9 of 234 days: Nemi lake finds

January 11, 2023January 11, 2023 ~ Liv Yarrow ~ Leave a comment

ILL delivered that article I mentioned yesterday on lamps in Lake Nemi, nothing really on coins. But, the authors notice a long period of ritual deposits in the lake itself and they consider this separate from the sanctuary of Diana which has a longer period of use (well into third century CE), whereas lamp deposits seem to concentrated and then taper off in the second century CE. They speculate that the deposits might have been a means of communicating with the underworld. Nevertheless I find it tantalizing that they mention coin finds along with the lamps suggesting the coins were also part of such ritual deposits in the lake. I wondered if the coins were also in Museo delle Navi Romane di Nemi as the lamps were there. I took a ‘tour’ of the museum using snapshots posted on Tripadvisor.

Stratigraphic time line. Notice those coins in the republican era!

Hand crank device for bailing bilge water

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image.png — Component (reconstruction?) from Caligula’s ships on Lake Nemi, showing the same type of ‘ball bearings’ used in Nero’s revolving dining room

I’m guessing that any coin finds were also published by Cesano (I mentioned her last week) here:

Cesano, S. L. “Scavi di Nemi-le monete.” In G. Ucelli, ed. Le navi di Nemi. Roma, 1940. p. 307-327.

I’ve ILL-ed it.

Yesterday, I sent off Dionysius for editorial feedback. That felt good. I hate how admin/logistics never feels like “real” work. I’m trying how best to prepare for my Rome trip and finally have some firm dates for collecting some more data. I don’t know what it makes most sense to work on until then… Do I start crunching data I already have? Or will that lead me down a primrose path or just make double the work? Perhaps more background reading…

Today

First steps on Aes Grave project
More Italy visit logistics!
~~More Rutgers coordination !~~
~~More Princeton coordination !~~
~~EES coordination!~~
~~BM communications~~
~~Follow up old student/tree sunset~~

Not Today (but maybe tomorrow, or the day after)

Teaching requests for Fall 2023
Circle back to department about any Jan planning meetings
Book flights
Set time table for any collaborative RRDP work/publication prep that needs to happen this semester: Chicago pub, INC pub, collaboration with RACOM, etc…
Circle back to Capito project
Consider ask for funding from Dean’s office
Begin Med school rec letter
record mini myth
find out what is on that v old harddrive and back up to cloud
follow up with Lafayette
Write up Teaching Eval
Rosen Fellowship refs – Jan 16
Finalize AAH logistics
Cancel at least one more digital membership
renew Coinarchives
Review grad student apps by Jan 19

Decussis miscellany

January 10, 2023January 10, 2023 ~ Liv Yarrow ~ 2 Comments

Balbi de Caro 1993; all specimens in this volume including this one of RRC 41/1 are from the *Medagliere Museo Nazionale Romano di Roma*

The piercing here is fascinating as the piece weights far too much to be worn as a comfortable ornamental piece of jewelry (almost 2.5 pounds!). I wonder if it was intended for a dedication, say being nailed to the wall of a sanctuary or something similar.

a specimen in trade but not in Haeberlin

Haeberlin’s plate

These two little videos show how closely both the obverse and reverse of the Rome specimen and the BM specimen match. I’ve never seen two aes grave this close. Traditional wisdom is that molds were not re used, but perhaps this is evidence otherwise? Or could one or both be an imitation?!

The Gnecchi Specimen (another photo of the same) however does not seem to fit:

The nose, chin, and overall profile have been aligned but notice the X behind the head cannot be aligned

Here I’ve got the X to align and the helmet curve sort of aligns but the profile is now significantly off.

There is one more specimen in trade but it is SO stylistically different from the BM/Roma one’s I don’t know what to think. The reverse bears passing resemblance to the Gnecchi reverse.

—

Other amusements

Aestimata poena ab antiquis ab aere dicta est, qui eam aestimaverunt aere, ovem decussis, bovem centussis, hoc est decem vel centum assibus.
Festus (epitome Pauli), sv. aestimata

Penalties in ancient times are said to be measured in bronze; they valued these in bronze, a sheep a decussis, a cow centussis, that is 10 or 100 asses.
a rough translation of my own

A completely fanciful and wrong approach to Italic weights and measures, but perhaps of amusement (link).

8 out of 234 days

January 10, 2023January 10, 2023 ~ Liv Yarrow ~ 1 Comment

…Without trying to decide which of these interpretations is the best, I have stuck to the oldest and most poetic.
original: “Sans chercher à décider laquelle de ces interprétations est la meilleure, je m’en suis tenu à la plus ancienne et la plus poétique.”

This line made me giggle.

This name logic was not only of interest to numismatists in the 19th century, but also to philologists concerns with naming practices (cf. Mowat 1871: 35). Support is derived from the patterns of numerous other nomen and cognomen; the coins are largely used as another epigraphic source.

Continuing with French scholarship I finally came to Babelon. Perhaps wholly unsurprising he is far more thorough and descriptive than any of the others and Grueber seems to owe much to him. There isn’t much new here but it is perhaps the clearest overview.

Why do I keep flogging this dead horse of a coin looking up wrong interpretations of bygone generations? A few reasons. It gets me reading widely and remembering to check various and sundry perspectives and in the past I’ve found my own thinking that seemed new to me, was in fact a resurrection of older ideas (wrongly?) dismissed. But I am getting a little bored of the gens Accoleia as it is taking me too far away from Nemi.

I’ve requested a copy of this article from ILL so hopefully I’ll have something more interesting for a future post.

Diosono, Francesca and Cinaglia, Tiziano. “Light on the water: ritual deposit of lamps in Lake Nemi.” Journal of Roman Archaeology 29, no. 1 (2016): 451-468. Doi: 10.1017/S104775940007224X

Abstract:	Following attempts beginning in Renaissance times, in 1927 the decision was taken to lower the level of Lake Nemi to the floor where the hulls of two ships belonging to Caligula lay, using pumps. These operations, conducted between 1928-1932, concluded in 1936 with the opening of the Museo Nazionale delle Navi Romane, where the ships were displayed. The ships were destroyed in 1944. But in addition to the materials belonging to the ships themselves, a number of other materials were gathered from the lake bed, including coins and bronze and terracotta objects. Lamps constitute the majority of these materials. The presence of nearly 250 lamps on the lake bed must be assumed to be due to a deliberate action that was repeated over time. The chronological span of almost all the lamps, from the middle of the 1st to the end of 2nd cent. A.D., is too long to argue for an isolated event. The different types and workshops represented also suggest that we are dealing with an act performed on numerous occasions, for each of which the materials were acquired on the retail market. That characteristic suggests that the lamps featured in an individual ritual practice, ending with their deposition on the waters of the lake.

Abstract:

Following attempts beginning in Renaissance times, in 1927 the decision was taken to lower the level of Lake Nemi to the floor where the hulls of two ships belonging to Caligula lay, using pumps. These operations, conducted between 1928-1932, concluded in 1936 with the opening of the Museo Nazionale delle Navi Romane, where the ships were displayed. The ships were destroyed in 1944. But in addition to the materials belonging to the ships themselves, a number of other materials were gathered from the lake bed, including coins and bronze and terracotta objects. Lamps constitute the majority of these materials. The presence of nearly 250 lamps on the lake bed must be assumed to be due to a deliberate action that was repeated over time. The chronological span of almost all the lamps, from the middle of the 1st to the end of 2nd cent. A.D., is too long to argue for an isolated event. The different types and workshops represented also suggest that we are dealing with an act performed on numerous occasions, for each of which the materials were acquired on the retail market. That characteristic suggests that the lamps featured in an individual ritual practice, ending with their deposition on the waters of the lake.

—-

Yesterday, I tried a more research first, communications second approach to structuring my day. Unfortunately, that meant communications didn’t get moved forward. I regularly overestimate how much I can actually get done. Also, I had to attend a doc appt with a kiddo and that ate up the last 2.5 hours of my day, so maybe I should go a little easier on myself. Started today with a wee walk–any walk is a good walk.

Today

~~Keep up on the Dionysius~~ (sent off to editors!!)
More Italy visit logistics!
More Rutgers coordination !
~~More Princeton coordination !~~
~~EES coordination!~~
~~Local colleague communications~~
~~push Nemi photo hunt forward~~
~~JCope filing~~

Not Today (but maybe tomorrow, or the day after)

Teaching requests for Fall 2023
Circle back to department about any Jan planning meetings
Book flights
Set time table for any collaborative RRDP work/publication prep that needs to happen this semester: Chicago pub, INC pub, collaboration with RACOM, etc…
Circle back to Capito project
Consider ask for funding from Dean’s office
Begin Med school rec letter
record mini myth
find out what is on that v old harddrive and back up to cloud
follow up with Lafayette
Write up Teaching Eval
Follow up old student/tree sunset
Rosen Fellowship refs
Finalize AAH logistics
Cancel at least one more digital membership
renew Coinarchives

Day 7 of 234: Still more on RRC 486/1

January 9, 2023January 10, 2023 ~ Liv Yarrow ~ Leave a comment

Days 5-6 were the weekend. And, now that I have a family, I have a better appreciation of the need to stop oneself from working every possible moment.

Grueber 1910 (see last post) cited Borasi 1898 and it is indeed it not only has a very nice sketch/transcription of the stone, but also a discussion of the earlier speculations on the coin including background to the historical dating of it and a little on what was known then on the cult of Bellona in the region. Perhaps fuel for deeper digging

Borasi and others keep mentioning a hybrid type with Augustus and RRC 486/1 and the legend “imp. Caes. Augus, tr. pot. iix.” as reported by Borghesi. I wondered if any of these hybrids have turned up more recently. I’ve not tracked one down yet, but I did come across TWO fun Spanish hybrid types using the obverse of RRC 407/2 and the reverse of RIC 1 404 (or 405). Kind of wild they use different dies but from the same types.

I don’t think these goddesses are Oak Nymphs or Oak-Grove Lares (Querquetulanae) anymore than they were Larch trees, but its always good to review the evidence, before dismissing it.

Varro LL 5.49

Not my most satisfying warm up writing, but good enough… on to the lists.

Today

~~Spend EVEN MORE time with Dionysius~~
More Italy visit logistics
More Rutgers coordination as needed
More Princeton coordination as needed
~~Dr. Liz letter~~

Not Today (but maybe tomorrow, or the day after)

Teaching requests for Fall 2023
Circle back to department about any Jan planning meetings
Book flights
Set time table for any collaborative RRDP work/publication prep that needs to happen this semester: Chicago pub, INC pub, collaboration with RACOM, etc…
Circle back to Capito project
Consider ask for funding from Dean’s office
Begin Med school rec letter
record mini myth
find out what is on that v old harddrive and back up to cloud
follow up with Lafayette
Write up Teaching Eval
Follow up old student/tree sunset
Rosen Fellowship refs
Finalize AAH logistics
Cancel at least one more digital membership
renew Coinarchives

Day 4 of 234: More on RRC 486/1

January 6, 2023January 9, 2023 ~ Liv Yarrow ~ 1 Comment

Grueber 1910 (repr. 1970): 569-570 has deliciously erudite footnotes! And yet, like so often he doesn’t explain the theories he’s dismissing. I know they are wrong and so does he, but what a lot of work to make others dig through. It makes me slightly more fond of Crawford’s dismissive asides as he condemns his predecessors. at least I know where he stands and where to look.

I use the 1970 reprint of Grueber as Crawford had a hand in its re issue and correction of errors of the 1910 edition, but if you don’t have it on your shelves or happen to be in need of it away from home, there is a digitized version of the original BMCRR.

Next time I am in Rome I must make a pilgrimage to this inscription in the baths of Diocletian in the section on oriental cults! Strange to think I must have walked by it half a dozen times in the past but not noticed its numismatic connection.

What does it mean? At first reading, It seems to be that this guy Eros wanted to make a dedication to Bellona and needed Accoleius and his colleague’s permission to do so. Our moneyer’s name is in the last line. Also notice the TALL Is which Grueber discusses as a means of indicating the long vowel sound. The stone itself is from Lanuvium.

The back of this same stone has it’s own epigraphic designation in some databases:

Also of note for our current assumptions that this coin represents the cult image at Nemi, is that at two members of the same gens as the moneyer are attested at finds from the sanctuary at Nemi. One clearly played some role in local politics in the early first century CE. AND wait for it… our own dear Lord Savile scooped up this v stone (along with the vast majority of the coin finds from the excavations) and brought it to Nottingham! (I’ll be sure to pay my respects when I visit.)

The other attestation is from a list of names of uncertain function (see line five).

The Lanuvium makes sense once we look at the maps. Lanuvium is only about an hour and 20 minute walk away, and is the next nearest ancient community to the sanctuary after Ariccia.

There is only one instance of gens in epigraphy from Rome itself and that seems to have been a funerary inscription that was reused in the construction of the walls of the tomb of Caecilia Metella

Right. More to learned and share here obviously, but I’m done warming up, and am ready to tackle the to do list!

Today

~~Submit Signed Tow by 5 pm Jan 6~~
~~Spend MORE time with Dionysius~~
~~Contact more curators about feasibility of collections visits concurrent with this trip~~ (progress)
~~BM/Rowan Follow Up~~
~~Rutgers Follow Up~~
~~Enter Dates of things in Family Calendar to avoid nasty surprises~~
~~AAH Logistics~~ (progress)
~~Cancel at least one digital membership~~
~~Princeton Follow Up~~ (here’s a link the awesome cast bronze collection there!)

Not Today (but maybe tomorrow, or the day after)

Spend EVEN MORE time with Dionysius
Teaching requests for Fall 2023
Circle back to department about any Jan planning meetings
Book flights
Set time table for any collaborative RRDP work/publication prep that needs to happen this semester: Chicago pub, INC pub, collaboration with RACOM, etc…
Circle back to Capito project
Consider ask for funding from Dean’s office
Begin Med school rec letter
record mini myth
find out what is on that v old harddrive and back up to cloud
follow up with Lafayette
Write up Teaching Eval
Follow up old student/tree sunset
Rosen Fellowship refs
Finalize AAH logistics
Cancel at least one digital membership
More Rutgers coordination as needed
More Princeton coordination as needed

3 of 234 Days: Triple Diana or Three Nymphs?

January 5, 2023January 5, 2023 ~ Liv Yarrow ~ 1 Comment

From Schaefer’s Archives (presumed forger’s die, now in Zurich money museum (see previous blog post)

I love that I can use the Berlin catalogue as a digital index for Woytek. The pages here discuss the college of moneyers and why 41 BCE is a better date for them. It does not engage with typology, but rather mint structure.

Smyth 1856: 2 describes two specimens of RRC 486/1. He discounts an unattributed description of as the Caryatidae, and favors seeing it as the metamorphosis of the three Clymenidae, sisters of Phaeton, with the obverse being their mother, Clymene. He quotes in Latin a line from Havercamp. The view is over a hundred years old by the time Smyth paraphrases. AGNETHLER 1746: 72-73 (next set of images) makes explicit what Smyth only implies. The attraction of this interpretation is based on the moneyer’s cognomen LARISCOLUS being derived from larix: the larch tree. The idea was that the three figures are turning into these trees. Smyth rejects an idea he attributes to Cavedoni that the obverse represents Acca Laurentia and that the money is thereby associating he gens, ACCOLEIUS, with the mother of the Lares and more over implying a connection between his cognomen and these protective deities.

Given the conviction of all these forebearers, I found myself surprised no one had pointed me to an ancient account of this myth. I had hope when I turned to Rasche 1785 when he gave a Pliny reference…

But NO! that passage is about the triple nature of the larch, a rather clever means of creating a connection, I admit.

“the fir and the larch divide the process into three parts and produce their buds in three batches; consequently they also shed scales of bark three times…”
Pliny 16.100

So what’s up? Well, outside of the numismatic bubble these sisters are typically called Heliades (a small point, but helpful for tracking down info!) and all of the accounts (as far as I can tell) have them turning into poplar trees if any type of tree is specified. Also their number isn’t fixed, as many as seven appear in some accounts (three is also a known number).

So how and when did our former colleagues reject this interpretation and land on the Diana as worshiped at Nemi…? A story for another day. This was enough of a pleasant warm up exercise and now onto the to-do list.

Today

~~Finalize Tow Proposal (DUE Friday, Jan 6, 5 pm)~~
~~Spend sometime with Dionysius~~
~~Send Letter of Recommendation (RE grad teaching)~~
~~Triage former student emails from over break~~
~~Contact more curators about feasibility of collections visits concurrent with this trip~~ (progress!)
~~Contact Princeton and Rutgers about possibility of visits~~
~~Write BM about whether scans of Nemi photos can be had~~
~~Write Clare in case she’s seen these photos and is interested in those token images mentioned by Crawford~~

Not Today (but maybe tomorrow, or the day after)

Submit Signed Tow by 5 pm Jan 6
Spend MORE time with Dionysius
Teaching requests for Fall 2023
Circle back to department about any Jan planning meetings
Book flights
Set time table for any collaborative RRDP work/publication prep that needs to happen this semester: Chicago pub, INC pub, collaboration with RACOM, etc…
Circle back to Capito project
Consider ask for funding from Dean’s office
Begin Med school rec letter
record mini myth
find out what is on that v old harddrive and back up to cloud
follow up with Lafayette
Contact more curators about feasibility of collections visits concurrent with this trip
Write up Teaching Eval
Follow up old student/tree sunset
Rosen Fellowship refs

2 of 234 days: Nemi and More

January 4, 2023January 4, 2023 ~ Liv Yarrow ~ 2 Comments

This is the opening to Crawford 1983. I know I can visit material on deposit in Nottingham and any of Haeberlin’s collection that ended up in Berlin, but I wonder how likely it is to be able to track down any specimens that were in Pasinati’s stock? Do you know the whereabouts of one or more of these pieces of *aes grave*? This particular provenance would make the individual specimens deeply important from an archaeological and historical position. Link to Helbig 1885. Crawford in this piece is attempting to improve upon Cesano AIIN 1912. (She’s one of my favorite numismatic foremothers!)

Crawford tells us that “A collection of photos donated by Lord Savile to the British Museum illustrates a number of pieces not otherwise attested, which have been included in the list below, and there may well have been more. (The photos also illustrate four tesserae: Standing figure/Standing figure, Standing figure/Standing figure, IVVEN/Blank, COR/THAL /Triple Hecate) .” I think these must be on deposit in the coins and medals department, as they have not been given accession numbers and added to the collection database as far as I can tell…

—

The enumeration of my days is a discipline for myself. When this blog was anonymous this type of omphloscopy was easier as I could at once construct in my mind’s eye just the right sort of mildly (dis)interested external audience, while being assured that next to no one actually read these posts or cared. Now I know there are some of you are coming for a specific kind of content that has nothing to do with my own writing practice and personal reflection on my profession.

I’ve resolved to re-institute the used of categories to help you filter out posts of less interest. Posts in this series will (like last time) be marked “enumeration of my days”. The coins category will be used to mark posts with… wait for it… coins. Ditto historiography, modernity, material culture, textual evidence, and advice. I think that covers most of the things I usually blog about.

Today

~~Re-shelve books and reset home office space~~
~~Develop Tow proposal (DUE Friday, Jan 6, 5 pm)~~
~~Choose ideal dates for Rome trip~~ (and even found my ideal flights!)
~~Contact curators about feasibility of collections visits concurrent with this trip~~ (one, more tomorrow)
~~Respond to external advising email~~
~~Triage Emails from over Holiday Break~~ (progress, not perfection)
~~respond to podcast request~~

Not Today (but maybe tomorrow, or the day after)

Spend sometime with Dionysius
Teaching requests for Fall 2023
Circle back to department about any Jan planning meetings
Book flights
Set time table for any collaborative RRDP work/publication prep that needs to happen this semester
Finalize Tow Proposal (DUE Friday, Jan 6, 5 pm)
Consider ask for funding from Dean’s office
Begin Med school rec letter
Contact Princeton and Rutgers about possibility of visits
Write BM about whether scans of Nemi photos can be had
Write Clare in case she’s seen these photos and is interested in those token images mentioned by Crawford
Write up Teaching Eval (overdue!)
A little more work on office environment
Triage Emails from over Holiday Break
Contact curators about feasibility of collections visits concurrent with this trip
Send Letter of Recommendation (grad teaching)

Not THIS Sabbatical

I found a post it note on my desk with a idea for a little book, potentially useful to the non-numismatists:

Roman Social History: The Coin Evidence

Ordinary Occupations

Ludi in Rome and the Provinces

Lives of Women

Athletics

Political Careers

Myth and Legend

Architecture

1 of 234 Days: the work ahead

January 3, 2023 ~ Liv Yarrow ~ Leave a comment

Creating this blog was such a life-changing experience when I first set it up in June 2013 to trace where the time went. I had deep fears that writing wouldn’t happen and that I couldn’t accomplish what I set out to do. More and different work was accomplished, all of which made the work between then and now richer and more meaningful. I’m excited to see what this period of time brings. I have none of those fears. I know that even if my goals shift and change, I will always be collecting new knowledge and ideas, enough to sustain me for another decade or so.

Practically, what is a sabbatical? I’m given the privilege of working on my research for Spring 2023 (and Spring 2024) in exchange for a 20% pay cut. I’m sad I won’t be at the AIA-SCS, but it isn’t in the cards. I’m calling it a “stay-batical”. I have made a very nice home office for myself and much of the work I want to do can be done right here. I put in some applications to travel for Spring 2024 so hopeful something will come up.

What is the work I hope to do?

I’m finishing footnoting a chapter on Dionysius’ thoughts on the Republican Constitution for an edited volume. That should be off my desk in 1-2 weeks all going well.

I need to crunch data from metallurgical testing of aes grave at Yale and Lafayette and compare with BM results and see if I could fit in another local collection or two before presenting my findings in Rome in mid February. (I also have to sort logistics around that trip.) Logistics need to be done ASAP, but the data crunching is last half of January along with some write up. I don’t think it will take four weeks but I’m allowing it just to be safe.

After that my hope is to keep the calendar nice and clear so as to plow through the edits of single-author Book No. 3. I’d love to have fully revised manuscript by June but that’s a pipe dream I’m sure. Maybe June 2024? We’ll see. Almost all the chapters are drafted. What is needed in intellectual rigor and footnoting. (AND not to get too distracted along the way).

Working Title: Making History: Coins, Texts, and the Late Republic

A richly illustrated exploration of what those living within the Roman republic knew, or thought they knew, about their own past and how they made that past meaningful to their contemporary lives. Chapters: (1) How to Read this Book (2) What Sort of Thing is a King? (3) Numa’s Memory (4) Celebrating Apollo (5) The Cost of Grain (6) Sulla’s Legacy (7) The Opimian Myth (8) A Fashion for Kings (9) After the Ides (10) The Relevance of Ancient History (11) Witnessing the Past (12) Who cared about the coins?

That’s the major stuff, but other things particularly, collaborative work, that may need to come to the foreground and may delay this work here and there.

I also wouldn’t mind writing up some of my Papius and Fabatus stuff for real and perhaps even diving into other thorny control marked issues…

There will also be proofs to review at some point and I really must get to the Nemi material in Nottingham. I hope this year…

More tomorrow..

Minerva seated

December 22, 2022 ~ Liv Yarrow ~ 1 Comment

(Or is it Roma or Virtus personified…?)

Image from Dr. Simon Elliott’s twitterfeed, placed here to archive for future reference, said to be from a Lararium in Stabiae.

Undermining the Secret Ballot

December 2, 2022December 2, 2022 ~ Liv Yarrow ~ Leave a comment

Two men of praetorian rank were on the panel—Domitius Calvinus, who voted for acquittal so openly that everybody could see; and Cato, who, as soon as the voting tablets had been counted, withdrew from the ring of people, and was the first to tell Pompey the news.
duo praetorii sederunt, Domitius Calvinus (is aperte absolvit ut omnes viderent) et Cato (is diribitis tabellis de circulo se subduxit et Pompeio primus nuntiavit).
Cic. Q.fr. 3.4.1

In my book there is a whole section in chapter 4 on the secret ballot and voting tablets on coins. Those used in the law courts had two choices: A(bsolvo) or C(ondemno), ‘I absolve’ or ‘I condemn’, or L(ibero) or D(amno), ‘I free’ or ‘I sentence’. What I like about the above passage is that it nicely shows how followers of Pompey the would be autocrat are undermining the anonymity of the ballot to show their partisanship AND that Cicero’s words help confirm the interpretation of what we see on ballots on at least one coin (RRC 428/2) dating to just the year before.