just a post to juxtapose these images
Panthers and Bulls, Stags and Wolves…
We know after metallurgical testing of the Orleans team under A. Suspene that Italia Historia Nummorum Italy 406, the Social War gold coin in Paris BnF is likely genuine, even as its types derive from the coin types of Amisos.
What I didn’t realize is that Amisos also produced with the same reverse a delicious type of a panther on top of a stag.
I am strongly reminded of another Social War coin, HN Italy 427. Notice the curve of the tail and how both panther and bull look out at the audience.
And less so but also Caesar’s Elephant and Snake (RRC 443/1), I think here is is how the stag on the Amisos coin blends with the the exergue line like the snake.
Others may have already explored these ideas, like everything on the blog. It is just an idea I’d like to return to as I’m able.
Coins and Gems, again
Phalarae
Image Source
While most phalera seem to be circular and displayed on a 3 by 3 grid of straps this doesn’t seem to be a hard fast rule and variations in shape of the individual phalera are possible.
RRC 412/1 control mark pair 68 BM Specimen
I”m inclined to see the reverse symbol as a single phalera. and obverse as a dona militia, a display of phalerae
Rome via Brooklyn
This is a cross over post. I’m inviting you find my typos and give me feedback on my ambitious new website to go along with my new study abroad course, 3 credits, 21 days, all on site in Rome.
Or, you can just get excited of all the posts on this blog that will be inspired by my having this time in Italy.
Echoes of the Social War
I was looking for something else (isn’t that how all good blog posts start?!)…
And I came across this intriguing inscription from Rieti. An honorific statue base it seems. Even if you don’t love all the reconstructions (I have no reason to doubt them but it is best to make historic arguments from what one actually reads), the surviving portions are startling and the spelling variations a good reminder that even in the mid 1st century Latin could be very flexible.
In the photo above (I wish I had a better one!) the double AA in in ROMAANI is visible as is the key phrase
LIBERTAST ITALIA !
Bibliography: CIL 09, 08644 = Falacrinae p 18 = Epigrafia-01, p 81 = AE 2008, 00473 = Arys-2021-152
When looking for a better photograph I came across this lovely perhaps overly interpreted roof tile:
The image might be an upside down bull, it might be a helmet. Either way I’m not sure we can associate it with the Social War though Oscan language use does tend to end with the war.
Sertorian Hoards. A starting place?
I’ve been using Lockyear’s CHRR to access hoard information, but even he says the online database is not necessarily complete in all areas and he’s collected far more hoards since 2013. The database also excluded lots of the early hoard with Aes Grave as that was not part of his original project. All in all it is a good starting place but more thorough searches are needed. Yes, this is another spin out from my Sertorian mega post of which I ready to be done. I think I have enough material for my conference talk and shape of that talk has come to mind. I want to stay in my lane (RR coinage) rather than sliding into Iberian material and looking the fool. Anyway, I’m almost the bottom of review of past scholarship and this turned up in my l’Annee Philologique search reminding me that CHRR might not be great on Spanish hoards esp. small ones.
- Padilla Arroba, Ángel and Hinojosa Pareja, Antonio Ramón. “Tesorillo de denarios republicanos de Sierra Capitán (Almogía, Málaga).” Florentia Iliberritana 8 (1997): 679-703. [full text available through google scholar]
The authors report on group of 24 denarii closing 82 BCE they interpret as a purse hoard lost or rapidly deposited in a organic material container now lost. They comment on the incredible vantage point offered by the findspot. It feels rare to be given this precise of geographic coordinates, but super valuable. The hoard was likely deposited in a crevice where a few coins were found the rest had tumbled down the cliff face and were found amongst the rock rubble caused by erosion.
The coins were recovered by a private individual and are in private hands and we cannot be sure 24 is the true total number. (p.681)
The authors see parallels with the Mahalimán hoard (Constantina, Seville), published by F. Chaves in her monumental work:
- Chaves Tristán, Francisca. 1996. Los Tesoros En El Sur de Hispania : Conjuntos de Denarios Y Objetos de Plata Durante Los Siglos II Y I a.C. [Seville]: Fundación El Monte.
I could probably do with spending some time not just with this book but her whole corpus at the ANS.
The authors were not able to see non-numismatic material that comprised the hoard
“Finally, it should be noted that alongside the coins, some silver fragments were found, in the form of fine sheets in some cases and tubular shapes in others. Although we have not been able to observe them directly, they must resemble those that are commonly found in this type of hoard.” [machine translation]
Finalmente, hay que señalar que junto a las monedas aparecieron algunos fragmentos de plata, en forma de finas láminas unos y de forma tubular otros que, aunque no hemos podido observarlos directamente, deben, aproximarse a los que suelen ser frecuentes en este tipo de depósitos.
The catalogue is complete with notes on contitions of individual specimens, die axis, and control marks (where present).
P. 693-694
In the discussion after the catalogue the authors try to reconcile Villaronga’s emphasis on war as a cause for hoard deposits generally and Chaves view that the Sertorian war did not see any great uptick in hoarding esp. considering the great number recovered from the second century.
The same year as the above article this survey article was published:
Ruivo, José. “O conflito sertoriano no ocidente hispânico: o testemunho dos tesouros monetários.” Archivo Español de Arqueología 70, no. 175-176 (1997): 91-100. [ full text available through google scholar]
This article is super important because the author takes into consideration the arguments of the Hersh and Walker regarding dating.
The article concludes:
“The relative abundance of Sertorian hoards in this western strip of the Iberian Peninsula seems to show that this region played a quite important role, until recently unsuspected, in the final stage of the civil war between the populares and the aristocrats.” [machine translation]
Virginal Blood? Anna Perenna again.
This is is another spin out of my mega Sertorian post with running notes. One pair of modern Spanish authors revived the Anna Perenna interpretation of RRC 366‘s obverse – on which I lean strongly towards Aequitas (links to recent post). AND, There is a whole edited volume on Anna Perenna with a chapter on these coins.
Ramsby, Teresa. 2019. “Ovid’s Anna Perenna and the Coin of Gaius Annius.” In Gwynaeth McIntyre, and Sarah McCallum (eds.), Uncovering Anna Perenna, 113–24. Bloomsbury. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350048461.ch-007. [chapter ILL requested – book purchased but delayed delivery.]
While I wait to read more secondary scholarship here are some initial thoughts based primary evidence.
Generally speaking, I see a few strains running though our literary testimony, etymological and calendarical, i.e. antiquarian (Macrobius, Ovid), and allusions to actual ritual, cult practice (Ovid, Martial). My take away is that there was no fixed learned explanation for this deity but her cult was of significant. This is supported by the EXTENSIVE epigraphic and archaeological evidence from her shrine now kept and published in the catalogue of the collections of the Baths of Diocletian in Rome (book on my desk in Brooklyn, kicking myself now for not bringing it home for the winter break).
I tend to put little weight on the antiquarian tradition given that we know this was female centered festival of disputed origins ready for appropriation into whatever narrative was convenient to the elite male author. As I keep reading I’m v curious if I will find anything interpreting the the blood as menstrual rather than hymen breaking. I also feel it is far safer to interpret the goddess based on cult practice attested by material remains that clever literary representations, boring I know.
Literary Sources.
Macrobius.
And in the same month both public and private sacrifice is offered to Anna Perenna, so that we might prosperously pass the year [annare] and many years thereafter [perennare]. [Sat. 1.6; Loeb trans.]
Macrobius clearly derives from Ovid.
And to my thinking no small proof that the years of old began with March is furnished by the observation that Anna Perenna begins to be worshipped in this month. With March, too, the magistrates are recorded to have entered on office, down to the time when, faithless Carthaginian, thou didst wage thy war. Lastly, the month of Quintilis is the fifth (quintus) month, reckoned from March, and with it begin the months which take their names from numbers. [Ovid, Fasti, 3.145]
Ovid’s primary narrative makes Anna Dido’s sister, who then becomes a local nymph (cf. Vergil and Silius Italicus, both get chapters in above mentioned edited volume) and a clever alternate etymology before he nods to the many other explanations that exist:
“placidi sum nympha Numici: amne perenne latens Anna Perenna vocor.”
“I am a nymph of the calm Numicius. In a perennial river I hide, and Anna Perenna is my name.” [Ovid, Fasti, 3.653-4; Loeb trans.]
… Some think that this goddess is the moon, because the moon fills up the measure of the year (annus) by her months; others deem that she is Themis; others suppose that she is the Inachian cow. You shall find some to say that thou, Anna, art a nymph, daughter of Azan, and that thou didst give Jupiter his first food. [Ovid, Fasti, 657-660; Loeb trans.]
Besides these diverse explanations Ovid also mentions the story of a poor old woman who fed the plebs when they retreated to the Sacred Mount. He goes on to explain the ribald songs sung at here festival by young women by a story of her tricking Gavidius (who is aligned with Mars) into thinking she is Minerva whom he wants to wed and thus pleasing Venus. I take the songs to be actual cult practice and link it to Martial’s allusion.
Martial IV.64.16-17 reading with
Moreno Soldevila, Rosario. 2006. Martial, Book IV : A Commentary. Boston: BRILL. [ebook available through my library]
Taylor on Money, warfare and power
I’m indebted to David Emery for making sure I saw Michael Taylor’s excellent and useful BMCR review of
Jeremy Armstrong, Arthur J. Pomeroy, David Rosenbloom, Money, warfare and power in the ancient world: studies in honour of Matthew Freeman Trundle. Bloomsbury classical studies monographs. London; New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2024. Pp. xviii, 286. ISBN 9781350283763.
Readers of this blog (AND ME) will be very interested in four of the chapters:
I”m going to have to choose carefully which chapters to ILL in which order. I can’t quite justify the volume cost of HB and I’m not sure I want to wait to July to read these when the PB is released….
Aequitas, the Leveler
This blog post is a spin out of my notes on Sertorian bibliography. It came to have a life of its own. It started because of a toss away comment by Crawford on RRC 366. I am in that other post working though everything Crawford says about Sertorius in RRC.
This is classic Crawford. Declare something impossible and erase all other speculation on the topic from our memory of this coin type. Babelon thought it was Anna Perenna and was followed in this interpretation by Grueber, Sydenham and Zehnacker. It is nonsense. Crawford is correct about that, but he could have told us that he was rejecting an established interpretation. Babelon says the same goddess appears on the coins of Turpilianus, but that is Feronia, turreted and labelled as such..There is a stylistic similarity to which I will return. Babelon completely ignored the attributes. He just wants the gens Annia to have patron goddess. Complete fantasy. Smyth in 1856 (p. 9) emphasized the scales and decided it must be Juno Moneta. Also I think unlikely. I find after writing most everything below and deciding to title this piece as I did, that I agree with Ekhel‘s first guess: “Caput anticae propter adstitutam plerumque bilancem vel Aequitatis est, vel Monetae.”. How I came to this conclusion is much of the rest of this blog post. According to Riccio the switch from Ekhel’s (v sensible guesses) to Anna Perenna started with Cavedoni, while Riccio is unreliable in some matters, I appreciate his willingness to confront the contradictions and make them transparent in this case to his reader. What I have not yet found is where Cavedoni said this. The following isn’t yet digitized as far as I can see:
The styles of RRC 366 vary intensely between types 1-4, but the main bust stays the same and I think few would dispute they are all supposed to be the same goddess. The main differences between them are as follows:
1 – Caduceus behind, Scales before, Fabius Q
2 – No attributes, Bead and Reel border, Fabius Q
3 – Just Scales, Fabius Q
4 – Just Scales, Tarquitius Q
From this I take the scales to be the most important attribute of the goddess.
Note there are just 10 coin types in all of RRC with a bead and reel border.
Full busts that show the shoulder of the deity are also pretty unusual on the republican series, Besides RRC 366, I’d note Diana on RRC 372/1 and Libertas on RRC 392/1 and the composite goddess on RRC 409/1. Notably the last two also have a bead and reel borders. To my mind this type of bust reminds me of Italic terracotta busts but this may be a stylistic stretch (cf. much earlier post). It will however perhaps be uncontroversial to say the greater bust on the coin isn’t very Greek or Hellenistic.
There are not many scales on the republican series and I’d not like to draw parallels with any of the coins form the 40s.
There are 947 types in OCRE (from RIC) that have scales of which 287 have some version of AEQVITAS as a legend. The legend begins under Galba and is attested as late as 260 CE. From the age of Domitian onward the same imagery but usually with cornucopia instead of scepter is used with some version of MONETA as the legend (384 types). If there is no identifying legend the RIC catalogues tend to call a figure with scales Aequitas-Moneta. There are just 21 types in all of OCRE that have scales but where the catalogue does not include Aequitas or Moneta in the description. Pescennius Niger uses the scales for Iustitia, Philip I Concordia, Carausius Pax, etc… These and more are too late to be useful to us.
In RPC the figure with the scales is called δικαιοσύνη dikaiosýnē and typically considered the parallel of aequitas. These figures don’t tend to be labelled so the catalogue is bring modern interpretations to the imagery. Some times the scales attribute is combined with two ears of grain.
So is the goddess of RRC 366 Aequitas? I think it highly likely. We believe that Aequitas has cult in Latium from the first third of the third century BCE based on a tomb find at Vulci with an early Latin inscription. We know again from epigraphic evidence she was worshiped at Urbs Salvia by the end of the first century BCE and that might go back to the second century foundation of the colony, but that is only speculation. By the end of the first century a C. Marius, son of Marius, was improving the goddess’ cult in the north African colony of Uthina. Cicero doesn’t invoke the goddess, but as an abstract virtue it is all over his writing. A rhetorical handbook of c. 80 BCE makes a point to define it:
Iustitia est aequitas ius uni cuique rei tribuens pro dignitate cuiusque.
Justice is Equinimity in judgement so that each has their portion according to their dignity.
There are depictions of a goddesses with scales all over the glass pastes and I believe these are best identified with Aequitas.
The root word is self however is interesting because in a civic and military context it can connote leveling, as in leveling (to) the ground.
Notes supporting last paragraph of above.
Anna Clark’s Divine Qualities (OUP 2007) the go to on this topic has no entry in the index for this goddess. Not a good sign. BUT, my memory paid off and I check Dan-el Padilla Peralta’s Divine Institutions (PUP 2020) and got to p. 206 where a Pocola (ritual cup) with a possible reference to Aequitas is mentioned. [This is why I buy books, but also why I blog — it would have been much easier to find again if I’d made post about these objects and the abstractions they mention. When in doubt, blog!]. Dan-el cites:
Miano, Daniele. “14 Spreading Virtues in Republican Italy.” In Processes of Cultural Change and Integration in the Roman World, 382:253–77, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004294554_016. [accessed via paywalled digital copy in my college library].
This is a great update to Clark! I’m super excited to read it. There is a real emphasis on emergence through out greater Italy in the 3rd Century BCE and then growth down through 1st cent.
P. 264
What is a poculum or pocula you ask? Miano gives a very clear summary:
Fonte dell’immagine: L’evergetismo nella regio V (Picenum) (Picus, Suppl. VIII), Tivoli 2001, p. 117, fig. 23
glass pastes:
Cicero love the abstract concept of aequitas, but never seems to discuss it as divine; it is every where in his corpus. Both to praise individual morals and characterize public actions. Here he tries to define it: (De Partitione Oratoria 129-131):
Quocirca bene praecipiunt, qui vetant quicquam agere, quod dubites aequum sit an iniquum. Aequitas enim lucet ipsa per se, dubitatio cogitationem significat iniuriae.
It is, therefore, an excellent rule that they give who bid us not to do a thing, when there is a doubt whether it be right or wrong; for righteousness shines with a brilliance of its own, but doubt is a sign that we are thinking of a possible wrong. Cic. Off. 1.30
Honesta res dividitur in rectum et laudabile. Rectum est quod cum virtute et officio fit. Id dividitur in prudentiam, iustitiam, fortitudinem, modestiam. Prudentia est calliditas quae ratione quadam potest dilectum habere bonorum et malorum. Dicitur item prudentia scientia cuiusdam artificii; item appellatur prudentia rerum multarum memoria et usus conplurium negotiorum. Iustitia est aequitas ius uni cuique rei tribuens pro dignitate cuiusque. Fortitudo est rerum magnarum appetitio et rerum humilium contemptio et laboris cum utilitatis ratione perpessio. Modestia est in animo continens moderatio cupiditatem.
The Honourable is divided into the Right and the Praiseworthy. The Right is that which is done in accord with Virtue and Duty. Subheads under the Right are Wisdom, Justice, Courage, and Temperance. Wisdom is intelligence capable, by a certain judicious method, of distinguishing good and bad; likewise the knowledge of an art is called Wisdom; and again, a well-furnished memory, or experience in diverse matters, is termed Wisdom. Justice is equity, giving to each thing what it is entitled to in proportion to its worth. Courage is the reaching for great things and contempt for what is mean; also the endurance of hardship in expectation of profit. Temperance is self-control that moderates our desires.
[Anon.] ad Her. 3.3, c. 80 BCE
Liv Mariah Yarrow 