adventures in my head
RRC 428 feels pretty well explained by Crawford. The one point I can’t wrap my head around is what the curule chair is doing on the coin. As far as I can make out, one only gets the chair with imperium. Vestals get lictors, but those are the special religious kind (lictores curiati) which had… Continue reading Whose chair is that?
A Work in Progress. Hint. The search bar to the right is actually your best way of finding what I’ve said on anything. Professional Musings Political Essays “_____ Lives Matter” Lawn Signs Electoral College and Anti-Democratic Intentions State of the Discipline, Then, Now and Future Controversies in Classics – discussion of Holt Parker, Thomas Hubbard… Continue reading Index
So still on Holliday 2002. Normally lictors are only depicted with the fasces bundled and over their left shoulder. The fresco representations reminded me of another strange image (RRC 301/1): I’ve always assumed that on the coin the rod in the right hand was the threat from which the citizen is being protected. But if… Continue reading Lictors with rods in each hand
Not the easiest of images to track down a great for comparative iconography. See academic publication (no images) for discussion. Click on images to see them better. Notice the Macedonian shields. The great feathers on the sides of two of the warriors helmets. The Rhyton is also really wonderfully depicted. I don’t know what those… Continue reading Macedonian Funerary Painting from Agios Athanasios
I am at a quandary how to read this token type and its later legacy. I think its ambiguity may be intentional. The Legends Read: “United for the Reform of Parliament 1795” “May Slavery and Oppression Cease Throughout the World” And (not visible in the image above) around the edge: “An Asylum for the Oppress’d… Continue reading (Metaphoric?) Slavery and the London Corresponding Society
Look at this collection of reverses of 433/1. Notice that the first individual is clearly not a lictor (no fasces). He also is bending his knee and holding out his hand. Why is he doing this? He’s a Roman citizen clearly from his toga, but how does his body language relate to his ceremonial role?!… Continue reading The accensus
Crawford called the object in Roma’s left hand on this coin a fasces. This doesn’t make a huge amount of sense as one doesn’t carry fasces in the crook of one’s arm, but instead with the axe high over one’s shoulder. The classic example is the Brutus coin (RRC 433/1). Moreover the republican coin series has… Continue reading Roma and the Parazonium
This type of 63 BC borrows design elements from both of these coins of the period when Cinna controlled Rome. They were minted between 86-84 BC depending on whose chronology one follows. Here are the two forerunners: These two forerunners are the first two types struck by aediles the first by plebeian aediles, the second… Continue reading 186 out of 410 days: More on Aediles and the Coins
I’ve been reading Schafer’s 1989 dissertation on sella curulis und fasces. Many nice little observations and details here and there. This coin has the distinction of being the first to display the curule chair and to be the first minted by a curule aedile. The head of Cybele recalls the oversight of her games… Continue reading 184 out of 410 days: The Aedile’s Feet
In my previous post on bread and circuses, I used a translation by Kline. I admire very much Kline’s work making contemporary translations of Latin poetry available on the internet for non commercial use. Poetry translations suffers perhaps most of all when we default to works that have aged into the public domain. Open source… Continue reading 153 out of 410 days: Translating Bread and Circuses
Liv Mariah Yarrow 