reason (not sufficiently often realized)that they were almost always produced under state preroga-tive. They therefore embodied the authorityof the state, clearand unmistakable. The 'types', i.e. devices, of a coin are not

3871I26 F


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66 THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OFthe result of chance selection, or of a die-engraver'sroaming,unfetteredfancy: his fancy is there, but it is controlled,and hisdesigns must unequivocally announce the identity of the cityor state, for this makes it possible for the coin to bear a legalface-value at home, and similarly secures its credited accept-ance abroad. Again, who shall fix the weight of a coin? Thistoo is no matterfor passing fancy: a state wishing to issue coinhas first to buy or mine the raw metal, and must be certainthat the additional costs of transport and minting shall notexceed the market-value of the coins once they are released.The city, then, or its delegatedofficers,must approvethe typesas well as fix the weight, of any coins which areissued.With coinage a prerogativeof the state, the cost of coinagemust be governed by the market-priceof raw metal: at thesame time the coinage of each issuing state must be sufficientlyreliable in purity and weight to allow the distinctive state-badge (e.g. turtle of Aegina,Pegasusof Corinth,owl of Athens)(Plate I, i-3) to dispense with the formality of weighing andtesting each individual coin. It followed that, if metal wasdear, a state must limit the amount of metal in each coin: if itwas cheap, it could affordthat its coins should contain moremetal; and in each case the metal must be pure to securegeneral acceptance. For Greek coinage these axioms were ofparamount mportance. For, whereasin the Roman world oneauthority exercised a uniform monetary control over mostcivilized areas (leading finally to a debasement of coinage totoken-standard),and whereasto-day the various nationalcur-rencies are linked and equated by artificialmeans, in Greecethere were-by contrast-large numbers of issuing states, eachautonomous, each competitive, and each partially dependentfor incomeon the profitableexchangeof their coins. Let us takethree leading states in Greece-Aegina, Corinth, and Athens.Aegina seems to have been ableto buy her silver cheaply,coin-ing pieces (valued at home at 2 drachmae)which weighedjustover or about 12 gm. (Plate I, i). Corinth, however, whichvery soon imitated Pheidon's epoch-making silver-mint atAegina, clearly had to pay much more for her silver, for herstandard coin (oraTrlrp),weighing c. 8.50 gm. (Plate I, 2), was


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GREEK AND ROMAN COINS 67tariffed as 3 drachmae: i.e. the Aeginetan drachma weighedabout 6 gm., and the Corinthian not quite 3 gm. An obviouscorollaryis that if a Corinthianmerchant wished to trade in anareaaccustomedto Aeginetan 'turtles' or to coins struck on theAeginetan standard, he would have to pay double the Corin-thian price in 'staters' to buy what he wanted. Needless tosay, this seldom happened: apart from the Peloponnese, theareasin which Aeginetan coins are most often found are in thesouthern and south-eastern Aegean, including Crete andEgypt, whereas Corinthian 'colts' flowed almost alwaysto thewest-Acarnania and Ambracia, south and west Italy, Sicily,and even Gaul and Spain: overlapping meant a wastefuleconomic system. At Athens, the first age of silver coinage isalso a time of debt and enslavement:money was at a high pre-mium, due to Aeginetan monopoly of raw metal. Solon, how-ever, found a cheaper source of silver (possibly by re-exportfrom Euboea) for his earlyAttic coinage (Plate I, 4); and later,with the opening up of the Laureium mines, Athens enjoyeda monopoly of cheap silver which revolutionizedher fortunes.The drachma which she adopted, c. 4'25 gmin.,was indeedlighter than that of Aegina; but from Peisistratus' time on-ward her 4-drachmapieces of 17 gm., of fine silver and steadyweight, and coined in greatnumbers(Plate I, 3), won a reputa-tion which steadily usurped Aegina's place in the southernAegean (hence the antagonismbetween them in its acute form,c. 550-480 B.c.) and threatened finally to break Corinthianmonopoly in the west-a threat not unconnected with thePeloponnesian War.The evidence furnished by Greek coins is, then, primarilycommercial: the emphasison politicsproperis slighter. Owingto their purity they circulatedabroadas bullion,whatever theirfixed legal value in the state which minted them. And if a citycould control the marketpriceof metalwithina certain foreign'area in which her influencewas secured(eitherby politicalties,or by naval or military strength), certain profit was bound tofollow. This is the radicalmeaningof Greekcoinage. Aegina,monopolizing Aegean silver, stabilizing its market price, ex-changingit for corn or manufacturedgoods in areasdominated


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68 THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OFby her powerful navy, grows rich in the persons of every indi-vidual Aeginetanmerchant who handlesher coins. Corinthiansilver, drawn perhaps from Illyria and Paeonia, costs more:once coined, however, it monopolizesthe CorinthianGulf, andpowerfully influences Italy and Sicily, where most towns, evenif they did not use Corinthiancoins proper,seem often to haverestruckthem with their own types. Monopoly is the keynoteof fifth-century history. From 480 B.C. the Athenian navyand Athenian influence grew swiftly, while Aegina's fortunessank. Soon, we may suppose, Athens absorbedthe source ofAeginetan silver (? Siphnos), thus reinforcing her monopolyof Laureium. But some effortmust also be made to extend themonopoly to the north coasts of the Aegean, where there wererich silver-producing areas from which the coined metal fre-quently reached Egypt. The revolt of Thasos in 465 wasquelled with a severity appropriateto so dangerous a move-ment: the Athenian itch for colonization around the Strymonvalley never ceased: the foundationof Amphipoliswas a signaland a short-lived triumph-a long step nearer the monopolyof the Aegean, suddenly cut short in the late twenties whenAmphipolis, after her defection, started a coinage (of whichthat of the Chalcidic Olynthians was a parallel) on a non-Athenian weight-standard(Plate I, 5): here was the end of theThracian dream,and a severe blow at Attic prestige. As early,perhaps,as449 B.C.Athens hadpromulgatedher famousdecreerestrictingthe production of coined silver among her subject-allies, andforbiddingtheiruse of anysavethe Athenianweight-system-an incidental means of calling in, at a profit, the oldcoins of Aegina, recently humbled. And, even after the Thra-cian calamity,the screws couldstill be tightened further south.Melos, for years stubborn and recalcitrantagainst incorpora-tion in the Delian League, may have been rash enough to pro-duce a silver coinage approximating to the old Aeginetanstandard,with a varietyof reverse-typeshinting at a new anti-Atheniancommercialblocformedin associationwith numerousother states in the Aegean (P1. I, 6, shows on the reverse thefig-leaf usually associated with Camirus). These coins areknown from one hoard alone, found in Melos, and doubtless


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GREEK AND ROMAN COINS 69buriedduringthe blockadeof 416 B.C., f which theywere prob-ably a prominent cause.' Melos destroyed made up for analienated Thrace; and there was still the chance to meddle inCorinth's western sphere of influence, long toyed with in theimperialist imaginations of Athens. So followed the Sicilianexpedition.It is not hard to imagine the effect of Athenian monopolyof raw and coined silver, for with it there was associated aparallel monopoly of most Pontic and much Egyptian corn.This corn Athens purchased at a discount with her cur-rency, which was at a premium in those areas: she wouldthen proceed to re-export the corn to her subject-allies atprices fixed by herself and paid for in coin received at a ratealso fixed by herself:only when her strengthwas failingdid shefind it politic to grantexemption in this respect,as the Methonedecree shows.2 Control of corn-marketingalone wasprofitable:with that of silver it must have been enormously lucrative.Research has not yet thrown much light on the activitiesof Athenian merchant ships: it may be that the 'Old Oli-garch', with his v0ij coiEi, was in fact one of the large mer-cantile class which Athenian policy persistently enriched; andhence, perhaps,his avowed toleration of the rule of the a2ipos.3Such, then, is the primaryevidence of Greek coins. Othercoinages there were, of course, in great abundance and of dif-ferent kinds: the purely self-advertising coinage of the littlesouth Italian town of Terina, with its varied and beautifultypes (Plate I, 7); the superbly lovely coins of the priestlymintat Olympia,which must have been producedfor tourist appealand bought by 'foreigners'as souvenirs of the Festivals(Plate I,8); the coinages of semi-Greek or barbariancommunities inPaeonia or Thrace, struck almost as bullion, expressly for ex-port to Greek communitieselsewhere(Plate I, 9); the electrumcoinages of Ionia, and chiefly of Cyzicus (Plate I, io), allowed

Cf. J. G. Milne, The Melos Hoard of z907 (American Numismatic Society'sNotes and Monographs, no. 62, 1934).2 See M. N. Tod, A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions (Oxford, 1933),no. 61.3 [Xenophon], 'A&ivaicovlolrEica, probably the work of an Athenian witholigarchic tendencies in the last quarter of the fifth century.


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70 THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OFby Athens for the very good reason that they served as pay-ment for purchasesmade in the Pontic area,where familiaritywith gold was not an exaggerationof legend: these illustratevarying aspects of Greek coinages, chosen from among hun-dreds of individual city-issues. Important evidence is drawnfrom imitations of Greek coins by half-Greek or barbarianpeoples by whom the Greekmodels, pure in metal and regularin weight, cameto be regardedasworthyofperpetuation.Thusthe large class of Arabian or Levantine copies of Atheniantetradrachms,reduced in size and crude in style, eloquentlyattest the stream of Attic silver flowing south and east, andthe distress causedby its interruptionor cessation(Plate I, II).The popularityof Aeginetan coins in the south-easternAegeandown to c. 450 B.C. is seen in their frequent imitation in Crete-an island closely linked with Aegina. Along the Danube thespread of Greek coins and Greek ideas is traced in the manycopies of coins of Philip II of Macedon (Plate II, I) and hissuccessors, in whose coins were later found the prototypes ofthe coins of the British Kings in the florescenceof Celtic cul-tureprecedingClaudius'invasion(Plate II, 2, 3). Furtherevi-dence is to be found in weights, which often indicate clearlythe individual commercial groups of Greece; and hoards areobviously valuable as first-hand evidence of the commercialroutes along which Greek coins travelled, and of the mutualcompany in which they travelled.Nor are there lacking concrete instances of historical evi-dence: the anti-Athenian alliance of Chalcis and Boeotia in506 B.c., heralded by a special alliance-coinage; the domina-tion of Theron of Acragas over Himera from c. 482 B.C.on-wards, shown by the crab of Acragas on the coins of Himera(Plate II, 4); the vicissitudes of Zancle-Messana,echoed in achanging coinage; Themistocles' lordship over Magnesia, re-called by four very rare coins (Plate II, 5), struck curiouslyenough on the Attic standard,of whichtwo are official orgeriesWe might add the changing fortunes of sixth-century party-politics in Athens, shown by the family badges of Alcmaeonidsand otherswhich appearon the coins of the times (Plate II, 6);and, finally and appropriately,the Athenian rout in Sicily in


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GREEK AND ROMAN COINS 71413 B.C., recorded by the magnificent, if florid, Io-drachmapieces of Syracuse, showing their victorious charioteer, and theset of armour contemptuously labelled AOAA(Plate II, 7).In coinage as in all else, the contrast between Greece andRome is clear and instructive. The great land-empire, pain-fully and often wastefully built up under the Republic, andconsolidated under the Principate, made a world-power out of asingle central authority, which brought with it a single centralcoinage that eventually absorbed or stifled most of the oldautonomous silver mints of Greek states. The staple metal ofGreek currency had been silver: so too it was eventually of theRoman; and the Greek drachma and the Roman denarius wereroughly equated. Here the resemblances end. Rome, with avirtually complete monopoly of metals, had no need to com-pete in the world-market which she controlled; and, except forthe period of serious economic stress caused by the SecondPunic War, the story of the Republican coinage is even anduneventful in its external features. Trade was easy and un-fettered by international animosities: the silver denarius wasworth the same in Africa as in Asia, in Greece as in Gaul; andits weight and fineness varied little. Economically, therefore,the coinage of the Republic furnishes only limited evidence forhistory. From the point of view of politics, however, the in-formation is varied and vivid. Even to a casual observer, theabandonment of the hallowed coin-types, the head of Romaand Diana driving in a biga, in favour of personal or abstractreferences is significant: allusions to the family history of thesenatorial moneyers, and personifications such as Honour,Virtue and Piety-increasingly emphasized in a world of in-creasing ideological friction, underline for us the process ofpolitical change. And early in the first century B.C. the germof the later Imperial coinage is seen, when Sulla (Plate II, 9)and Pompey, in virtue of their command over field-armiesserving abroad, strike coins for the payment of their troops.In an earlier age, they would have repeated the types of thecoins struck at Rome itself: now they omitted all reference toRome, choosing instead types and legends (i.e. inscriptions)referring only to their own history or achievements-an


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72 THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OFimportantadvancefor the uncriticallegionarywho looks at hiscoinsto seetheirsourceof issue. Aftersuchpowerfulprecedents,it is not surprisingto find Caesarreservingto himself the rightof coining in gold and silver, and receiving the right-the firstof all Romans-in the last year of his life to have his portraitplaced on the coinage (PlateII, io). The transition from thisto the coinageof OctavianandAntony, and to the more matureand full series of Octavian as Augustus, was thus well preparedand easily effected.With Augustus in power, a radical and permanent changecame over the whole tenor of the Roman coinage, due partlyto his own unique position in public estimation, and partlyto the shrewd wisdom which he brought to the problem ofpropagandaand self-advertisement. For propagandawas nowto be as important a function of coinage as its very economicactivity. From the very first a system of eloquent and often-changing types was adopted: the frequent changing of types(unpopularin the leading commercial states of Greece, wherethe retention of a traditional design was as vital for overseastrade as the faithful reproductionof the Maria Theresa dollaris necessary for some backwardregions to-day) came to be aregularfeatureof the imperialcoinage. The victoryat Actium,the restorationof peace, and the acquisitionof Egypt (Plate II,i i), are all emphasized in the years immediately following31 B.C.: in 28, Octavian prepared eastern sentiment for thecoming administrativechanges by styling himself 'LibertatisPopuli Romani Vindex'-'Champion of ConstitutionalLiber-ties for Romans' (Plate II, 8). The constitutionalsettlementonce effected, coins were struckshowing the honours conferredupon Augustus-the shield, the laurels, the title (Plate II, 12).A few years pass: Armenia is settled, and the lost standardsrestored from there and elsewhere; the Secular Games heralda new age (Plate III, i); new roads are built at Augustus'expense; the Emperor falls ill, and recovers, and makes hisvarious plans for dynastic succession (Plate III, 2)-these andmany other events are commemoratedby type or legend. Itmay be observed, too, that though Augustus left to the Senatea more than nominal control of part of the coinage (some gold


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GREEK AND ROMAN COINS 73and silver from 19 to 12 B.C., and virtually all bronze from23 B.C. onwards), the propagandist content of the senatorialcoin-types is scarcely less than that of the coins issued underdirect imperial control in Spain, Gaul, and the East.We may pause, andwithjustification,to estimatethe potencyof this change in the coinage, and to reflect how strong aninstrument in state-inspired enlightenment the imperial coin-age was soon to become. The student of historywho casts hiseye over the lists of coins of each reign (arranged n scientific-ally dated groups as they now are) will see precisely, as everycitizen in Rome and Italy and every provincial-eastern orwestern-could see, what were the achievements for which thePrinceps claimed credit. At this point, too, he will observe thebeginning of a new idea of development. An Emperor maywell claim particularcredit for a particularachievement: whyshould he not also claim a more general credit for the wholegeneral tone of his administrativerecord, past and present?The transitionwas not a difficult one; and it was successfullyeffected during the Julio-Claudian period. Under Tiberius(whose emphasis in his own imperial coins of gold and silveris upon the continuity of the Augustanhouse and the Augustanregime) the bronze coinage of the Senate, apart from explicitreferences o the earthquake n Asia,Livia'sillness andrecovery,and the exploits of Germanicus, dwells on ideas of purposelygeneralsignificance-'Iustitia' (Plate III, 3), 'Pietas', 'Clemen-tia', 'Moderatio'-which appearto sum up the spirit of the ageaccordingto officialrequirements.Caligula used the coinage almost entirely to advertise hisdirect descent from Augustus; and it remainedfor Claudius todo in this field what he did in so many others, that is, to com-bine a strikingelement of novelty with what was old and tradi-tional.I He honours his relativesassiduously: he is at pains toremind the public that, as Emperor, he is the personal choiceand protege of the Praetorian Guards, flower of the army:he stresses military success in Britain and Frisia. With this,however, there is a new phenomenon. Instead of the plain

Cf. A. Momigliano, Claudius: the Emperor and his Achievement (Oxford,1934).


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74 THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OFand unqualifiedJustice, Piety, Clemency, and Moderation ofTiberius, we now find 'Constantia Augusti', 'Pax Augusta','VictoriaAugusti', 'Spes Augusta', 'CeresAugusta' (Plate III,4), 'LibertasAugusta'. The addition of the particular epithet'Augusti', or of the more generic 'Augusta', in effect raisestheEmperor to the level of a symbol typifying, in a more thanearthly capacity, the blessings which the more humble of theearth may enjoy: through Claudius' personal steadfastness,and through the Peace by Victory, the Hope of offspring,the Corn Supply, and the Constitutional Government whichhe brings, men may live their lives in peace, plenty, andcontentment.

If, too, these qualities were perhapsnot always present in areign, might they not be hoped for? Hence, indeed, came thesecond greatdevelopmentin the techniqueof coin-propaganda,by which an Emperormight express, not his record, but hisfutureprogramme. Nero, indeed, was somethingof a reaction-ary in this respect: his coins have a concrete propaganda-content-his lineage, Armenia, the closing of the Temple ofJanus (Plate III, 6), the harbour at Ostia, his largesses andpublic buildings, and his new Quinquennial Games-withsome others (moreabstractbut not less important) ike 'Roma',the new Rome arising after the Fire, and 'Annona AugustiCeres', 'Ceres, harvest-goddess, in her guise as the ImperialCorn Supply'. The new development is seen more clearly inthe coins issued by various temporaryauthorities in the pro-vinces during the months of threateningchaos in A.D.68-9,-'Bonus Eventus' (Plate III, 7), the happy outcome implicit inNero's fall, which is to restorethe world to health again('SalusGeneris Humani'): there are many other legends of a similarnature. Vespasianfollowed, faced with the necessity of creat-ing, almost overnight, imperial precedent and 'atmosphere'.He thus produced a series of genuine programme-typesin anattempt to bolster up the accumulationof officeswhich he andTitus so conspicuously assumed: 'Fides Publica'-NationalCredit-appeared at once, with 'SecuritasP(opuli) R(omani)';'ConcordiaAugusti' spelt Vespasian'sefforts to heal divisionsin the state; 'Fortuna Augusti' emphasized bright hopes for


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GREEK AND ROMAN COINS 75the future, justified by the 'Aeternitas' of Rome, sustainedmaterially by 'Ceres Augusta', and secured by 'VictoriaAugusti': this is in fact the New Deal-'Aequitas Augusti'(Plate III, 5); and 'Felicitas Publica' was bound to follow.Domitian's reign shows an interesting variation from thoseof Vespasian and Titus. For the imperial series of gold andsilver bears few propaganda-types: the justification of the reign,by advertisement or promise, is left-ironically-to that Senatewhich he so persistently threatened and humiliated. UnderNerva the programme-types are tinged with desperate in-security: 'Concordia Exercituum', 'Salus Publica', and 'PaxAugusti' hang precariously in the balance, even when they arerecommended by such concrete achievements as a Largesse, aCorn Dole, the abolishing of abuses in connexion with theJewish poll-tax (Plate III, 8), reliefs in the system of PostalServices, and the development of the Alimentary system for theupkeep of poor children. It remained for Trajan to make thePrincipate strong again, and he returned to the Augustan prac-tice of recording little except definite achievements, of whichthere were plenty. Only in the drowsy summer of Hadrian'sreign do we find types of 'Tranquillitas', 'Patientia', or 'Indul-gentia', paying honour to the 'Locupletator Orbis Terrarum',vice-gerent of God on earth by 'Providentia Deorum'; andfrom this system of suggestive (and often false) idealism theRoman Imperial coinage was not afterwards destined to depart.Here, then, is the principal evidence drawn from the coinageof the early Empire: it was an official gazette of past acts orfuture programme. As such, it provides an invaluable com-mentary, especially where historical texts are few and inferior.'But there is, indirectly, much other evidence as well. Thegradual lightening and debasement of silver and gold, as theeconomic fortunes of Rome declined; the circulation of moneywithin the empire, with its problems (so familiar in Englishhistory) of insufficient small change for daily needs; the exportof gold and silver to the east-and notably to India-in theearliest and latest periods of the Empire; the systematic studyof buried coin-hoards as a means of reconstructing and dating

See, for example, Cambridge Ancient History, vol. xii.


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76 THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OFperiods of unrest or danger, as in Gaul or Britain;' the in-fluence of Roman commerce on non-Roman areas, as seen inthe adoption, by the native kings of Britain, of Roman coin-types for their own gold, silver, and bronze2 (especially byCunobeline (Plate III, 9), the dangerous nationalist who hadlearned too much from Rome)-these are only instances of thevaried evidence that Roman coins will yield.For the Greeks, then, coinage was an end in itself, as a com-mercial necessity in an epoch of international competition.For the Romans, it was not only an end in itself, as an economicnecessity in a unified world: it was also a shrewd and adroitmeans to another end, namely, the formation of public opinionon matters of Imperial policy. Many later coinages havepossessed the commercial vigour of those of Greece; but wehave left to the moribund art of the medallist the responsibilityof making coined metal proclaim clearly contemporary actionsand contemporary policy.

BIBLIOGRAPHYBooks on Greek and Roman coins are very numerous, many of them beingmore learned than lucid. The following, however, will be found to give clearand straightforward information:GREEK. P. Gardner, A History of Ancient Coinage (Oxford, 1918).G. F. Hill, A Handbook of Greek and Roman Coins (London, 1899).G. Macdonald, Coin Types (Glasgow, 1905).

J. G. Milne, Greek Coinage (Oxford, I93I).C. T. Seltman, Greek Coins (London, 1933)-ROMAN. M. P. Charlesworth, The Virtues of a Roman Emperor: Propagandaand the Creation of Belief (London, 1937).H. Mattingly, Roman Coins (London, 1928).H. Mattingly, 'The Roman "Virtues"', in Harvard TheologicalReview, xxx (I937), pp. 103 ff.H. Mattingly and E. A. Sydenham, The Roman Imperial Coinage

(esp. vol. I, to Nero; II, to Hadrian) (London, 1923, 1926).See also G. F. Hill, cited above under Greek, and J. G. Milne,Greek and Roman Coins and the Study of History (London, 939).A. Blanchet, Les trdsors de monnaies romaines . . . en Gaule (Paris, I900);C. H. V. Sutherland, Coinage and Currency in Roman Britain (Oxford, 1937)-2 See G. C. Brooke in Antiquity, vii (1933), pp. 268 ff.


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GREEK AND ROMAN COINS 77KEY TO THE PLATES

Note.-The following abbreviations are used: AN= gold; EL. = electrum; AR=silver; XE= bronze or copper; obv. = obverse; rev. = reverse. Illegible portions oflegends are reproduced in capital letters within square brackets: abbreviated legendsare filled out in small letters within angular brackets.

PLATE 3I. AEGINA. IR. Stater of z drachmae. Obv., sea-turtle. Rev., incuse squareof conventional and archaizing pattern.c. 500-456 B.C. Aeginetan refusal to embellish or abandon her original

coin-types spells commercial prosperity.2. CORINTH. JR. Stater of 3 drachmae. Obv., Pegasus r. Rev., head ofAthena Chalinitis r., wearing Corinthian helmet and necklace: hair in

queue.c. 500-450 B.C. The traditional Pegasus type is retained for the obv.,but the old incuse swastika is now abandoned on the rev.3. ATHENS. AR. Piece of 4 drachmae. Obv., head of Athena r., her helmetwreathed with olive. Rev., AOE(valcov). Owl stg. r.: olive-sprayabove to 1.

The types instituted by Peisistratus were retained, and deliberatelyarchaized, in the fifth century.4. ATHENS.AR.Stater of z drachmae. Obv., Owl stg. 1. Rev., rough incuse punch.c. 600-550 B.C. Possibly the original didrachm of Solon's reform, this

may perhaps also fall some years later.5. AMPHIPOLIS. JR. Piece of 4 drachmae. Obv., head of Apollo, three-quarter face. Rev., AM IPOGAITE.l.N on square raised band enclosingrace-torch, and letter A.c. 410-400 B.C. A series, with bold types, and of non-Attic weight,begun after Brasidas' northern successes in 424.6. MELOS. JR. Stater of z drachmae. Obv., pomegranate. Rev., fig-leaf.After 450 B.C. The pomegranate-pvfAov-is a punning type alludingto the name Melos: the fig-leaf seems to be a conscious reminder of thetype used by Camirus in Rhodes.

7. TERINA. .R. Stater of 2 drachmae. Obv., head of the nymph Terinawithin wreath. Rev., ) T EP IN A 10 N. Winged Nike-Terina seated r.on amphora, holding caduceus: bird perched on finger.c. 425 B.C. Caduceus and amphora suggest commercial enterprise:the beauty of the coinage serves as advertisement.8. ELIS. JR. Stater of z drachmae. Obv., 5 L10 [I AAI] (retrograde). Eagleflying 1., holding serpent in beak. Rev., A 9 (retrograde= 'HA_iov).Nike running r. with wreath.c. 425 B.c. The types allude to the presence of Zeus at Olympia, andthe athletic victories there won.

9. LETE. AR. Stater of z drachmae. Obv., Satyr seizing a Maenad. Rev.,rough incuse punch.c. 500 B.C. The type is a genre-type (applicable to northern Greece,still backward), rather than an effort at symbolizing the material or spiritualvirtues of the issuing city.10. CYzIcus. EL. Stater. Obv., Harmodius and Aristogeiton in the act of

attacking. Rev., quadripartite incuse square.


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78 THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OFIi. LEVANT? Syria). Ai. Imitation of Athenian 4-drachma piece (cf. no. 3above), of rude style, and with the designs and legend misunderstood.

PLATE 4i. PHILIP I. AT. Stater. Obv., head of Apollo r. Rev., 4DIAIPPOY. Biga r.c. 356-336 B.c.2. BELGICMORINI. AN. Stater. Obv., barbarous head r., the wreath (cf. no. Iabove) enormously magnified, and the features disappearing. Rev., dis-jointed horse r., with ornaments freely distributed around it.c. I00-75 B.c. An intermediate stage of copying.3. TASCIOVANUS. NA. Stater. Obv., the preceding obverse stylized into adecorative Celtic design. Rev., C [TASCI]. Horse r., surrounded byvarious ornaments.

c. the end of the first century B.C. The disjointed 'Celtic' horse, of thetype shown by no. z above and cut out on the White Horse Hill, Berks.,is here turning, under Roman influence, into a more naturalistic animal.4. HIMERA.AR. Stater of 2 drachmae. Obv., ? HIMERA. Cock 1. Rev., Crab.c. 482-472 B.C. The crab, symbol of Acragas, appears on the reverseas a sign of Theron's domination of Himera. Note the appearance of theaspirate in the legend, and the form of the letter R.5. THEMISTOCLESN MAGNESIA. AR. Stater of 2 drachmae. Obv., C[OE]M I2-TOK AEOZ. Apollo r., leaning on sprouting laurel staff. Rev.,M A CAESAR*

DIVI" F(ilius) * COS - VI * LIBERTATIS * P(opuli) ? R(omani)>VINDEX. Head r., laureate. (Rev., not shown: PAX. Pax stg. 1., &c.)9. SULLA.AR. Denarius. Obv., L(ucius)> SVLLA. Head of Venus r.,facing small figure of Cupid. Rev., IMPER(ator)> ITERV M. Priestlyimplements flanked by trophies of arms.c. 82 B.C. Minted outside Italy by Sulla in virtue of his command ofan army in the field. Sulla professed to be under the favour of Venus:he alludes also to his priesthoods.

10. JULIUS CAESAR. LR. Denarius. Obv., ) CAESAR C DICT(ator) PER-PETV(o). Head of Caesarr., laureate. Rev., P(ublius) SEPVLLIVS(MACER. Venus Victrix stg. 1.44 B.C. Minted under Caesar's supreme authority at the SenatorialMint in Rome, and signed by the mint-master.


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GREEK AND ROMAN COINS 79II. OCTAVIAN (not yetAugustus).AR.Denarius. Obv.,CCAESAR) [COS] VI.Head of Octavian r.: behind, priestly lituus. Rev., AEGVPTO CAPTA.Crocodile r.

28-26 B.C. Minted in the East during the period of Octavian's extra-ordinary power between Actium and 27 B.C. Egypt fell to Octavian as aresult of Actium.12. AUGUSTUS. A . Denarius. Obv., head of Augustus r., laureate. Rev.,CAESAR AVGVSTVS S(enatus) P(opulus) Q_(ue) R(omanus).Shield, inscribed CL(upeus) * V(irtutis) between laurels.c. 20-16 B.C. Minted at Corduba in Spain, by virtue of Augustus'rights as imperator. The laurels and the shield were among the honoursvoted to Augustus after the Constitutional Settlement of 27 B.C.

PLATE 5I. AUGUSTUS. JR. Denarius. Obv., O CAE[SAR AVGVS]TVS - TR(ibu-nicia) POT(estate). Head of Augustus r., laureate. Rev., C[L * MESC I-NI]VS ) RVFVS * IIIVIR (aere argento auro flando feriundo). Stele,inscribed IMP(erator) CAES(ar) AVCGustus) LVD (os) SAEC(ulares)(fecit), flanked by XV (vir) S (acris) * F(aciundis).i6 B.c. Senatorial Mint of Rome: mint-master, L. Mescinius Rufus.Augustus, as quindecimvir sacris faciundis, held the Ludi Saecularesin 17 B.C.2. AUGUSTUS. AR. Denarius. Obv., CAESAR AVGVSTVS CDIVIF(ilius) PATER PATRIAE. Head of Augustus r., laureate. Rev., inexergue, C* L *CAESARES: 0 AVGVSTI F(ilii) COS*DESIG(nati)PRINC(ipes) IVVENT(utis>. Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar stg.,holding spear and shield: above, emblems of priestly rank.2 B.C.-A.D.14. Imperial mint of Lugdunum. C. Caesar and L. Caesarwere adopted by their grandfather Augustus in 5 and 2 B.C.,and thoughboth died shortly after, this 'adoption' coin-type continued. 'Princepsluventutis', with 'Caesar', now designated an Emperor's successor.3. TIBERIUS. IE. Dupondius (= 2 asses). Obv., a._ IVSTITIA. Bust r.,diademed. Rev., OTlI(berius) CAESAR DIVI AVG(usti) F(ilius)AVG(ustus) P(ontifex) M(aximus) TR (ibunicia) POT(estate) XXIIII

round S (enatus) * C(onsulto).A.D. 22. Senatorial Mint of Rome, emphasized by the S *C. lustitia,while perhaps alluding indirectly to Livia, may also be taken as an abstractpersonification of imperial desires.4. CLAUDIUS. IE. Dupondius. Obv., TI(berius) CLAVDIVS CAESARAVCG(ustus)P(ontifex) M(aximus) TR (ibunicia) P(otestate) IMP(era-tor). Head of Claudius 1. Rev., CCERES) AVGVSTA: in exergue,S (enatus) C(onsulto). Ceres seated 1., holding corn-ears.c. A.D.41-2. The imperial portrait now usurps one side of the coinsstruck at the Senatorial Mint of Rome.5. VESPASIAN. IE. As. Obv., Q IMP(erator) CAESAR VESPASIAN (us)

AV G(ustus) COS III1. Head of Vespasian r., laureate. Rev.,C A EQ V I T AS AV G V STI : in exergue, S (enatus) C (onsulto). Aequi-tas stg. 1., holding scales and sceptre.A.D. 70. Mint of Rome. Claudius' coins were inscribed 'CeresAugusta': there is advance in Vespasian's 'Aequitas Augusti'.


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8o GREEK AND ROMAN COINS6. NERO.XE. Sestertius (= 4 asses). Obv., O NERO CLAV D(ius> CAESARAVG(ustus> GERM(anicus> P(ontifex> M(aximus> TR (ibunicia>POT (estate> IMP(erator> P(ater> P(atriae>. Head of Nero r., laureate.

Rev., O PACEP(opuli>R(omani)> ERRAMAR[IQuePAR]TAIANVM CLVSIT. Closed Temple of Janus, flanked by S(enatus>C onsulto>.A.D.65-8. Senatorial Mint of Rome. Struck at the conclusion of theParthian war.7. CIVILWARS. ,R. Denarius. Obv., ) BON (us)> EVENT (us>. Female bustr. Rev., % PACI P(opuli> R(omani>. Hands clasped over caduceus.A.D. 68-9. Minted in Spain. Studiously vague, the types stress thehappy issue which is necessary for world peace and prosperity, i.e. theend of Nero's regime.8. NERVA.2E. Sestertius (= 4 asses). Obv., O1IM P(erator> NERV A CA E S (ar>AV G (ustus> P (ontifex> M(aximus> T R(ibunicia> P(otestate> COS IIP(ater> P (atriae>. Head of Nerva r., laureate. Rev., O FISCI IVDAICICAL VMNIA SVBLATA. Palm-tree flanked by S(enatus> C(onsulto).A.D. 97. Senatorial Mint of Rome. An outspoken record of fact.9. CUNOBELINE.NA. Stater. Obv., CA MV (lodunum> (= Colchester). Ear ofcorn. Rev., CV N 0 (belinus> (= Cymbeline). Horse r.

c. A.D. 20-40. Minted at Colchester. Cunobeline, absorbing Romanideas, built up a large E. Anglian kingdom: and perhaps his aggressivenationalism prompted Claudius' invasion in A.D. 43.

MARTIALIII. 9-.

Versiculos in me narratur scribere Cinna.non scribit cuius carmina nemo legit.

ContradictionsThat fellow Singer, it is said,

Against me wrote a song.But when a wight is never readTo say he writes is wrong. T. W. M.MARTIAL

vii. 16.Aera domi non sunt, superest hoc, Regule, solumut tua vendamus munera: numquid emis?

EnvoiThus, Prince, of all my goods bereft,With not a farthing in my coffers,One course alone to me is left,To sell your presents. Any offers? T. W. M.


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Greece & Rome Vol. IX, Pl. III

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Greece & Rome Vol. IX, Pl. IV

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GREEK AND ROMAN COINS(See Key, p. 78 f.)


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c. h. v. sutherland - the historical evidence of greek and roman coins

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