Coins of Rome: Cash or Propaganda?

Year 10 HistorySemester Two, 2009

Basic Facts

• The study of coins is known as numismatics• Roman currency consisted of

– the aureus (gold), – the denarius (silver)– the sestertius (bronze)– the dupondius (bronze)– and the as (copper)

• These were used from the middle of the third century BC until the middle of the third century AD

Aureus of Octavian

c. 30 BC

Septimius Severus, 193–211 AD

Aureus (7.23 gm) Struck 193 AD to celebrate the legion that

proclaimed him emperor

Tiberius. AD 14-37. AV Aureus (19mm, 7.55 g). Lugdunum (Lyon) mint. AD 36-37. Laureate head right / PONTIF MAXIM, Livia (as Pax) seated right on chair, holding sceptre and olive branch; feet on footstool; single-line below chair; ornate chair legs. RIC I 29; Calicó 305c. VF, a few minor marks.

Julius Caesar. Struck in February-March 44 BCCAESAR IM P M, laureate head right; crescent behind L AEMILIVS BVCA, Venus standing left, holding Victoria and sceptre.

Flavia Domitilla, daughter of Vespasian and sister of

Titus and DomitianStruck 82-85 AD under

DomitianDIVA DOMITILLA AUGUSTA

Caligula (AD 37-41). Orichalcum sestertius (27.92 gm). Rome, AD 37-38. C CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS PON M TR POT, laureate head left AGRIPPINA DRVSILLA IVLIA S C, Caligula's three sisters with the attributes of Securitas, Concordia, and Fortuna: Agrippina leaning on column, holding cornucopia, and placing left hand on Drusilla's shoulder; Drusilla holding patera and cornucopia; Iulia Livilla holding rudder and cornucopia.

Bronze Sestertius of Trajan with the appreciation of his victory and the title "The Senate and Roman; the best Princeps."

• Unlike most modern coins, Roman coins had intrinsic value. While they contained precious metals, the value of a coin was higher than its precious metal content– Thus they were not bullion

• The first images to appear on coins during the Republic were rather limited in diversity and generally represented the entire Roman state

• The job of deciding what imagery to feature belonged to the committee of tresviri monetales ('trio of money men')– The position was created in 289 BC and lasted until at

least the middle of the third century AD

• While moneyers had earlier issued coins with portraits of ancestors, Caesar’s was the first Roman coinage to feature the portrait of a living individual

• The main focus of the imagery during the empire was the Emperor– He embodied the state values– Coins were an important means of disseminating

this image throughout the empire• Some emperors attempted to associate

themselves with the divine by putting pictures of Roman gods on the reverse of their coins

Featuring the portrait of an individual on a coin, which became legal in 44 BC, caused the coin to embody the attributes of the individual portrayed. Dio wrote that following the death of Caligula the Senate demonetized his coinage, and ordered that they be melted. Regardless of whether or not this actually occurred, it demonstrates the importance and meaning that was attached to the imagery on a coin. The philosopher Epictetus jokingly wrote:

"Whose image does this sestertius carry? Trajan’s? Give it to me. Nero’s? Throw it away, it is unacceptable, it is rotten."

Terms

Pontifex Maximus: High priest of the Pontiffs; the most important position in the ancient Roman religion; gradually subsumed into Imperial office.Tribunician Power: the power of a Tribune; veto power on legislation, authority to propose legislation and personal inviolability, i.e., no one could lay a hand on him; authenticates the power of the EmperorImperator: ‘commander’; English word ‘emperor’ derives from the latin word ‘imperator’

On the front is a Laureate bust of Nero. The words around it and their meaning:

NERO CLAVD(IVS) CAESAR AVG(VSTVS) GERM(ANICVS) P(ONTIFEX) M(AXIMVS) TR(IBVNICIA) P(OTESTATE) IMP(ERATOR) P(ATER) P(ATRIAE):

Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, pontifex maximus, with tribunician power, imperator, father of the country.

DIVVS IVLIVDivine Julius

CAESAR AVGVSTVSCaesar Augustus

CLAVDIVS CAESAR AGRIPPINAE AVGVSTAE

Agrippina was only the second woman to be awarded the title, Augusta, in her lifetime and the first who was married to a living emperor. The title implied a sort of equivalency between the couple. Here she is portrayed as the goddess Ceres, goddess of the ideal woman, motherhood, etc. This implied a motherhood of emperors; according to S. Wood, Agrippina “enjoyed the reflected glory of the emperor’s mother.” Claudius was her husband.

Agrippina Augusta, wife of the divine Claudius, mother of Nero Caesar

While heads of Nero and Agrippina appear on the obverse, the reverse shows a wagon being drawn by 4 elephants. The seated figures on the wagons are generally designated to be the deified Claudius and Augustus. Links to both predecessors through Agrippina are stressed.

There is also an allusion to the fact that Agrippina had an official position as priestess of the deified Claudius.

IMP CAE L SEP SE-V PERT AVG, laureate head right

LEG XIIII GEM M V, TR P COS in exergue, legionary eagle between two standards.

31-32BC, Found in Alexandria

Left: [CLEOPATRAE R]EGINAE REGVM FILIORVM [REGVM]Right: ANTONI ARMENIA DE[VICTA]

Left: CAESAR AVGVSTVS DIVI F PATER PATRIAE

Right: C L CAESARES AVGVSTI F COS DESIG PRINC IVVENT

Right: ‘Caius et Lucius Caesares Augusti Filii Consules Designati Principes Juventutis’ Caius and Lucius, Sons of Caesar Augustus, Designated Consuls, Principes Iuventi = the first among the young (pronounced ‘Ping-keps You-venti’)

Left: IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVGRight: CAESAR AVG F COS CAESAR AVG F PR

Left: Imperator Caesar Vespasian Augustus (= Emperor Caesar Vespasian Augustus)Right: Son of Caesar Augustus, Consul, Son of Caesar Augustus, The Senate and the Roman People(AVG F or FIL Augusti or Filius - son or daughter of the August or Emperor)

June-July, 79ADLeft: IMP CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M TR P P P COS IIIRight: IVDAEA CAPTA, S C

Right: Judea Captured, Struck by Authority of the Senate (- Minted by Vespasian when he was a general and had captured Judea)Left: Imperator Caesar Vespasian Augustus, Pontifex Maximus with Tribunician Power, Father of the Country, Consul for the third time

July-July, 79ADLeft: IMP T CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVGRight: TR POT VIII COS VII

Left: Imperator Titus Caesar Vespasian AugustusRight: Tribunicia Postestate (Holding the power of the Tribune) for the eighth time, Consul for the seventh time