Dear Friends of ancient mythology! Today I want to talk about the mysterious Venus Verticordia. The coin: Roman Republic, Mn. Cordius Rufus, gens Cordia AR - Denarius, 19.5mm, 3.82g Rome, 46 B.C. Obv.: Conjugate heads of the two Dioscuri, wearing laureate pilei surmounted by stars. behind RVFVS II.VIR Rev.: Venus Verticordia standing l.., holding in extended r. hand scales and in the left hand transverse sceptre; on her left shoulder Cupido in right field MN.CORDIVS (MN ligate) Ref.: Crawford 463/1a; Sydenham 976; Cordia 2s about VF, weak struck on reverse left ex Harlan J. Berk Note: The home of the gens Cordia, Tusculum, only 12 miles from Rome, was a center of worship of the Dioscuri. The reverse is a clever play on the moneyer's name (CORDIA > CORDIVS) and can also be taken as a compliment to Julius Caesar, whose gens claimed a direct descent from Venus. The particular representation of Venus on the rev. may be derived from a statue erected in the Temple of Venus Genetrix in the year of issue (FAC). This coin was issued in a quantity corresponding to Rome's need at the time of Caesar's fourfold triumph, when every legionnaire was paid 5000 and every Centurio 10000 denarii (Sear, The History and Coinage of the Roman Imperators, p.45). That's why Venus has a scale in his hand, which is very unusual and more to the Annona's credit! Mythology: Sometimes you can read that Venus Verticordia is the Venus that turns people's hearts to love. In fact, the exact opposite is true! Verticordia is the nickname of Venus (Serv. auct. Aen. 1, 720), which had a fanum in the myrtle grove of the Vallis Murcia (ibid. 8, 636) between Palatine Hill and Aventine Hill. During the Hannibalian war (216 BC?) Sulpicia due to the dictum of the Sibyl from Cumae was determined by an heavy examination as pudicissima (Plin. nat. 7, 120. Solin. 1, 126) and a simulacrum was erected by her for Venus, quo facilius virginum mulierumque mens a libidine ad pudicitiam converteretur (i.e. should be turned from lust to shame!) (Val. max. 8, 15, 12). Vallis Murcia And that had happened: At that time three vestals had violated the law of virginity and had therefore been buried alive. In order to reconcile the gods, the Senate, according to the orders of the Sibylline books, chose hundred matrons from all, and out of these ten by lot, and of these ten, Sulpicia, daughter of Servius Paterculus and wife of Q. Fulvius Flaccus, was the most chaste of all, and therefore she received the order to carry the image of the goddess into the Sepulcrum. In 114 because of a prodigium in the shape of a lightning bolt an aedes was built (Plut. mor. 284 ab. Oros. 5. 15, 20). Ovid (Fasti 4, 133ff.) then connects Sibyllinum and temple building with the celebration on April 1, which was dedicated to Verticordia and Fortuna virilis and was carried out by matronae as well as humiliores (= men of low rank) under myrtle crowning in the baths with the purpose of forma, mores, bona fama (i.e. harmony and decency. Ovid (Fasti, book 4, 157-161) writes: At the time of our forefathers Rome had lost its sense of shame and therefore they asked the venerable Sibyl of Cumae for advice. She ordered to build a temple for Venus; and when that was done, the goddess took the name Verticordia. Note: Prodigium: In the ancient Roman religion a wonderful sign of divine wrath (which one sought to counter by cultic atonement measures) According to Kleiner Pauly, the name Verticordia is only by folk etymology connected to vertere (Ov. ibid. 161 et al.), that means that it has nothing to do with turning. Sources: (1) Ovid, Fasti (2) Plinius, Nat. Hist. (3) Kleiner Pauly (4) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon Best regards
Sometimes I question whether it is necessary to pile on all our examples of the same coin but I do enjoy seeing the differences that make every ancient coin unique. In this case, my coin demonstrates what we get when the strike was not hard enough to force silver into the high points of the reverse center. Less obvious is the matching weakness in the neck hair curls on the obverse. Of the three, my coin has the best heads and feet on the reverse but Jochen's coin is more even and detailed in the center. Bing's coin has more wear which makes it harder to separate loss to wear and loss to strike but I believe his was better struck than mine when it fell from the dies. Note how his coin shows the staff crossing the body of Venus with more separation than mine. Things like this make me feel OK about piling on another image of the same coin. There is something to be learned by those willing to look.
One of my favorites, I even like the graffiti. Mn. Cordius Rufus, silver denarius, Rome, 46 BC O: Dioscuri, R: Venus with Cupid at shoulder. 18 mm, 3.6 g
Interesting coins all. I have a couple of these. I wanted a scale, and my first coin (on left) was weak there. I think the (banker's?) mark is interesting. I do not remember another A. The second coin lopped of Cupid and VV's head, but has a better scale. I put both in my scale exhibit at the 2018 TNA (they are the undecipherable dots).
Interesting post as always, Jochen. I have one of those RR Cordia denarii - rather nicer than most of my stuff. I bought it 1990, back when I bought from dealer catalogues, which tended not to carry the junky coins I get nowadays. I was wondering, speaking of junky things, I just got this sestertius of Julia Mamaea where Venus is shown holding Cupid. Was she tired of him perched on her shoulders? Is there any connection Venus Felicitas to Venus Verticordia? Just wondering... Julia Mamaea Æ Sestertius (Mother of Severus Alex.) (222-235 A.D.) Rome Mint [IVLIA] MAMAEA AVG-[VSTA], draped and diademed bust right / [VENERI] FELICI, Venus standing right, holding sceptre & Cupid; S C across. RIC 694; BMCRE 190. (15.15 grams / 27 mm)
Interesting coin. But I don't think that it is Eros hold by Venus. Felicitas includes success, prosperity and fertility. And I think it is the latter that is meant. Jochen
Fertility is what I thought too - the figure looks like one of those symbols of fecundity that empresses often had on their coins. But virtually every reference I found for this coin (RIC 694) says Venus is holding Cupid - Wildwinds, OCRE, and numerous auctions: https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=1437&lot=999 Maybe this is incorrect?
I agree Mike, Cupid it is imho. Here's mine Sestertius Venus holding Cupid in hand: Mike, imho your Cordia denarius deserves a (far) better pic !
One more for the Venus Verticordia pile: Mn. Cordius Rufus, circa 46 BC. , AR Denarius, Rome mint Obv: RVFVS IIIVIR, Conjoined heads of the Dioscuri right, wearing filleted pilei surmounted by stars Rev: MN CORDI downwards (mostly off-flan), Venus Verticordia standing left, holding scales and scepter; Cupid on her shoulder Ref: Crawford 463/1b; Sear, CRI 63a; Cordia 1
Anther grade A @Jochen1 write up! So glad @Sulla80 brought this back to the front page and shared his amazing and beautifuly toned show stopper! Here's my show goer(that needs a reshoot, it actually has some fun toning that I didn't capture)
Wow, it was a long time ago - 2019. But I just read it. Very interesting. And now I have a question. Who determined that it was Venus Verticordia that was depicted on the coin? We know the names of the deities with scales - Aequitas, Moneta, finally, Justice. And there is no Venus among them. What does Venus do to scales?
(A favorite question : how do we know what we know?) Crawford states: "There is no reason to regard Venus here as Verticordia, contra S. Reinach, RA 1913,1 29-30; F. Quilling, Iuppitersaule, 101-2)." He refers to Venus Victrix, and suggests that the "balance on the reverse of 1 perhaps suggests that the coinage of Md Cordius Rufus is in the tutela (protection) of Venus and hence is a further compliment to Caesar (G. Wissowas, Gesammelte Abhandlungen, 44)". Reinach points to Cavedoni in this 1917 reference (Crawford does not reference this writeup): "Until recent years, only one image of Venus holding a scale was known: it is the one that appears on the denarii issued around the year 50 BC, in the midst of civil war between Caesar and Pompey, by the triumvir monetalis Manius Cordius Rufus. We see, on the reverse of these coins, Venus draped, standing, carrying Cupid on the left shoulder and holding a balance. Cavedoni put forward the hypothesis, accepted by some, opposed by others, that this Venus was that of the temple of Venus Verticordia, the gens Cordia having resorted to a pun like the reverses of more than one Roman denarius" -Reinach, Jan-Jun 1917 Revue archéologique, pp.291-292 By 1917 Reinach added an additional explanation for the scales: Venus the planet in the constellation of libra starting from a quote from Macrobius' Saturnalia (written in the 5th century AD): "Right across from those two signs Scorpio is divided in such a way that both gods share it, and that very division is thought the work of a heavenly plan, since Scorpio’s tail, armed with the spear-like telson, is the house of Mars, while its front end—the Greeks call it Zygos [“Yoke”], we call it Libra [“Scale”]—belongs to Venus, who joins people in marriage and brings friends together as though with a yoke of harmony." -Macrobius, Saturnalia, 1.12.11 he writes: "As none of the other assumptions is likely to convince us, I believe it is appropriate to recall the Alexandrian coins of Antoninus Pius, where the head of Venus is associated with a balance, and the passage quoted above from Macrobius (1.12.11). Cordius had placed a scale in the hands of Venus because the astrologers of his day - very preoccupied, as we know, with astrology - located the planet and the goddess Venus within the constellation of Libra. It is possible that to this main reason were added two others: - one drawn from the fact that Venus was reputed to be the ancestor of Caesar - the other from the civil war which held the destinies of the world in suspense But we do not even know with certainty whether the moneyer Cordius belonged to Caesar's party, and the explanation of the scales by astrology seems plausible enough that there is no need to complicate it by completing (the additional explanations)." -Reinach, Jan-Jun 1917 Revue archéologique, pp.293-294 The rare Alexandrian coin in question from Antoninus Pius (photo of a CNG coin) EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Drachm (33mm, 26.22 g, 11h). Zodiac series. Dated RY 8 (AD 144/145). Laureate head right / Venus (Aphrodite) in Libra: Diademed and draped bust right of Aphrodite; before her, star of eight rays and male figure (Libra) standing facing, head left, lower half of his body draped, holding scales with his right hand and fold of drapery with his left; to lower left, L H (date). Köln –; Dattari (Savio) 8831; K&G –; Emmett 1452.8 (R5) I'll also add a link to Ovid's Fasti IV, 1st of April : Kalends: "In the time of our forefathers Rome had fallen from a state of chastity, and the ancients consulted the old woman of Cumae. She ordered a temple to be built to Venus, and when that was duly done, Venus took the name of Changer of the Heart (Verticordia)"
