In the last post on Laran I didn’t include statuettes only labelled images. This is because otherwise the reasoning can be circular. Figure has helmet must be war god, all war god must have helmets…

Anyway that doesn’t mean that my search results didn’t force me to look at a great deal of such warrior(god) statues. The most interesting was this one from Florence. With the unusual helmet and also the two wings(?!) off the shoes. Could this be a Mercury (Turms) figure?! Or a Perseus (Perse)?! I want to see how the right leg would have been positioned. IN the original whole composition, was this figure flying and stabbing some enemy? Or was this little statuette always meant to be displayed alone as a single figure?

I’ve been interested in animal-esque headgear for a while and specifically have been looking for parallels involving boars to better understand the unusual RRC 39 series, which I know others are working on as well. One of my working hypotheses is that this series may be intentionally invoking Italic divinities. This idea originated as an outgrowth of my interpretation of the semuncia as Feronia.

Other posts on RRC 39/2. (Iconography repeated on RRC 42/2, 69/5, and 72/7)

So I’m wrestling with the variation in Roman depictions of Mars and wondered if maybe looking to Etruscan iconography might help. Here’s a round up. I’ll add more as I find images.

Youthful, shoulder length hair, clean shaven, heroically nude with lap drapery, spear, boots, shoulder strap for sword, helmet devoid of plumage, fancy boots

Older, bearded, helmet with visor, large crest and tail plume, small, neck guard, curaiss and cloak, sword in hand, barefoot

No helmet, full curly hair above collar, cloak, spear, clean shaven, heroically nude, barefoot

No helmet, full curly hair above collar, lap drapery, clean shaven, heroically nude, boots, no weapon

No helmet, full curly hair down to collar, cloak, clean shaven, heroically nude, boots, sword

helmet with suggestion of a crest, but mostly obscured by wreath border of composition, full curly hair to shoulders, lap drapery, clean shaven, heroically nude, boots, no weapon

I”m usually circumspect about stuff that appears in trade for fear that I will inadvertently effect (or worse, encourage) sales. Trade happens. I will not be ignorant, but I will be careful. This sale gets a post even quoting the sales catalogue because multiple examples of this type that is missing from RIC have come to light in the last twenty years, most brought to market by one auction house.

Was there a new hoard discovered by a metal detectorist and these civil war rarities are being dribbled on to the market? Have we seen an increase in other civil war coinage in the market that might confirm this? I”m not going to look into it at least not any time soon.

I sincerely hope that some examples of these v rare coins have ended up in a public collection or two or three. We need to be able to test and study these before determining if they are genuine… If you purchased one, please consider donating it to major museum engaged in scientific research and testing.

SMH

An no I will not speculate on where such a hoard could have been found. Really there are too many borders crossed during the year of the four emperors to make speculation meaningful. Coins also travelled some in the aftermath of the war.

Key words: Galba, Vitellius, Otho, Nero, etc…

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Not a new type, but gold specimens of a type previously known in gold. Here we have to be even more sceptical because of the extra ordinary sale values. Think of the EID MAR gold (of which I’m still not sure what I think about authenticity).

The bottom specimen, the first known, seems similar to the style of this denarius also in trade (OCRE link, no images):

Sassù, Alessio. “Honouring Sulla in Sikyon: The Dedication to Mars Revised.” Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik 217 (2021): 223–28. [on JSTOR]

This article I read last week is stuck in my brain and distracting me from banging out the rest of the article I’m drafting. It isn’t even that closely related.

First letter forms.

The rounded open form P of IMPER is catching my eye. And making me think about Ps on Sullan coinage struck before his return to Rome

I’m using gold for comparison because the specimens tend to be in better condition so it was easier to find decent images faster but I could have just as easily used the denarii. RRC 359 is the better parallel as we believe it was made in Athens by Greek mint workers. Whereas RRC 367 seems to be more of a camp coinage. Regardless the Greek engravers would have had a template from a Latin speaker in Sulla’s administration.

The coins all have open Ps but the there is a significant range between dies. Some more rounded some more short legged Pi shaped. I have no conclusions. The R forms also deserve some attention. Notice how on RRC 359 the curve of the R meets the leg not the post of the letter. On the Rs of RRC 367 the curve and the leg are one stroke leaving an open space between itself and the vertical post. This is very preliminary. I’d want a research assistant to go through and tabulate the variation by number of dies before I was confident this was a pattern. I’m not doing it myself I have other writing and research goals.

See how strict I can be with myself!?

Es are also interesting. Notice how some have a short middle bar and others a middle bar of equal length to the top and bottom bars.

I will notice that the Es are consistent within the two lines of the Sikyon inscription as are the Rs. The M and I deserve closer inspection from a better photograph.

Do you have one you could share?!

The author of the 2021 ZPE inscription makes much of the nominative form of Sulla’s name to suggest the statue was originally one of the general. Possible certainly. The coins also use the nominative for Sulla and we certainly believe that RRC 381/1 represents a statue of Sulla.

The X ending of FELIX leaves no doubt this is a nominative labeling the man.

The holes in the base are consistent with a standing warrior with spear resting his weight on right leg and only touching the base with his toes. Below are a variety of statues that might be somewhat similar to what appeared on the base. Those with the raised left leg are probably closest. But part of me has a hard time imagining Sulla choosing to be represented heroically nude but completely possible. I just don’t want to think about it.

We know from literary testimony say for Nero’s colossus being changed into a Helios colossus that bronze statues could be reformed from portraiture to divine idealization. Equally we know that many Romans chose to represent themselves in the guise of gods, even Mars.

And yet I have a hard time thinking that without significant reworking anyone could use a Sullan portrait with its intense verism for the perfection of the war god. Notice the leathered skin with deep lines in the cheeks and crows feet around the eyes.

This is not a face that easily fits with beard father god or the youthful clean shaven god.

I’m hoping I can source a better photo of the inscription to consider it better for the belief that the last line might be a later addition.

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Later, same day.

It occurs to me that, we do have one clean shaven Mars ugly enough to look like Sulla. I know we’re not supposed to have least favorite coins, but I really dislike the design of RRC 296/1. Thin neck, weak chin, bulging forehead, ski jump nose. What was the engraver thinking?!

I’ve talked about Juno Sospita on this blog and in my 2021 coin book, because she appears regularly on republican coins. The ritual of her cult is interesting to be sure. And her iconography with a goat horn headdress distinctive. Very popular in central Latium and surrounding regions as a antefix (architectural terracotta) motif. (Louvre example left, Berlin example right)

TIL about this fantastic black figure amphora in the BM from c. 530-520 BCE and likely found at Cerveteri or Vulci. At first glance (from another angle) I thought it might be Apollo and Hercules fighting over the tripod for control of Delphi, but then I looked closer. Definitely Juno Sospita. For me, I”m not used to thinking of indigenous Italic gods as having their own legendary adventures or how they might intersect with those of ‘Greek Heroes’. I teach the ancient Mediterranean as one deeply interconnected world with many points of exchange and yet this blending of traditions still arrested my attention.

Equally I find it interesting that in the late republic Sospita always has a figure-eight shield and curved shoes. Neither are represented here. They may be archaizing elements of her iconography to make later representations feel older.

I wonder if I’ve written before about how Sospita’s shield on the coins may recall the shape of the Numa’s ancilia!? One post on these shields and a short follow up. The figure eight shield clear was one the Roman associate with antiquity and religious traditions.

I can’t say I’ve thought much about centaurs. I remember my freshman year art history lectures on how like amazons and giants they represent on the Pantheon the struggle between civilization and wild forces and impulses that threaten it. A form of the ‘Other’ and a thinly veiled allusion to the defeat of the Persians. Chiron gets more of my attention for his relationship as Achilles tutor and its use in motifs of retrained education in ancient art. I’ve wondered about the centaur on RRC 39/1, but only vaguely as one more of Hercules’ many labors and side quests.

Then today I came in to the AC after a bit of entertaining in the garden to sit and cool down. I grabbed a book of Etruscan pots (a purchase from my recent trip), just to give me something to look at besides my phone.

So it is super wierd the creature whose foot the centaur is holding and I have no answers but check out that branch and compare it to the coin at the top of the post. Why are the centaurs holding branches?! And why have I not wondered at this before?

This vase below felt like the answer I was looking for. The Centaur is primitive. He bites. He throws stones. He fights with his bare hands. We cannot give him a club because he’s even more primitive that Hercules. So if we want to give him a weapon in an artistic composition he must carry a branch that has not yet been formed into a club. The raw and ready to hand weapon rather than one crafted to be more functional.

So the above vase, the one that got me thinking is a reflection on how the centaur is different than the armed men who have other weapons and even shields. The denarius reflects Heracles victory over the centaurs as primitive adversaries. Typically in art when centaurs are yoked together to draw a car they pull Bacchus and are part of revelry. This is something different, less revelry, more subjugation.

The plate below is in the Villa Guilia. I’ve seen in many times, but have always been so fixated on the fabulously strange wolf-man (with red arm bands!), I’ve never really thought of the other figures. A centaur with a whole tree pursues a woman who makes eye contact with Hercules as Hercules seeks to defend her. The centaur is the type with human front legs (always somehow more disturbing); he looks back to see how close Hercules is to catching him.

The amphora below is from Porano but is now displayed in Orvieto (see note below). Notice that the centaurs are harvesting trees to use as weapons and fighting(?) over them. Another holds a large rock another uses a pitch fork like tool to stab a sleeping man. Notice that two of the rocks on the ground seem to have heads, perhaps oracular, perhaps personificatons of place. Another figure with a double axe seems to look down from the heavens. It is dated to 330-310 BCE.

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Part of me wondered if this was primarily Italic but I did find a little Eastern material in my search.

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Based on Dan Diffendale’s useful comment I suspect the find spot of that amphora is likely the Porano just south of Orvieto.

I”m doing image research for an article. I’m probably going to go with this specimen from Haeberlin’s own collection as illustrated on his plate 44. It is free of copyright being now in the public domain and one could not get a clearer representation, and yet…

The vast majority of RRC 14/2 specimens look nothing at all like this. I don’t care if you’re looking at CRRO or what has appeared recently in trade. This specimen is shocking beautiful. Do I doubt its authenticity? Not particularly. I have however come to realize how much better aes grave looks when photographed from a plaster cast than from the specimen itself. Here’s a specimen that sold last year with no provenance information in Switzerland and a listed weight of 171,86g.

I’m fairly confident that it is the same specimen as Haeberlin 1910, pl. 45, 2 from the Sambon collection listed with a weight of 172.25 g.

It took me a minute to make this conclusion because the color photograph looks so radically different in detail than the bw from the plaster cast with all color data from the surface removed. If I got Berlin to photograph the Haeberlin specimen for me, in all likelihood it would probably appear much uglier and far harder to see the detail. Frankly I”m pretty sure I’ve held this specimen and may even have a study photograph… [not that I could find, darn it]. I would if I could look for tool marks to improve the definition especially in the crest of the helmet. Again not relevant to the article.

Some of you know my love of using photographic overlays and transparencies to compare images. Typically I use it to check die links but it also works in cases like this. When trimming the cast of the Venus side of the coin, the person doing the trimming clearly eliminated the portion which what caused by a misalignment of the two halves of the original mold used to make the coin.

Anyway part of me wonders if using such a ‘good’ image in the publication is misleading to my readership. The Haeberlin plate image doesn’t look anything like the vast majority of known specimens.

Of all the specimens I’ve looked at today another that caught my eye was Hirsch 1914, pl. 19, 290. (See earlier post on this problematic historic auction.)

Notice the definition in the curls of Venus. Really extra ordinary and unique. So do the backwards S under her neck and the difficulty of the modern plaster cast in dealing with the prominent sprue.

Ok I need to stop looking at specimens and get back to writing the actual article.

Begun Sunday July 5

I has been an intense three weeks. It always is, but this year the last few days were unbelievably stressful for mostly things it would be inappropriate to share publicly. Let’s just say that the least stressful of the final three crises was rebooking nearly every student’s flight and sorting each one’s needs in light of the airport ground crew strikes. I am proud of how I and the students and the college handled everything. Overall, it was an amazing trip and has re affirmed the teaching I most enjoy is intensive, immersive, and deeply interpersonal.

I’m tricking myself into writing later by starting a post I cannot finish.

I’ve been out to buy a new suitcase for my books. Yes, this is something of a ritual when I travel. I ended up haggling for a Turkish kilim, finding some last minute vintage t-shirts for my family as souvenirs, and then reviewing the alcohol allowances to bring home a few treats. On the whole, I paid too much for the used suitcase, but the man looked like he could use the money. The kilim I feel was a steal at the price I negotiated. The seller might have gone lower but I’ve bought enough to know I could have paid much much more.

Haggling is such a funny tradition. I like how it reflects the socially constructed nature of any measure of value. Two people weigh their wants and desires as well as a measure of the other person’s capacity all bound up in social rituals and also conventions of value local and global. Super interesting.

Perhaps the oddest thing I purchased at the market was a set of four knuckle-bones, well-cleaned from a seller of bones and stones. I decided these were an essential teaching tool and part of my research on ancient symbolism on coins. I almost bought two boar tusks to turn into the handle of a purse, I’ve crocheted. I regret not buying them, but I needed them drilled and didn’t really want to break them in the process trying the drilling myself. Next year I’ll shop early so he can drill them for me and I can pick up the next week.

I’m off to see the new exhibit of the Francois Tomb. A dream come true if I can get in! It went on display last Wednesday after the state paid 15 MILLION euros for it. Frankly, I cannot say it is anything other than priceless.

And, I’m back. I cycled there and back. It was marvelous. But I didn’t realize the work out I was getting until I got home and sweat poured off me. I’m resolved to rent a bike for the whole of my trip next summer. The cost of the Lime bikes is exorbitant but it is definitely the way to travel. (youtube short)

You can imagine my frustration of getting to the museum and seeing this sign. I was not the only visitor to turn around and leave. My beloved told me I could change my flight to stay to see it. This was ridiculous I want to see my children more. My fear is like the Mausoleum of Augustus it will be open only for a hot minute and thereafter closed for years. Fingers crossed, one day I’ll see it.

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Thursday, July 9.

I’ve made it back to the states and am transitioning into parenting, research, and minimal bureaucratic oversight of my department during the quiet summer months.

Since landing, I’ve done quite a lot. Perhaps most significantly, I’ve banged out an application for a visiting professorship. That was a good 1200+ words of prose related to my research ambitions and a culling of a version of my CV down to 4 short pages. Basically I made it a 5 year look back for grants and publications and 2 year look back other activities.

One thing I’ve noticed though is how few of my photos from my three weeks in Italy are research relevant rather than just documentation of my teaching and adventures. If you want the fun stuff, it is over on the class blog not here.

This isn’t to say it wasn’t good for my professional development: I collected so many new catalogues! I met with inspiring colleagues with a mutual love and curiosity regarding ancient bronze!

So now what?! Where does my writing and research attention need to be directed? Time is the most precious of my resources and goal setting is how we get there.

• Youthful Mars article
• Finalizing Papius catalogue, refine Fabatus catalogue, write contextual language to accompany both
• Re engage with Alien Ancestors drafting
• Line up letter writers for prestigious fellowship applications
• Consider most productive pitch for such applications
• Send data to colleagues in Rome RE bronzes
• Think about drafting a preliminary finding piece on pXRF work on 3rd century Bronzes
• Look over what other research has not been written up and/or published, esp. archival research, what is neglected low hanging fruit?

This feels like a moment akin to a day one like in 2013 and again in 2023. And yet, I don’t feel like enumeration. Perhaps it is just a feeling like a re commitment to a future of research rather than a limited period of time to count down.

Anyway. let us begin again regardless.

Another distraction. It has been one of those days.

Let’s reflect on C. Genucius Clepsina.

This inscription reads:

C(aius) Genucio(s) Clousino(s) pra<e=I>(tor)

EDCS-71000466

From Brennan 2000: 652-655.

Some thoughts.

1. I agree we cannot be sure the inscription is the consul and not a later descendant
2. The letter forms do seem suggestive of the third century
3. Are we certain the plaster was wet when inscribed?
4. Why does Brennan call it a graffito? There are many rather haphazard inscriptions of the 3rd century in formal contexts.
5. I’m less confident I see two hands at work in the writing. The closest evidence I can detect is the shape of the Cs the first two are more rounded but the third seems more linear. By contrast the Ns and Vs are very close in their angle size and shape. I’d want a to inspect in person.
6. I’m less worried than Brennan about the lack of filiation and the inclusion of the cognomen. Early cognomen are attested as are inscriptions lacking filiation, although I cannot come up with precise parallel that has a Roman magistracy also listed.
7. I do have questions about the function of the structure in the 3rd Century BCE in which this inscription to be found. It is called a ‘hypogeum’, i.e. an underground sacred space, and functioned as one in the imperial period clearly, but the discussion by Colivicchi summarizing the interpretation of others doesn’t really fill me with a sense of certainty or confidence.
8. Are we sure that the PRAI is complete? Could there we a TOR obscured by damage to the wall/plaster etc…? Again not something really intelligible from a photo.
9. I’m intrigued by praifectus being the an alternative resolution. I went looking for early parallels.

Meet:

EDCS-14805235 = CIL 9, 4204 = ILLRP 302 = etc…

Q(uintus) Lainio(s) Q(uinti) f(ilius) praifectos pro trebibos fecit

found at Amiternum (Samnium) and thus likely post 293 BCE inscription as that is the date the Romans captured the settlement.

Ok. Back to the task I’m still trying to complete for my students.

This topic is stopping me moving forward with curriculum design. A toss-away comment in an article I was reviewing for appropriateness to assign to students led me down a rabbit-hole.

The above publication has a very useful list of known examples with notes on provenance.

If I come across more images I’m sure I’ll come back and add them to this post, as is my habit.

Most are separated from the remains of the humans who presumably used them, but some do have fairly precise findspots that could help in reconstruction:

The following piece suggests that the metal of at least one specimen is not true gold but a man-made electrum:

Becker, Marshall Joseph. “Etruscan gold dental appliances.” Molecular and Structural Archaeology: Cosmetic and Therapeutic Chemicals (2003): 11-27.

What I want to know but need to stop investigating (so I can focus on my actual job) is if we’ve done DNA testing on any of the teeth in any of the surviving bridges (or even radio carbon dating!). The other thing I find exceptionally puzzling is that I can’t see any studies on the DNA of George Washington’s dentures, teeth we know came from enslaved labor.

Such DNA analyses would provide very valuable insights into the intersection of disability, medicine, and enslavement, both ancient and early modern… This cannot be an original question, I’m posing. Hence my deep frustration at not finding an answer.

Van Horn, Jennifer. “George Washington’s Dentures: Disability, Deception, and the Republican Body.” Early American Studies (2016): 2-47.

Fleming, Eleanor, and Patricia Neville. “Critical retelling of dental ethics told through ‘George Washington’s Complete Denture’.” Medical Humanities 51, no. 3 (2025): 376-385.

Ok. I’m going back to my curriculum design. Maybe social media will come through with some satisfaction for my curiosity.