Continuing my collection of scarce Antoninus Pius reverses, these two arrived this morning. First, a bit of preamble Antoninus Pius and the Great sow. Often depicted on coins are celebrations of important events and, as this coin alludes to, the legendary founding of Rome. In this case the coin celebrates the 900th year of the founding. This from Virgil The Aeneid Book VIII It was night, and through all the land, deep sleep gripped weary creatures, bird and beast, when Aeneas, the leader, lay down on the river-bank, under the cold arch of the heavens, his heart troubled by war’s sadness, and at last allowed his body to rest. Old Tiberinus himself, the god of the place, appeared to him, rising from his lovely stream, among the poplar leaves (fine linen cloaked him in a blue-grey mantle, and shadowy reeds hid his hair), Then he spoke, and with his words removed all cares: ‘O seed of the race of gods, who bring our Trojan city back from the enemy, and guard the eternal fortress, long looked-for on Laurentine soil, and in Latin fields, here is your house, and your house’s gods, for sure (do not desist), don’t fear the threat of war, the gods’ swollen anger has died away. And now, lest you think this sleep’s idle fancy, you’ll find a huge sow lying on the shore, under the oak trees, that has farrowed a litter of thirty young, a white sow, lying on the ground, with white piglets round her teats, That place shall be your city, there’s true rest from your labours. By this in a space of thirty years Ascanius will found the city of Alba. ANTONINO PIO. Æ. As. TIBERIS. 140-143 AD ANTONINVS AVG. PIVS P.P. Laureate head to the right. Reverse: TIBERIS. S.C. In exergue: TR. POT. COS III. -Tíber reclining to the left and placing his hand on a rudder. 8.95g 25mm. Very scarce. C-822. RIC. 706 a-S. Antoninus Pius AE As, RIC 733, Cohen 450, BMC 1624 143-144 AD. ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III, laureate head right / IMPERATOR II S-C, Sow facing right under helm-oak, suckling four young, another piglet in front. SC in ex. 25mm, 10.09gr Scarce Thanks for reading and please show your AP's or Celebration of Rome coins.
It's very interesting to learn that these ones were for the 900th Anniversary. I was aware of some of the other Emperors' coins for the Lvdi Saeculares and/or the centennial celebrations of the founding of Rome, including Augustus, Domitian, and, most famously, Philip I (244 CE, 100 years after the Antoninus above). (And, another 45 years later, Carausius!) I have a small sub-collection of Philip I's coins for the Millennial Ludi Saeculares (Games for the 1,000 year Anniversary of Rome's founding) -- reportedly quite the big affair! Similar imagery to this inscribed Cippus had been used on the Centennial Games coins of both Augustus (Denarius, RIC 355) and Domitian (Denarii, RIC (II) 604, RIC (II) 601; also, an unpublished Carausius if genuine; those four are not mine, nor is the Philip Denarius shown a few paragraphs down; the five Antoniniani photographed below are). This type was No. 88 in Harlan Berk's 100 Greatest Ancient Coins (at least in the first ed.). I think he meant Philip's Millennial Games coinage broadly, but illustrated it with one of these Cippus Ants. I noted that these are among the most affordable of the coins he lists, giving it pretty good "bang for the buck," as they say. I recently shared another of the AR Antoniniani in the provenance thread, since I found it as the "plate coin" in Sear's Roman Coins & Their Values (Millennium Edition), vol 3, 8963: The reverse legends on those two make them easily identifiable as Saeculares coinage (especially the first): SAECVLARES AVGG ; SAECVLVM NOVVM. But Philip had others that also seem to allude to the 1,000th anniversary. It's interesting to note that Philip had a proliferation of interesting "AETERNAE" and "TEMP" types as well, some of which have a distinctly Ludic flavor. Their significance is the spirit of the eternal and the temporal celebration -- specifically, Rome's eternal spirit & the stability of the Empire, as enjoyed at this moment, celebrating the 1000th year of ROMA AETERNAE. For example, the AETERNITAS elephant-with-rider type below first appears on the coinage of Philip I. Elephants had appeared before on Imperial coins commemorating prior games, albeit rider-less & with different legends (e.g., Domitian's Denarius upon the opening of the Colosseum [my spec. here, when still a placeholder in Orfew's coll.], Septimius' Denarius & AEs for Games held in 197): Even those struck after the games (as some of those below may well have been) could have played on the theme of Philip as the Emperor who presided over Rome's Millennium. In the classical world, representatives and messengers at important moments and events were often viewed as having been divinely chosen in some way. One wonders if Philip saw himself as -- or wished for other to see him as -- destined to rule at this sacred moment. If so, it would be worth continuing to remind his contemporaries of the themes of TIME and ETERNITY, TEMP and AETERNITAS. Though a more subtle a message than those above, we might see "PAX AETERN" that way. The types and legends were not entirely new. But, given the Millennial Fever of 244, the "Eternal Peace" of the "Eternal Rome" must have been understood as part of the general message: Ex-Wareham Hoard, 1994, No. 160 (this coin) Importantly, one Philip I's extremely rare AR Denarii was a PAX AETERN of very similar type. The AR Denarius had surely become a ceremonial, celebratory issue, more like a medalette than circulating coin. The PAX AETERN type would seem to have been issued in association with the celebration. The famous specimen from the Adrian Lang Collection (NOT my coin!!!): The examples go on. AETERN and TEMP legends were not new, so in many cases it's hard to be sure how directly they were connected to the events, but we can recognize the general trend. For example, FELICITAS TEMP: Ex-Wareham Hoard, 1994, No. 163 (this coin) P.S. The Confusing Timing: I still haven't quite worked out the timing of the first 2, Augustus (17 BCE) and Domitian (88 CE), and why Antoninus was ~160 & 55 years after them. (First 3 or 4 if counting Claudius and Julius Caesar.) I guess there were some recalculations and, apparently, disagreement about whether the proper interval should be 110 years or 100. NAC gave an explanation in Part II of the Gasvoda Collection (p. 40 = NAC 94, 69), that Augustus held his ~25 years late due to Caesar's Civil Wars beginning around their proper date, and didn't really bother much with the timing. (It was also celebrated in Claudius' reign, apparently; I don't know if he struck any coins.) I can imagine that many Emperors would've liked to celebrate the games & the centennial during their reigns, which makes it understandable that there would be some "creative" & conflicting schedules.
I think you are correct in assuming "creativity" in timings. The coins I posted above are generally assumed to be referencing the dream of Aeneas and the discovery of what would become Rome. Minted around 5 years before the games were actually held in 148 CE featuring giant sows and elephants among a great many animals.
PHILIP I THE ARAB AR silver antoninianus. Rome mint. IMP PHILIPPVS AVG, radiate, draped bust right. Reverse - SAECVLARES AVGG, cippus inscribed COS III. RIC 24c, RCV 8961. 23mm, 4.2g.
Antoninus Pius, As, Rome 148-9 Obv.: ANTONINVS AVG. PIVS P.P. TR.P. XII, laureate bust right Rev.: MVNIFICENTIA AVG. / COS IIII / S C, Personification of the Munificence of the Emperor, standing left, holding sceptre and patera, a lion at her feet. This coin is dated 148-9. On this year, the Emperor Antoninus celebrated lavish games in Rome to celebrate the 900th anniversary of the foundation of the city.
