Constantine I and sons AE Folis Rome City Commemorative

No coin here, but a later artistic reflex of the OP coin reverse imagery. So the Germans have a great word: nachleben, or afterlife, referring to the lingering influence of an artistic motif or concept. One of the more interesting examples of the nachleben of the classical “wolf and twins” motif is found on the Anglo-Saxon “Franks Casket” of the 8th century. The casket features carved panels depicting a fascinating mixture of Germanic pagan motifs and Christian history, testifying to the religious syncretism of Anglo-Saxon England. We see depictions of the legendary Germanic smith Weyland (a kind of Viking-age Vulcan), the nativity of Christ, Titus’s Sack of Jerusalem, and, or course, Romulus and Remus and the she-wolf of Rome. Each panel has some “captioning” in runic. For readers of Old English, the runic isn’t even that difficult. It’s like solving a fun puzzle. With a cheat sheet, you can make out the runes over Romulus’s name, “Romwalus,” which I’ve written in.

 

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