adventures in my head
Sometimes the following coin types are discussed in relationship to the foundation of colonies or the extension of the pomerium (RRC 321 and 378).
I thought of them when I read this bit of Forsythe.
My brief attempt to see if the coins might show us the genitals of the oxen came to nothing. That in and of itself may be significant.
The oldest excuse in the book. This example of it comes from Cic. Rab. Post. 29:
Therefore, I say, that he was compelled by force to act as he did,—by force which, as our great poet says “Breaks and subdues the loftiest dignity.” He should have died, you will say; for that is the alternative. And so he would have done, if, while his affairs were in such a state of embarrassment, he could have died without the greatest disgrace. Do not then, impute his hard fortune to him as a fault; do not think the injury done to him by the king his crime; do not judge of his intentions by the compulsion under which he was, nor of his inclination by the force to which he submitted. Unless, indeed, you think those men deserving of reproach who have fallen among enemies or among thieves, and who then act differently under compulsion from what they would if they were free. No one of us is ignorant, even if we have had no personal experience of it, of the mode of proceeding adopted by a king. These are the orders given by kings,—“Take notice,” “Obey orders,” “Do not complain when you are not asked.” These are their threats,—“If I catch you here tomorrow, you shall die.” Expressions which we ought to read and consider, not only for the purpose of being amused by them, but in order to learn to beware of their authors and to avoid them.
It reminded me of a fragment from Pacuvius’ Atalanta:
Omnes, qui tamquam nos serviunt
Sub regno, callent domini imperia metuere (Pac. 72-73).
All, who are enslaved, like us,
Under a king, are callous to any fear of orders, in a word—they are tame.
The translation is my own. This may mean I am in agreement of a sort with Wiseman via Leigh:
In late-republican Rome, tragedy was par excellence the exemplary genre for revealing the ways of kings and tyrants.
From p. 32 of Roman Drama and Roman History. Corresponding footnote:
[Leigh 1996 is on ILL order.]
I’ve worried about what a modius looks like. This is a great illustration of one from the Neronian period. That is all.
(It’s the container standing on the table in front of Ceres.)
Image from an awesome flickr photostream.
Finally a good photograph of this one of a kind specimen (RRC 358/1)! I love the progress we’re making in digital numismatics. Here’s the permalink to the Berlin museum entry.
My earlier post on the type. (I still agree with my observations there.)
I’ve speculated on this type (RRC 404/1) before. I am still concerned with the stick the figure in the chariot is holding. “Magistrate’s staff” is highly unsatisfactory. Magistrates didn’t really have ceremonial staves in republican Roman. It’s hard to demonstrate a negative, but I will point out that in both Polybius and Pliny, the stick used to draw a circle around Antiochus Epiphanes, is explicitly in the magistrate’s hand by chance (Plb. 29.27.5 and Plin. 34.10).
Sceptres are the provenance of gods, kings, and maybe triumphators (see Braund and also here). They certainly symbolize dominion (Cf. RRC 393/1; 398/1; 435/1 and many more types). Roman magistrates don’t hold them.
The only type of rod or stick associated with magistrates is the vindicata used in manumission ceremonies. I’ve not found any evidence for its use/presence outside this context (basic search).
What else can we say about this figure? The die cutters really want to emphasize his toga. This means not a god almost certainly an intended legendary or once living Roman.
This biga (clearly ceremonial) is also a very odd choice. This is not how magistrates normally traveled around. I think it is this that gives us our biggest clue:
This is Versnel (of course!). The main function of the praetor urbanus was judicial oversight. And, we have at least one instance (L. Cassius Longinus) of an urban praetor having responsibilities for the grain supply of the city (Brennan, Praetorship, 460-1) and other earlier instances of the praetor urbanus being involved in agrarian matters (ibid., 99, 108). The praetor urbanus is given very specific responsibilities in the lex agraria of 111 BC (1.73, 2.73-4; 2.83-84).
I have a hard time seeing the coin as anything other than the celebration of a urban praetorship. BUT we don’t have a Vettius known in this role… Not that our records are complete. Very troublesome.
Here’s a highly speculative thought…
What if, Vettius is well enough connected that this piece is serving as an attempt at repairing Verres’ image…
Vettius was Verres’ quaestor in Sicily AND his brother-in-law, being the brother of Vettius’ wife and Verres’ as praetor urbanus is presumed to have given successful ludi Apollinares….
From Brennan:
No one can agree on the date of this coin.
Mattingly would like 72 BC to put it before his quaestorship I presume.
Crawford has 70 BC, and Hollstein a conservative c.69.
Hersh and Walker would put it in 66!
It was also in the forum that there was the picture of the ‘Old Shepherd with his Staff’, about which the Teuton envoy when asked what he thought was the value of it said that he would rather not have even the living original as a gift!
Pliny, NH 35.8
I think this passage helps explain the popularity of this gemstone type in the Republic:
(Thornvaldsen I1139)
(Thornvaldsen I1143)
(I’ve published on this iconography previously.)
Addendum:
A not very old shepherd appears on the frieze from the “Tomb of the Statilii” north side.
I’ve been on a Macedonian iconography kick. I’ve started to see it everywhere:
This is a jasper intaglio from the Thornvaldsen Museum ( I1166).
This is RRC 448/3. The series as a whole celebrates Caesar’s victories in Gaul. Was this what Artemis looked like in Massilia and by extension what she looked like on the Aventine? It bears little resemble to Artemis on Massilia’s own coinage. The Cambridge Ancient History endorses the reading of Strabo 4.1.5 against this coin:
what is more, the xoanon of that Artemis which is on the Aventine Hill was constructed by the Romans on the same artistic design as the xoanon which the Massiliotes have. But at the time of Pompey’s sedition against Caesar they joined the conquered party and thus threw away the greater part of their prosperity.
But how reliable is this testimony of Strabo? Just before he’s said that
We know well what Artemis of Ephesus looks like and it is not much like the coin image above…
Here’s the CAH:
Stannard is the man to go to on this topic! (and nicely he makes his work accessible by academia.edu!). Here’s the specimen from the RBW collection that sparked my interest:
Liv Mariah Yarrow 