METALLIC ARCHIVES

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 300, 15 September 1936, Page 2

METALLIC ARCHIVES

Coins of the Roman Empire HISTORICAL REFERENCES

“Historical References on Coins of the Roman Empire” wae the subject of a short paper read before the New Zealand Numismatic Society recently on behalf of Archdeacon G. H. Gavin, F.R.N.S., New Plymouth. He said that the importance of numismatics in the study of history was being increasingly recognised by the wide use of illustrations of ancient coins. The coinage of the Roman Empire from its beginning to the days of Romulus Augustulue, stretching over a period of four centuries, was issued by no fewer than 200 rulers. The obverse portraits presented faithful likenesses, particularly in. the days of Nero and Trajan, but deteriorated in the latpr empire. The reverse designs faithfully reflected political, religious, and social history of the Roman world; indeed the designs resembled a series of official archives, and the usefulnees of these coins to. the historical student lay in corroborating facte already recorded by historians, and in giving aa--ditional information enabling historical science to fill up gaps. For example, Magnia Urbica, consort of Carinus, was known only by her coins and she did not otherwise appear on the pages of history But some coin designs contained statements contrary to known fact, due largely to undue optimism of short-lived rulers. Chronological sequence was most Important in drawing historical conclusions from coins. In Cohen’s work on Roman coins the types were arranged alphabetically, facilitating cataloguing, but confusing the chain of history. The work,; “The Roman Imperial Coinage,” by Mattingly and Sydenham, was destined to supersede Cohen’s work as the standard authority for the reason that it rested on a chronological basis. About one-third of the coins of the Roman Empire reflected imperial history. These types refer to the emperor, his family, Rome and other cities, the provinces, votive offerings, gam.ee, sacrifices, public monuments, and events, and practically to everything not grouped tinder gods and godessee and personifications. Coin designs recorded that Caesar had attained the purple, and related to such events Be the adopting of a successor, setting out on a campaign or returning victorious. The emperor was often shown In military uniform. Nerva shown in a toga, accompanied by staff officers, haranguing the troops. On certain special occasions the emperor presented food and money to the populace, and this practice is commemorated in coin designs commencing with Nero. Women Represented. Others besides emperors were represented on coins. Augustus placed Julia on his coins, Tiberius, Livia; Caligula, his three sisters; Nero, Agrippina; Tra jan, Plotina, and so on through a long line of noble women. The permanent wave was not new, for it appeared throughout this serious. Posthumous coins were sometimes minted by an emperor in memory of his predecessor as an act of reverence before beginning his own coinage. Caligula thus commemorat ed Augustus, Trajan to his father, an! Hadrian even hi? mother-in-law Coins issued bv the authority of the Roman Senate bore the letters “S.C.”—by the consent of the senate.

Coins issued to pay troops usually bore an eagle between two military standards, with the symbol of each legion, such as Neptune, the eagle, lion, stork, wolf, wild boar, etc. Administrative innovations, games and extraordinary happenings all left their mark upon Roman coins, such as “Aegypto Capta” and “Judaea Capta.”, Galba records the remission of taxes, and Nervai his lightening of taxes on Jews. In the reign of Philip I (Arabs), 247 A. 1)., fell the one-thousandth anniversary of the foundation of'Ronie (founded 753 8.C.). One coin possessed by Archdeacon Gavin showed an elk standing to r. with Roman figure V in exergue indicating that thiswas the fifth curious animal brought to Rome to be hunted in the amphitheatre on a Roman holiday. Another showed the wolf suckling the twins, Romulus and Remus. There was a wealth of interesting public monuments shown on coinages of the republic and empire, such as templee, aqueducts. Trajan’s column, the ciFcum, the baths, the coloseeum, triumphal arches. There was also a wealth of divinities and allegorical personifications, and these made the coins very human records. Under Constantine the Pagan Spes became the Christian Hope symbolised by the labarum with the sacred monogram—the ehi ro of Christ. In moving a vote of thanks, Sir James Elliott said that the outstanding feature of Roman coins was their historical value. Unlike the earlier Greeks, whose coins were strikingly beautiful, Roman coins had little artistic merit, but presented a fine portrait gallery of Roman emperors and a history of contemporary events. Indeed, historians were more familiar with the lineaments of the rulers of ancient Rome than they were of many rulers in comparatively recent British history. To this day tourists in Rome were often pressed to buy reputedly ancient and genuine Roman coins many of which, he feared, were made in Birmingham. Archdeacon Gavin was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his interesting historical review.