The Emperor Game! Can WE do it?

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Emperor Antoninus Pius - Sestertius - TR POT XIX COS IIII (Providentia)

 

I think the clean shaven look was popularized by Alexander the Great. It was how the civilized people distinguished themselves from the barbarians.

Hadrian brought it back to style and every emperor (except possibly Quintillus) over about 17 had one until Constantine brought the shaved look back. The second wave of shaved stuck around until Phocas, with Julian being a prominent exception.

 

Yes! Thank you! I like that coin.

Marcus Aurelius:



Next up: Commodus!

Also we kinda skipped Lucius Verus since he was like the beta co-emperor of Antoninus Pius and basically did what Pius told him to do as well as died before him.

 

I got them too!





Next up: Pertinax!

 

Ah gotchya. It’s a shame I don’t have any photoshop skills

 

I believe his coins must be somewhat rare due to his reign being only 3 months no?

 

Oh wow you had Caligula??

I used to wonder why his coins were so rare until I was reading Cassius Dio.

Apparently the cruel Emperor’s coinage was usually melted down and reminted.

Dio wrote that following the death of Caligula the Senate demonetized his coinage, and ordered that they be melted.

“Regardless of whether or not this actually occurred, it demonstrates the importance and meaning that was attached to the imagery on a coin. The philosopher Epictetus jokingly wrote: "Whose image does this sestertius carry? Trajan's? Give it to me. Nero's? Throw it away, it is unacceptable, it is rotten."

I’ve noticed the Roman’s tended to punish with erasing the memory of someone a lot. It’s the same thing as when they subjected someone to “damnatio memoriae” (condemnation of memory) and would destroy any reference to that person.

Like Caracella doing this to Geta.


..and then this one of Commodus having his name removed.

 

Oh wow that sucks!

I think that’s one of the reasons I’ve never been a fan of coppers.

That’s kind of why I chose to stick with denarii. They may tone darker but the coin itself isn’t damaged via toning.

 

IMP CAES P HELV PERTINAX AVG - laureate Head of Pertinax right
PROVIDENTIAE DEORUM COS II S C - Providentia standing left, holding up right hand to large star, left hand on breast
RIC 22, BMCRE 28, C 52, Sear 6055, Banti 20, Woodward Pl. 12,1 (these dies)
Sestertius, Rome, ca. late Jan-28.Mar 193 (second emission of Pertinax)
30 mm / 21,06 gr
(ex Stack´s Coin Galleries Sale 17.07.2002, Lot 420)


Next: Didius Julianus

 

The story is that Hadrian adopted the full beard because he was such a Grecophile, and the Greeks prior to Alexander (unlike the Romans) traditionally wore them.

None of the three people you mention wore beards. Surely you've seen their likenesses on coins and statues?

 

Yeah there are some Emperors like that where I’ve never seen a coin of theirs outside the HA Auctions where they sell for thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.

I imagine that the very last Emperors would have rare coinage too due to the chaos going on during the Crisis of the Third Century.

 

Oh yeah I have and that’s why I assumed they were beardless.

But at the same time I didn’t want to assume they stayed beardless for life.

I figured the coins were made at a certain point in time and that they were beardless then but maybe before or after they had beards or just at some point.