7/30/2019 Roman and Greek art

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Nathalie Dagmang

2010-24702 BFA Sculpture

The Romans were influenced mainly by the Greeks who have shown great power in terms of

politics and economy. Because of this, it was said that the Romans did not initially produce coins out of

economic or military necessity but out of the pursuit to operate like the civilization of Greek city states.

Coins depicting emperors of Rome

The imageries shown on ancient coins are implications of who they honor and give importance

to. Unlike the Greek coinage, Romans usually used images of their ancestors and reigning individuals.

These show that Greeks regard Gods and Goddesses as the ones in highest power while Romans

consider its emperors as God-like or even more powerful than the Gods. However, it is also possible that

the emperors were the one who tried to impose themselves as the most powerful. The imageries on the

coins may have served as a part of their propaganda on imposing their reign over the people, to make

them treat the emperors like how they treat Gods. Some emperors even used their portraits as

reference for images of Gods that were put on coins. Comodus, for example minted a series of coins

where his portrait showed a bust with lion-skin, like how Hercules was usually depicted, together with

his claim that we was the Roman incarnation of Hercules. It was Julius Caesar who had first issued coins

with his own portrait, and not of Romes dead ancestors.

In Greece, the use of portraits of living people was

not widely accepted at that time and was considered a sign

of arrogance. The political message that their coins bring is

also somewhat different. Their coins usually show the power

of the state itself (not just the emperor) through images of

the states patron Gods or heroes. For example, after their

victory in the Persian wars, Athens issued a coin that

depicted the owl of Athens with its wings outstretched and olive leaves in hand. This symbolized the

power and victory of Athens and its love for peace as was symbolized by the olive leaves.