CNG Triton XXIV Auction that ended yesterday featured some spectacular coins of Mark Antony & Cleopatra. Pictured below is a tetradrachm from Antioch, Syria that pictures both of them. Seleucis & Pieria, Cleopatra & Mark Antony, circa 36-34 BC. AR Tetradrachm: 26 mm, 15.03 gm, 12 h. Estimate $50,000, hammer price $70,000. Despite being married to Octavian's sister, Mark Antony & Cleopatra were carrying on an illicit affair out in the open . Octavian (the future emperor Augustus) was well aware of what was going on, & this illicit affair was the hot topic of gossip in the city of Rome . As this affair continued a strong propaganda backlash grew against both of them, especially Cleopatra. Mark Antony ended up marrying Cleopatra & having 7 kids with her while still being married to Octavia ! The Triumvirs, Mark Antony & his wife Octavia, Summer 38 BC, Athens Mint. AV Aureus: 20 mm, 8.03 gm, 12 h. Extremely rare, 8 specimens known. Estimate $75,000, hammer price $220,000 . Seeing both of these coins triggered a memory of an exhibition I read about 3 years ago at the British Museum, A Special Exhibition on Dissent. One of the featured objects is pictured below. edited Terracotta Oil Lamp, featuring a caricature of Cleopatra. Roman, c. AD 40-80. Cleopatra is depicted standing on the back of a crocodile (a symbol of Egypt) while squatting on a giant phallus . This oil lamp was part of a propaganda campaign made by supporters of Octavian to focus on the decadence of the queen of Egypt. Objects like this strengthened the ambition of the virtuous Octavian to become the 1st emperor of Rome at the expense of Antony's folly.
Would love to own a tet like that. I have no Cleo, just this budget MA. Mark Antony and Octavian (41 B.C.) AR Denarius M. Barbatius Pollio, quaestor pro praetore O: Bare head of Mark Antony right. R: Bare head of Octavian right, wearing slight beard. Ephesus mint, Spring-early summer 41 B.C. 3.5g 20mm Crawford 517/2; CRI 243; Sydenham 1181 This series of coins commemorates the establishment of the second Triumvirate of November 43 B.C. between Antony, Octavian and Lepidus. Both sides bear the inscription "III VIR R P C", meaning "One of Three Men for the Regulation of the Republic. Within a few years Antony would depart Italy for the Eastern provinces. The moneyer for this coin is M. Barbatius Pollio who was also a Questor in 41 BC. Barbatius bears the title of "Quaestor pro praetore" abbreviated to QP a distinction shared by his colleague L. Gelllius.
Just curious: If the oil lamp really dates to 40-80 AD, how could it have been part of a propaganda campaign by Octavian's supporters 70+ years earlier?
Many of these objects continued to be made long after Augustus, Antony & Cleopatra left this earth. I guess they were popular reminders of the depravity & hypocrisy of the upper class, & of course they must have been humorous to the plebeians .
Whether it's Cleopatra or Octavia, they sure look like Mark Antony. I can't imagine that the die engravers did not know what they looked like. Or did they not? Or is it some form of propaganda? E.g. Faustina, or Iulia Domna do not look like their respective partners on coins.
I'm sure there were no official busts of Antony or Cleopatra, so engravers probably went by word of mouth descriptions. Both of them did spend time in Antioch, so I'm sure some of the population got a glimpse of them .
It's too bad Cleopatra's portrait on these coins is so darn ugly. If they looked anything like modern interpretations, Cleopatra VII coins would be ten times as popular.
They were well aware of what she looked like. The woman of Rome all began wearing Egyptian dress to emulate her style. Cleopatra spent plenty of time in Rome with Octavian's adopted father Julius Caesar... while he was still married as well!
That movie staring Liz Taylor is one of my favorites . They don't make 4 hour movie extravaganzas like that anymore . My favorite painting of Cleopatra is pictured below. It was done by Guido Cagnacci in 1658, Kunsthistorishches Museum, Wien.
Cleopatra desperately wanted to become Queen of the Roman Empire, & when her affair with Julius Caesar didn't produce that result she hooked up with Mark Antony, thinking he would become the next emperor of Rome.
CNG currently has another example of the same coin -- I don't think it's the same example -- on sale in its Coin Shop for the bargain price of only $95,000: https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=394255