Faustina Friday – Every Attribute of Demeter Imaginable

TGIFF!!!



I purchased this unassuming little provincial of Nicomedia in Bithynia from @PeteB over at Akropolis Coins. It has several interesting features. The obverse bears the unusual inscription, ΦΑVCΤΕΙΝΑ ΝΕΑ CΕΒΑ. The Greek word, NEA, means "Junior" or "Young," and suggests it was added so as to inform the citizens of Nicomedia that the woman on this coin was not the elder Faustina with whom they were familiar, but the younger Faustina with whom they were NOT familiar. This suggests an early date. I have previously noted this early legend on a provincial coin of Anchialus. The title NEA appears on only a few of the issues of Nicomedia for the empress, always with an early form of her hairstyle. None of the coins illustrated at RPC online are preserved enough to see the details of her coiffure, but it resembles imperial portraits of her earliest issue. I therefore assign the coin an approximate date of AD 148-150. The reverse features multiple attributes of Demeter, which I discuss in greater detail, below. Lastly, I believe there are two reverse varieties, but that Mionnet, Waddington, and the editors of RPC have described them incorrectly. One type has the grain ears above the poppies; the other type has the poppies above the grain ears. Contrary to the inscriptions quoted by these references, I’m not convinced their reverse inscriptions differ in word order, nor use the genitive plural, ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩN.

Faustina II, AD 147-175.
Roman provincial Æ 20.1 mm, 5.09 gm, 12 h.
Bithynia, Nicomedia, c. AD 148-150.
Obv: ΦΑVСΤΕΙΝΑ ΝΕΑ СΕΒΑ, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: ΝΕΩΚΟΡOV ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔEI, lighted torch entwined by serpent, surmounted by two ears of corn and decorated with two poppies.
Refs: RPC IV, 6091,(temporary); RG 107, pl. XCI 24; Lindgren 166 (this coin).​

THE VARIOUS ATTRIBUTES OF DEMETER

Grain ears

Demeter (Roman Ceres) is first and foremost a goddess of grain.[1] On coins, Demeter is typically depicted as holding ears of grain. It is unsurprising, therefore, that grain ears are an important design element on this coin.

Poppies

The poppy is a flower commonly found growing amongst the grain of the wheat-fields. It is no surprise, therefore, that the poppy became incorporated in the myths and iconography of Demeter. In Greek mythology, the gods gave Demeter a poppy to help her sleep after her daughter Persephone was abducted. Afterwards, poppies sprang from Demeter's footsteps. She also transformed her mortal lover, Mecon, into the sacred flower.[2] The poppy was regarded as sacred to Demeter, and was worn by her priestesses.[3] See, for example, the following ancient sources:

• Callimachus, Hymn 6 to Demeter 42 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet c. 3rd B.C.):
  
  "Nikippe, whom the city had appointed to be her [Demeter's] public priestess, and in her hand she grasped her fillets and her poppy, and from her shoulder hung her key [the temple key of the priestess]."
  
  
• Virgil, Georgics 1. 208 ff (trans. Fairclough) (Roman bucolic c. 1st B.C.):
  
  "When the Balance [Libra] makes the hours of daytime and sleep equal [in autumn], and now parts the world in twain . . . then is the time to hide in the ground your crop of flax and the poppy of Ceres [Demeter]."

A flaming torch

Demeter carried a flaming torch in her search for Persephone in the underworld. She was often depicted in art holding one or two torches as her attribute. One of the most frequently encountered depictions of Demeter in numismatics is of the goddess holding grain ears and torch. The ancient sources note:

• Homeric Hymn 2 to Demeter 48 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic c. 7th or 6th B.C.):
  
  "Then for nine days queenly Deo wandered over the earth with flaming torches in her hands [in search of her daughter Persephone]."
  
  
• Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5. 4. 3 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian c. 1st B.C.):
  
  "After the Rape of Kore, the myth goes on to recount, Demeter, being unable to find her daughter, kindled torches in the craters of Mt Aitna and visited many parts of the inhabited world."
  
  
• Ovid, Metamorphoses 5. 354 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic c. 1st B.C. to c. 1st A.D.):
  
  "Ceres [Demeter] sought her child vainly in every land . . . She lit pine-torches, one in either hand, at Aetna's fires, and through the frosty dark bore them unsleeping."
  
  
• Statius, Thebaid 12. 270 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic c. 1st A.D.):
  "The bereaved Ceres [Demeter] lighted her torch and from Aetna's rocks cast the shifting glare of the mighty flame here over Sicily, there over Ausonia, as she followed the traces of the dark ravisher [Hades]."

A serpent

The serpent, a creature which represented rebirth (i.e. molting) in nature and the fertility of the earth, was the animal most sacred to Demeter. A pair of winged serpents drew her chariot.[4] The ancient sources read:

• Hesiod, Catalogues of Women Fragment 77 (from Strabo 9. 1. 9) (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic c. 8th or 7th B.C.):
  
  "And it is from the hero [Kykhreus] that the serpent Kykhreides took its name--the serpent which, according to Hesiod, was fostered by Kychreus [on Salamis] and driven out by Eurylokhos because it was damaging the island, and was welcomed to Eleusis by Demeter and made her attendant."
  
  
• Ovid, Metamorphoses 5. 643 ff:
  
  "Bounteous Ceres [Demeter] yoked her Angues Gemini (Serpent-Pair) to her chariot, and fixed the curbing bits and made her way between the earth and sky to Tritonia's city [Athens], and brought the chariot to Triptolemus, and gave him seed and bade him scatter it [throughout the earth, teaching mankind the practise of agriculture]. Partly in virgin land and part in fields long fallow . . . then [after he had finished his task she] bade the youth of Mopsosius [Triptolemos] drive her pair of Iugales Sacri (Sacred Serpents) homeward through the air."

A CORRECTED CLASSIFICATION SCHEME FOR THESE REVERSE TYPES

There are few examples of these coins online to compare. A search at acsearch for "Faustina Nicomedia" yields no other specimens. Faustina's Nicomedia listings at Wildwinds do not include this reverse type. The photo galleries a the website Asia Minor Coins are currently inoperable. The listings in RPC IV.1 online include two types, nos. 6091 and 6092. At present, my coin and those illustrated at RPC online appear to be the only examples illustrated. This significantly limits my ability to confirm the descriptions in the older references.

The first description of this coin appears to be in Vaillant,[5] which is cited by Mionnet (no. 1088).[6] He notes a reverse inscription reading ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΩN ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩN.



The coin is unlisted in the catalogs of Wiczay or the British Museum. Waddington et al (RG) note two reverse types, one in Paris reading ΝΕΩΚΟΡΟV ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΙ (pl. XCI.24), Vienna, Berlin, and Naples (no. 107), and another in Naples reading ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩN (no. 108; not illustrated).



This raises the question of whether Mionnet 1088 and RG 108 are the same type, given the word order and the use of the genitive plural ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩN in the reverse inscriptions.

RPC purports to show examples of both types listed in RG. RPC 6091.1 is clearly RG 107, for it illustrates the Paris specimen cited by RG and illustrated in its plates. However, the reverse is shown upside down at RPC, as it is at the BnF website.

RPC 6091.1 = RG 107 (Paris, BnF, inventory no. 1318), with the reverse properly oriented.​

My coin (below) is a double-die match to this specimen.



Note the following features: the obverse legend reads ΦΑVСΤΕΙΝΑ ΝΕΑ СΕΒΑ and the grain ears are above the poppies on the reverse. Between my coin and the BnF specimen, the reverse legend can be reconstructed as ΝΕΩΚΟΡΟV ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΙ. RPC also lists specimens at the Staatliche Museen in Berlin (6091.3; cited also by RG) and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge (6091.4), but these are not illustrated.

RPC 6092.1 is the specimen at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples cited in RG as no. 108. It is not illustrated, however. The editors illustrate this type with a plaster cast (uncertain provenance -- Naples?) in the Staatliche Münzsammlung in Munich, RPC 6092.2, also depicted at the RPC website with its reverse upside down.

RPC 6092.2, with the reverse properly oriented.​

It appears to be a double die match to this specimen in Vienna.

RPC 6091.3, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, incorrectly attributed by Waddington as RG 107 and by RPC 6091.​

Note the following features: the obverse legend reads ΦΑVϹΤΕΙΝΑ ΝΕΑ ϹΕΒΑϹΤΗ and the grain ears are below the poppies on the reverse. Unfortunately, neither specimen is preserved enough to read the reverse legend, but the Vienna specimen reads clockwise from 7:00 ΝΕΩΚΟΡO[V?] and the plaster cast in Berlin reads ΝΙΚΟΜ[…] from the 2:00 to 4:00 position and does not appear to have enough room to read ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔΕΙ, whereas RG and Mionnet cite the inscription as ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔ (-EΩN in Mionnet) ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩN. I suspect Vaillant was working from a coin with an unclear reverse legend and his (incorrectly) reconstructed reverse legend was cited uncritically by Mionnet. I suspect both Vaillant and Waddington had the reverses of their coins upside down when they transcribed the inscription on the reverse, leading to an inverted word order.

CONCLUSIONS

Although the reverse does not depict the goddess, it clearly refers to Demeter, for it features multiple attributes of the goddess.

Two die pairs appear to have been used to strike these coins, but these have not been described accurately in RG or in RPC. The proper orientation of the reverse is torch upright with flame on top; in this orientation, the serpent’s head is at the upper left with its tail at the bottom right.

My coin and the BnF specimen:
Obv: ΦΑVСΤΕΙΝΑ ΝΕΑ СΕΒΑ, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: ΝΕΩΚΟΡOV ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔEI, lighted torch entwined by serpent, surmounted by two ears of corn and decorated with two poppies.
Notes: Waddington errs in citing the obverse inscription as ΦΑVСΤΕΙΝΑ ΝΕΑ СΕΒΑC. Interestingly, the Vaillant specimen cited by Mionnet may have been struck with this obverse die. The reverse inscription is certain. The corn ears are above the poppies. This type corresponds to RPC 6091.

The Vienna coin and the plaster cast in Munich:
Obv: ΦΑVСΤΕΙΝΑ ΝΕΑ СΕΒΑCTH, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: ΝΕΩΚΟΡOV ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔ(?), lighted torch entwined by serpent, surmounted by two poppies and decorated with two ears of corn.
Notes: Waddington errs in reading the genitive plural, ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩN, in the inscription. Moreover, he errs in reading ΝΙΚΟΜΗΔ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩN as the order of words in the inscription, probably because he had the coin rotated 180° from its proper orientation. The poppies are above the corn ears. Waddington and the editors of RPC incorrectly assign the Vienna specimen to RG 107 and RPC 6091, respectively, when it appears to be a double-die match to RPC 6092. The reverse legend is not entirely clear.

~~~

1. "DEMETER GODDESS OF AGRICULTURE, GRAIN, AND BREAD." Theoi.com, www.theoi.com/Olympios/DemeterGoddess.html.

2. Chatfield, Stephanie. "Poppies: Sleep, Death, Remembrance." Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood, 22 Apr. 2019, preraphaelitesisterhood.com/poppies-sleep-death-remembrance/.

3. "DEMETER ESTATE & ATTRIBUTES." Theoi.com, www.theoi.com/Olympios/DemeterTreasures.html.

4. Ibid.

5. Vaillant, Jean Foy. Numismata imperatorum, autustorum et caesarum, a populis, Romanae dictionis, Graece Loquentibus. Amsterdam, 1700.

6. Mionnet, Théodore-Edme. Description de Médailles Antiques Grecques et Romaines, Supplement 5: Bithynia. Paris, 1830, p. 185.

7. W. Waddington, E. Babelon and T. Reinach, Recueil général des monnaies grecques d’Asie mineure. Paris, 1904–12, with a second edition of the first fascicule, 1925, fasc.1/3, p. 530.

 

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Great coin and write-up! I can share this (much less interesting) Demeter reverse that I added a few months ago:


Gordian III, Thrace, Mesambria, AE 26mm, 10.8g, Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian III to r.,/ Rev. ΜΕⳞΑΜΒΡΙΑΝΩΝ, Demeter standing l., holding ears of corn and torch. RPC VII.2 48416

 

Wow, I enjoyed every line of that great write up. Really nice scholarship. Also, hats off to you for dealing with such an amazing dealer! I have bought from @PeteB and I cannot recommend him highly enough.

 

That's a lovely coin, @Shea19, which illustrates the most common attributes of the goddess -- grain ears and flaming torch. Thank you for reading and for your kind words.

Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed my write-up. Pete's great! I shall definitely buy from him in the future; if only I had the resources of Clio!

 

Terrific write-up and coins, RC.

There are some coins in my collection that are so horrible, I figure there'd never be a reason to inflict them on the CT Community. But this one features Faustina II, and Demeter, so here it is. My apologies for the photos; but this looks about as bad in hand.



Faustina II Æ 16
(147-176 A.D.)
Bithynia, Prusias Ad Hypium
[ΦAYCT]EINA CEBA[CTH], draped bust r. / [ΠΡOYCIEΩN ΠΡ]OC YΠI[Ω], Demeter standing left, holding long torch and corn-ears.
RecGen. 35; BMC 3; RPC online 4858.
(3.06 grams / 18 mm)