Divus Constantine I, Manus Dei

I don't have this coin type but it is certainly on the short list (ehm, not that short as I don't want to buy any more coins this year).
Good examples, everyone.

When I attend local numismatic shows (in fact antiques shows, with a few tables with coin sellers) there is a guy who sometimes has ancient coins. Usually extremely worn and common and he doesn't know too much.
Last time he was offering me a veiled Constantine insisting it was an Antonia coin. He knew Antonia coins are expensive so asked me to make an offer. I made him a decent offer for the actual coin and explained him what it is.
He thought I was trying to trick him but when I showed him a few examples straight from Google he was very disappointed.
It appears he paid the price for an Antonia coin.

 

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Yes, but although Eusebius mentions the quadriga/manus-dei type (therefore putting an implicit Christian stamp of approval on it), these are really pagan themes and both quadriga bringing deified emperor to heaven and hand of god (jupiter) are mentioned in the panegyrics applied to Constantius I.

Referring to the Nixon/Rogers translation:

Pang. Lat. 7 p.209 has Constantius riding Sol's chariot to heaven

Pang. Lat. 6 p.227 has "Jupiter himself extending his right hand to him" (Iovi ipso desteram porrigente)

 

Yes, everything was co-opted...everything Constantine did at the time had pagan roots, is that surprising? To this day there are still elements of paganism in modern religion and holidays.

there has been a lot written on this, one of my favorites-- Christianity & Pagansim in the Fourth to Eight Centuries, by Ramsay Macmullen

 

Yes of course - traditions evolve.

As you note, Constantine was the last to be deified, so anyways these coin type were really a one-off improvisation more than anything else. They notably avoided the traditional consecratio/altar and came up with these types instead.

 

Thank you very much for answering my questions, wittwolf! I appreciate your artwork, particularly--it's about the level of my own! Regarding the "hand(s)" as you mentioned, now I understand! All this time I thought it was supposed to be a bird, perhaps a dove. Now that you explained it, I've been able to see many different styles of these hands. Sometimes it's just one, and other times there are two. The styles vary quite a bit, too.

Regarding the veil, I had not been aware of other Roman emperors being depicted in the veil on other coins, so I'm very grateful to you for mentioning that. Yes, I see now see how that would make sense: the emperor was after all the pontifex maximus. Funny how the papacy somehow got that title in the western part of the empire.

 

Well, I said I'd post my Divus Constantine quadriga coin. It turns out that for some reason, I actually have five!

This is the first one that I purchased:



The reverse design has an angularity and a stylization, even a sense of urgency, that just really appeals to me. I find it incredibly beautiful. On another note, on this coin, I can only see three horses' heads.

My next coins sort of all arrived at once:



I like the above coin. It's different than the first because the horses are rendered smaller, so they take up less of the field. They are also appear to be goose-stepping, which I suppose is the ancients' way of showing them to be both impressive and galloping fast--and up, to the heavens. Interestingly, the emperor appears to have bags under his eyes. He looks very gaunt, even depressed and ghostlike, which I guess is what passed for spirituality in some quarters back then.

Here's another:



What's interesting to me about this coin is that Constantine's face is fleshed out. It's much rounder and more healthy looking than the coin above. I like the reverse because it's also more fleshed out as well. It's quite different than the more stylized types above, although I like those, too.



The above coin has the most detail of any of mine. You can see the fingers very clearly, the star (or is it a sun?) and its rays, some of the harnessing or reins on the closest horse, more detail in the wheel and even on the chariot. As for the portrait, Constantine's cheek is fatter than the coin above, but less gaunt-looking than one of the others above. The emperor wears a sombre expression.



The last coin is characterized by Constantine's very healthy looking cheek, and he doesn't seem to look so sombre; I almost see a hint of a smile. The reverse is interesting in that there's really only one horse shown--and a whole pile of limbs from the (implied) others. At the top, space has been freed up by not including the star/sun (not sure if it's off the flan, or just not part of the design at all.) That allows for more of a focus on the near meeting of Constantine's hand, raised in a salute, and God's, thus supplying a Sistine-chapel ceiling type of moment.

All in all, I love these coins. They are really quite cheap (although I did definitely pay too much for one of them--not the first), and I think they are quite underrated in terms of their popularity, and thus ridiculously affordable.

To be honest, I bought the first one simply because I couldn't (and will never) afford the nicer quadriga coins, let alone the gorgeous tetradrachms from Syracuse. But I managed to fall in love with the design on that coin, and the type, so I actually feel very good about having them even though I will never be able to afford the more famous quadriga coins on the market.

 

@Nathan B. Julius Caesar was the first to use a veiled portrait on his coinage to show his status as Pontifex Maximus I know of as you can see on this example (not my coin - Pictures by NumisBids)

 

I especially like the second one - very nice!

 

Vita Constantini is such a treasure trove of numismatic references.

 

I've seen anywhere from 4 to 7 back (or front) legs depicted on these.

Here's a poor effort from Antioch with only 4 (vs expected 8) rear legs, but 5 front ones !



This seems to be as good as it gets, with 7 front and 7 back.

 

For much more about early Christian references on coins, see my site:

http://augustuscoins.com/ed/Christian/ChristianSymbols.html

It has many linked pages. This "hand of God" OP type is discussed on the main page (1/3 the way down). Here is a different "hand of God" type, this one of Arcadius:



Arcadius, 383-408
Struck 383 as his first issue
20 mm. 4.52 grams
DN ARCAD-IVS PF AVG, bust right holding spear forward and left holding shield
Hand of God above crowning him with a wreath
GLORIA RO-MANORVM
Emperor standing front, facing left, holding standard and resting left of shield, at feet left a captive
mintmark: CONΓ *
RIC Constantinople 53a

 

I've had a couple, but this one is my best one. I really like the tilted mintmark on this one!

 

Empresses were regularly depicted with a veil on consecration issues. Men rarely. Divus Constantius I, Constantine's father, is one (images courtesy CNG). .

 

Yes, but it doesn't seem to be about him specifically...

On his first "Consecratio" coins for Divus Constantius, Constantine stuck with the traditional bare headed busts at London and Trier, and laureate at Lyons. It's when he switches to the "Memoria Felix" legend that the veiled bust was introduced, and then this is also used on the later Memoriae Aeternae and Reqvies Optimorvm Meritorvm types c.318 AD for all of Constantius, Maximianius and Claudius II.

Maxentius, when issuing "Memoriae" types, first for Constantius, then later for all his relatives (Maximianus, Galerius, Constantius), a few years after their deaths, also uses the veiled bust for everyone.

Maximinus also issued a "Memoriae" (not Consecratio) type for Galerius, immediately after his death, and used a traditional bare headed bust.

 

Yes. You can see them here:

http://augustuscoins.com/ed/adfini/

at my site "Adfini, Cognat, Patri, Socero, under Maxentius at Rome."

Here is the Constantius type (see the page for the others)"

ADFINI = a relative by marriage (for Constantius)


Divus Constantius, d. 306. Type struck by Maxentius, c. 310.
24-23 mm.
IMP MAXENTIVS DIVO CONSTANTIO ADFINI (3:30-5:00)
ADFINI = a relative by marriage
Constantius I had been Caesar from 293 to 305 under the Augustus Maximianus. In a dynastic marriage, Constantine, son of Constantius, married Fausta, the daughter of Maximianus and sister of Maxentius. That made Maxentius a relative of Constantius. Maxentius claimed a relationship to a legitimate emperor by issuing commemorative coins for Constantius.

Reverse: AETERNA-MEMORIA
six-columed domed temple with doors ajar, eagle on top.
The following coins have the same reverse legend and type.
This coin, mint of Ostia: MOSTS, RIC Ostia 29