New Gallienus Panther

About a week ago, I bought a Gallienus Antoninianus featuring a panther (in pretty nice condition), so I thought I would share it here, along with a link to a little writeup about it on my website.

Info:

Empire: Rome

Place: Rome

Date: 254-268 AD

Denomination: AR Antoninianus

Obv. Radiate bust of Gallienus right

Rev. Panther facing left

Here's the link to the little article on my website: https://www.ancientnumis.com/articles/gallienus-antoninianus

Send pictures of any coins that feature panthers or are part of Gallienus' zoo series!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

A very nice example.
I bought a similar coin in my last auction



Gallienus AD 267-268. "Animal/ Mythical series" issue. Rome
Antoninianus Æ
20 mm, 3,82 g
Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, bust of Galienus, radiate, right / LIBERO CONS AVG, B in exergue, Panther stalking left
RIC V.1 230

Why have you listed it as "Empire: Greek" ?

 

CATS.

 

Oops! Thanks for telling me that - I'll change it now on the website as well. I think it was because I copied the text from another Greek coin description and forgot to change it.

Edit: Done, hopefully that should show up correct on the website too right now.

 

Very nice example! I don't actually have a panther among my Gallienus zoo coins. What I have instead is what has been convincingly (in my opinion) identified as the tigress variety, given the very distinct stripes:

Gallienus, Billon Antoninianus, Rome Mint 267-268 AD. Obv. Radiate head right, GALLIENVS AVG /Rev. Panther or Tigress walking left, LIBERO P • CONS AVG; B in exergue. RIC V-1 230, RSC IV 586, Sear RCV III 10281. 19mm, 2.83g, 6h.






See the article on this subject by Jim Phelps, at https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Liber Pater. Although it's interesting that so far as I know none of the catalogs -- not RIC, not RSC, and not RCV -- has made the distinction between the panther and tigress; all just list the coin under one number as showing a panther.

 

I'm a brand spanking new newbie, & as I explain in my Intro post, my field is cameos & other engraved gems. Not a coin, but thought you might like to see what was a popular motif on Roman ring stones in the first century CE, a pantheress with a filleted thyrsus over her shoulder:



This is part of a series of animals engraved on small convex banded agates. This one is approx. 8mm wide. The convexity & small size made it difficult to photograph; she does have hind quarters & a tail.

 

Fascinating. The relationship between Roman cameos and coins isn't recognized enough by most coin collectors, I think. Which is one of the reasons I enjoy browsing websites of dealers that sell both, like Odysseus Numismatique in France.

The panther (arguably a leopard given the frequent presence of spots, as I've repeatedly suggested here!) with thyrsus is, of course, traditionally associated with Bacchus/Liber/Dionysus. The thyrsos is defined at NumisWiki as follows: "The thyrsos (thyrsus) is the staff carried by Dionysus (Bacchus) and his associates; topped by a pine cone or a bunch of ivy leaves and wreathed with tendrils of vine or ivy. It was a symbol of the immortality of his believers." See https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Thyrsus.

Here are a couple of examples from my own collection:

Lydia, Philadelphia, AE 17, Late 2nd/Early 1st Centuries BCE, Hermippos, son of Hermogenes, archiereus [magistrate]. Obv. Head of young Dionysos right, wearing ivy-wreath and band across forehead, [Φ]ΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΕ[ΩΝ] vertically behind / Rev. Spotted pantheress [leopard] walking left, with head turned back to right, cradling thyrsos bound with fillet (ribbon) against left shoulder, right foreleg raised; ΑΡΧΙΕΡ-ΕΥΣ above, ΕΡΜΙΠΠΟΣ in exergue. Seaby II 4720 [Sear, D., Greek Coins and their Values, Vol. II, Asia & Africa (Seaby 1979), at p. 430 (ill.)]; BMC 22 Lydia 16 [Head, B.V. A Catalogue of Greek Coins in the British Museum, Lydia (London 1901) at p. 189]; SNG Von Aulock II 3057 [Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Deutschland, Sammlung Hans Von Aulock, Vol. 2: Caria, Lydia, Phrygia, Lycia, Pamphylia (Berlin 1962)]; SNG Copenhagen 340 [Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, Copenhagen, The Royal Collection of Coins and Medals, Danish National Museum, Part 27, Lydia Part 1 (Copenhagen 1947)]; Imhoof-Blumer 8 [Imhoof-Blumer, Friedrich, Lydische Stadtmünzen, neue Untersuchungen (Leipzig 1897) at pp. 114-115]; Mionnet IV No. 536 [Mionnet, Théodore E., Description de Médailles antiques grecques et romaines, Vol. IV, Lydie (Paris 1809) at p. 98]. 17 mm., 5.02 g. [With old collector’s envelope.] [Footnote omitted.]



Roman Republic, C. Vibius Varus, AR Denarius, 42 BCE, Rome Mint. Obv. Head of Bacchus (or Liber)* right, wearing earring and wreath of ivy and grapes / Rev. Spotted panther [leopard]** springing left towards garlanded altar on top of which lies a bearded mask of Silenus or Pan,*** and against which leans a thyrsus with fillet (ribbon); C • VIBIVS in exergue, VARVS upwards to right. Crawford 494/36, RSC I Vibia 24, Sydenahm 1138, BMCRR 4295, Sear RCV I 496. 17 mm., 3.60 g. Ex. Numismatica Ars Classica NAC AG, Auction 83, May 20, 2015, Lot 83; ex. Frank Sternberg Auction 17, Zurich, May 1986, Lot 519.



*The identification of the obverse head as Bacchus or Liber is essentially immaterial. See Jones, John Melville, A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins (Seaby, London, 1990) at p. 33 (entry for “Bacchus”): “For the Romans . . . . [Bacchus] was generally identified with the Italian deity Liber, whose name is probably derived from the same root as the word ‘libation,’ suggesting that in Italy he was an earth or vegetation spirit who could be worshipped by pouring offerings upon the ground. . . . Bacchus appears rarely upon Roman imperial coins (and when he is given a name, he is called Liber). He is shown as a youthful male figure, nude or partly draped, perhaps with a wreath of ivy leaves. He may bear a thyrsus and be accompanied by Ariadne, a bacchant or maenad, or a panther.”

** A strong argument can be made that the big cats generally referred to as “panthers” in ancient coin reference works are actually leopards (or, occasionally, cheetahs), particularly when their spots are visible, as on this coin. There is, of course no such separate species as a panther; even a black panther is simply a melanistic leopard (or, in the Western Hemisphere, a jaguar or cougar) with black fur obscuring the spots in the case of the jaguar. The classical world was well aware that pantherae usually had spots. See the many ancient mosaics and other works of art depicting Dionysos/Bacchus with a spotted panther/leopard, such as this mosaic from the House of the Masks in Delos, from ca. 100 BCE, in the Archaeological Museum of Delos:




See https://www.pinterest.dk/pin/441423200974714028/; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaics_of_Delos#House_of_the_Masks. See also the following passage from Pliny the Elder’s Natural History at 8.23, concerning the spots on the panthera:

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=8:chapter=23

“The spots of the panther are like small eyes, upon a white ground. It is said that all quadrupeds are attracted in a most wonderful manner by their odour, while they are terrified by the fierceness of their aspect; for which reason the creature conceals its head, and then seizes upon the animals that are attracted to it by the sweetness of the odour. It is said by some, that the panther has, on the shoulder, a spot which bears the form of the moon; and that, like it, it regularly increases to full, and then diminishes to a crescent. At present, we apply the general names of varia and pardus (which last belongs to the males), to all the numerous species of this animal, which is very common in Africa and Syria.” (Footnotes omitted.)

For a detailed discussion of this passage in Pliny, and the terms panthera and pardus in general as used in the classical world, see the dissertation by Benjamin Moser of the University of Western Ontario, entitled The Ethnozoological Tradition: Identifying Exotic Animals in Pliny's Natural History (available at https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2566&context=etd), Chapter 3.1 at pp. 86-96, “Identifcation of the Panthera and Pardus.” [Remainder of second footnote, and all of third footnote, omitted.]

 

Gallienus, antoninianus, rev. IOVI CO[NS AVG], goat walking left.

 

So basically a snack for Donna's tiger.

 

Is there a cabbage reverse too, in the series?

 

... Now *I* am hungry...

 

This one can take off before the tiger catches it.
Gallienus, antoninianus, rev. SOLI CONS AVG / A, Pegasus taking off right

 

A friend for @ancient coin hunter's griffin.

 

My other seven coins from the Gallienus Zoo Series -- centaur, gryphon, antelope, doe, gazelle, hippocamp, and pegasus. So four real animals with the tigress (three with hooves, often confused with each other), and four mythical creatures:

Gallienus, Billon Antoninianus, 267-268 AD, Rome Mint (8th Officina). Obv. Radiate head right, GALLIENVS AVG / Rev. Centaur walking left holding a globe in extended right hand and a reversed rudder in left hand, with right front leg lifted, APOLLINI CONS AVG; H [Eta = 8th Officina] in exergue. RIC V-1 164, RSC IV 73 (ill.), Wolkow 1a8, Göbl MIR [Moneta Imperii Romani] Band 36, No. 738, Sear RCV III 10178. 20 mm., 3.42 g., 12 h.



Gallienus, Billon Antoninianus, 267-268 AD, Rome Mint (4th Officina). Obv. Radiate head right, GALLIENVS AVG / Rev. Gryphon walking left, APOLLINI CONS AVG; Δ [Delta = 4th Officina] in exergue. RIC V-1 166, RSC IV 76, Wolkow 4a4, Göbl MIR [Moneta Imperii Romani] Band 36, No. 718, Sear RCV III 10180. 20.5 mm., 3.29 g., 6 h.



Gallienus, Billon Antoninianus, 267-268 AD, Rome Mint (3rd Officina). Obv. Radiate head right, GALLIENVS AVG / Rev. Antelope walking left, DIANAE CONS AVG; Γ [Gamma = 3rd Officina] in exergue. RIC V-1 181 [p. 146, Obverse 8K], RSC IV 165, Sear RCV III 10200, Wolkow 7a3 [Cédric Wolkow, Catalogue des monnaies romaines - Gallien - L'émission dite "Du Bestiaire" - atelier de Rome (BNumis, édition 2019)], Göbl MIR [Moneta Imperii Romani] Band 36, No. 716. 20 mm., 3.59 g., 7 h.



Gallienus, Billon Antoninianus, 267-268 AD, Rome Mint (5th Officina). Obv. Radiate head right, GALLIENVS AVG / Rev. Doe walking right, head turned back looking left, DIANAE CONS AVG; Є [Epsilon = 5th Officina] in exergue. RIC V-1 177, RSC IV 154, Wolkow 10a5, Göbl MIR [Moneta Imperii Romani] Band 36, No. 728(b); cf. Sear RCV III 10199 (same reverse & obverse portrait; different obverse legend). 21 mm., 2.72 g., 6 h.


Gallienus, Billon Antoninianus, 267-268 AD, Rome Mint (11th Officina). Obv. Radiate head right, GALLIENVS AVG /Rev. Gazelle* walking right, DIANAE CONS AVG; XI in exergue. RIC V-1181, RSC IV 157, Wolkow 14a11, Göbl MIR [Moneta Imperii Romani] Band 36, No. 747(b), Cunetio 1401, Sear RCV III 10201. 21 mm., 3.24 g., 6 h.



* See Wolkow [Cédric Wolkow, Catalogue des monnaies romaines - Gallien - L'émission dite "Du Bestiaire" - atelier de Rome (BNumis, édition 2019)] p. 64; http://www.fredericweber.com/GALLIEN/emission_du_bestiaire/page2.htm; Jim Phelps, The Coins of Gallienus ' "Zoo" Collection (http://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Gallienus Zoo).

Gallienus, Billon Antoninianus, Rome Mint, 9th Officina, 10th emission (Göbl), 267-268 AD. Obv. Radiate cuirassed bust right, GALLIENVS AVG / Rev. Hippocamp swimming right, NEP-TVNO CONS AVG; in exergue, N [= Nu, for 9th Officina). RIC V-1 245, RSC IV 668 (ill.), Wolkow 23i9, Bust Type B3, Ribbons Type 3 [Cédric Wolkow, Catalogue des monnaies romaines - Gallien - L'émission dite "Du Bestiaire" - atelier de Rome (BNumis, édition 2019). at p. 87], Göbl MIR [Moneta Imperii Romani] Band 36, No. 743b, Sear RCV III 10292. 19 mm., g. Purchased from Akropolis Ancient Coins, May 2021.


Gallienus, Billon Antoninianus, 267-268 AD, Rome Mint (1st Officina). Obv. Radiate head right, GALLIENVS AVG /Rev. Pegasus springing right, about to take flight. SOLI CONS AVG; A offset to right in exergue. RIC V-1 283 (p. 155), RSC IV 979, Sear RCV III 10362, Wolkow 26a1[Cédric Wolkow, Catalogue des monnaies romaines - Gallien - L'émission dite "Du Bestiaire" - atelier de Rome (BNumis, édition 2019)], Göbl MIR [Moneta Imperii Romani] Band 36, No. 712b. 21 mm., 3.12 g, 11 h.

 

Great coins! My tigress:

 

In my world it can also be a fennel stalk:



As in this relief:


https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/253483

And this micromosaic:



The Numiswiki entry is the first time I have seen 'a bunch of ivy leaves' described as a type of thyrsus head. Admittedly, the one above could be seen that way. The giant fennel would provide a good shaft, even if it loses its head.

My favorite use of a thyrsus:

 

Looking closely at my beast, you could make a case for stripes, I just always thought yon panther has a lean & hungry look & they were ribs.

 

Great coins everyone!
Here is my only other coin in the series apart from that panther, a gazelle I think.
Definitely not as impressive as the panther, but I still like it.