Trophy of Arms

I have two of the common types mentioned in the original post:



OCTAVIAN (AUGUSTUS)
AR Denarius (3.84 g.) Brundisium & Rome (?) ca. 29 - 27 B.C. RIC 265a
Bare head of Octavian right; rev. IMP - CAESAR military trophy, base crossed w/rudder and anchor set on prow right.

To me, the above trophy appears as if it could have been used as some sort of combat training device.



VESPASIAN 69 - 71 A.D.
AR Denarius (3.22 g.), Rome 69 - 70 A.D. RIC 2
IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG Laureate head of Vespasian
REV. IVDAEA IN EXERGUE, mourning Jewess seated under trophy

 

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Excellent write-up Martin! Here is the Flavian equivalent of the type.

The 'common' version.


Titus
AR Denarius, 3.46g
Rome mint, 80 AD
RIC 102 (C). BMC 37. RSC 306.
Obv: IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG PM; Head of Titus, laureate, bearded, r.
Rev: TR P IX IMP XV COS VIII P P; Two captives seated l. and r., back to back: between them, trophy composed of cuirass, helmet, and oblong shields : the captive on l. is a woman, draped, hooded, and rests head on r. hand; the captive on r. is a man, naked, and has his hands bound behind his back
Ex Berk 143, 18 May 2005, lot 176.

Left-facing version.


Titus
AR Denarius, 2.89g
Rome Mint, 80 AD
RIC 103(R2). BMC p. 230 note. RSC 307.
Obv: IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M; Head of Titus, laureate, bearded, l.
Rev: TR P IX IMP XV COS VIII P P; Captives, two, back to back, seated either side of trophy (woman on l., man on r.)
Ex Harry N. Sneh Collection.


And the rare version with male and female captives swapping places.

Titus
AR Denarius, 3.15g
Rome Mint, 80 AD
RIC 104(R). BMC 40. RSC 306a.
Obv: IMP TITVS CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M; Head of Titus, laureate, bearded, r.
Rev: TR P IX IMP XV COS VIII P P; Captives, two, back to back, seated either side of trophy (man on l., woman on r.)
Ex Lanz, eBay, October 2017.

 

Nice trophies, everyone! Here is my simple, worn greek Athena and trophy of armor from Pergamon in Mysia:

 

Something there is about silver to show off a Roman Imperial trophy. But the trophy at arms image did appear in bronze in the later empire.

The House of Constantine in the early days of his sons, Crispus and Constantine II, had a couple of reverse types that made use of a trophy of arms. The earliest type, the VIRTVS EXERCIT features a trophy standing between two bound, seated captives, and came primarily from the mint at Trier:

Constantine

Crispus

Constantine II


Note that for these each royal figure receives a distinctive treatment in battle dress. Other mints produced the VIRTVS EXERCIT using a labarum instead of a trophy between the captives.

Somewhat later the Sarmatia Devicta reverses were produced at all of the Western mints in production at the time. In this the figure of Victory, advancing right, carries the trophy over her shoulder. Here is an example from the mint at London:

Constantine



The Dafne issue you have already seen represented here, but here it is with the "eyes-to-heaven" obverse:

 

Gallienus AE Antoninianus, Antioch. Sole reign. AD 265. GALLIENVS AVG, radiate, draped, cuirassed bust right / PAX FVNDATA, Trophy with a captive on each side. Mintmark: branch right. RIC 652; RSC 770; Goebl 1635i; Sear 10306.

 

The original trophy of arms with flanking captives reverse:


JULIUS CAESAR
AR Denarius. 3.98g, 18.6mm. Military mint travelling with Caesar in Spain, circa 46-45 BC. Crawford 468/1; Sydenham 1014. O: Head of Venus right, wearing stephane; Cupid behind shoulder. R: Trophy of Gallic arms between two seated captives: female resting head in right hand to left, and bearded male with hands tied behind back on right; CAESAR in exergue.
Ex Eucharius Collection

 

I really like your Caesar @zumbly !

Roman REPUBLIC CAPTIVES:


RR Cloelius 98 BCE
Quinarius
Obv: Jupiter, under chin: F with dots
Victory - Gaul captive Q
Craw 332-1c Sear 212


RR Gellius 138 BCE
AR Den
Obv: Roma wreath
Rev: Mars holding female captive, racing Quadriga
Sear 109 Craw 232-1

 

Some years on and I have added another Trophy and arms type to my collection.

Obv:– IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG COS II, Laureate head right
Rev:– INVICTO MIP(sic), Trophy with captured arms below
Minted in Emesa, A.D. 194 – 195
References:– RIC -, RSC -, BMCRE

The coin has the spelling error MIP for IMP

 

A living trophy.

Roman Republican Silver Denarius, 58 BC. Rome; M. Aemilius Scaurus and Pub. Plautius Hypsaeus.
Obverse: camel standing right, Nabatean king Aretas kneeling to right and holding reins with L hand and extending olive-branch tied with fillet in R hand; M SCAVR above, [A]ED CVR in exergue, [EX] S C across field.
Reverse: Jupiter driving quadriga left holding reins in L hand and throwing thunderbolt with R hand; below horses' forelegs, scorpion. [P] HVPSAEVS / AED CVR in two lines above; CAPTV to right, [C] HVPSAE COS / [PR]EIVER in two lines in exergue

 

I have one Septimius Severus coin with a trophy of arms, plus a couple of captives -- neither of whom appears to be bound:

Septimius Severus, AR Denarius 201 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate head right, SEVERVS - PIVS AVG / Rev. Trophy of arms with two Parthian captives seated at its base, facing outwards, with their hands supporting their heads, PART MAX P M - TR P VIIII. RIC IV-1 176, RSC III 370, Sear RCV (1988 ed.) 1767 [not in Milllennium edition], BMCRE 356. 19 mm., 3.49 g. (Purchased from Harlan J. Berk, Ltd., 212th Buy or Bid Sale, August 2020, Lot 153; Ex. Philip Ashton Collection, acquired Jan. 1998).

 

I do not know if this is the first representation of a trophy of arms but it must be one of the earliest.
Agathokles of Syracuse Ar Tetradrachm 310-308 BC. Obv, Head of Kore right wreathed in grain. Rv. Nike standing left erecting a trophy. Ierardi 104 HGC 1536 16.97 grms 25 mm Phot by W. Hansen It is interesting that this reverse design inspired a number of others who placed on their coins a design that is very similar in composition. One need only look at the Victoriatus of Rome and the Ae Uncia of Capua just to name two. Oddly both of those coins came into being about 100 years after this one was struck. Perhaps imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, however neither type comes anywhere close to the artistry exhibited on this coin.

 

I've posted this one recently (having gotten it recently), but it complements @Johnnie Black's example of Probus on the first page of this thread, and I like it a lot.
...Having collected lower-end Roman for years, as a kid, this was my first Gallienus that was early enough to evoke either the engraving style or the silver content of Valerian.

 

PHAT!

 

LOL -- thanks, @Alegandron.
A similar, and similarly weird thing that just happened was that, for very reasonable money (if not a deal per se), I got this, the first Constantine I've ever had with enough silvering to notice (better in hand, on that front, for one --not to disparage the dealer's pics). ...Also posted recently enough to be embarrassing. But who cares? (Famous Last Rhetorical Questions.)

 

I LIKE that coin and I really like your concept of a LIVING TROPHY! True!

My Living Trophy:


Roman Republic
Aemilius Scaurus and Plautius Hypsaeus
58 BCE
AR Denarius
camel
scorpion quadriga
4.1g 19mm
Rome
Craw 422-1b

 

Then I suppose this type, based on the Scaurus/Hypsaeius, qualifies as well:

Roman Republic, Aulus Plautius, AR Denarius, 55 BCE, Rome mint. Obv. Turreted head of Cybele right, A. PLAVTIVS before, AE[D CVR S C] behind [portion in brackets off flan] / Rev. “Bacchius the Jew” [ = Aristobulus II of Judaea?],* in attitude of supplication, kneeling beside saddled camel (dromedary - one hump) standing right, extending olive-branch with right hand and holding camel’s bridle with left hand, his cape flowing behind him; BACCHIVS in exergue, IVDAEVS on right. RSC I Plautia 13, Crawford 431/1, Sydenham 932, Sear RCV I 395 (ill.), Harlan, RRM II Ch. 18 at pp. 145-149, BMCRR 3916. 18x20 mm., 4.25 g. (Purchased from Harlan J. Berk, Ltd., 211th Buy or Bid Sale, May 2020, Lot 183.)



* See Sear RCV I at p. 148: “Aulus Plautius strikes as curule aedile. The problematic interpretation of the reverse type appears to have been most successfully resolved by [Michael] Harlan in RRM [see Roman Republican Moneyers and Their Coins 63 BCE-49 BCE (2nd Revised Edition 2015), Ch. 18 at pp. 146-148] . . . who identifies the kneeling figure as Aristobulus [= Judah Aristobulus II of the Hasmonean Dynasty, d. ca. 49 BCE], the Jewish high priest, then held captive by Pompey in Rome.”

 

@maridvnvm -- so glad you revived this post, because I missed it the first time around. Most of my trophy types also have captives with them, though I suppose any trophy reverse type probably illustrates captured arms, and thus could belong in my "Barbarians, Captives, and Enemies" collection of Roman coins.

What I love most about the captives-and-trophy types is that they usually (perhaps always?) reference a specific military conflict/enemy and, even if the legends don't explicitly indicate which, the details of the imagery often do so.

As @zumbly noted, the two-captives-and-trophy archetype began with the Caesar denarius. The arms -- especially the carnyx, war trumpet -- clearly relate that these are Gauls. Sometimes the imagery is ambiguous (at least to modern eyes) or requires detailed examples and/or more context to interpret.

(There had previously been single-captives-with-trophies beginning with the 101 BCE Fundanius Quinarius, then the 98 BCE Cloelius Quinarius, shown above a few times. But Caesar's 2-captives-&-a-trophy design stuck. Did the image come from a non-coin sculpture somewhere, or is was it born on the denarius?)

Nine examples of two-captives-and-trophy reverses and their likely ethnic/national identity, in chronological order, from Caesar to Constantine. (Coins mine, but Titus photo by Gorny, Maximinus by CNG, Constantine by Koci, Commodus by Savoca; other five by me.)


The Titus (ex @Orfew -- posted previously -- and of the same series as some @David Atherton examples above) is often cataloged as a Judaea Capta type (e.g. by David Hendin, and the coin's previous owner, Shlomo Moussaief; same is true for the Titus / triumphal quadriga type), but others assign it to the British campaign led by Agricola, c. 77-83 (e.g., CNG, discussing the AV Aureus). I haven't tried to find the sources for the latter yet, but it's on my to-do list.

By the 3rd and 4th cent., the captives and trophies took on a more generic appearance. When there aren't clues in the legend or obvious candidates from history, it is often unclear to me whether or not a specific victory is being announced (either in celebration of, or in hopes of).

I think it's an open question whether these types always reference particular events, or simply simply proclaim the Emperor's general capacity and inclination to conquer and capture in the abstract. If the latter, when did the switch occur? (All Republican through Adoptive issues, as far as I can tell, appear to correspond to specific conflicts and enemies.)

 

Here some more:
Lucius Verus : As

and Probus : Antoninianus

Septimus Severus to finish: AE Denarius

 

Does anyone have a Persian coin displaying Valerian who was taken captive by the Persian emperor Shapur I after the Battle of Edessa?

 

...Wow, that would be So Great. But the Sasanian Persians' coins are remarkably uniform in basic design; emperor on one side, Zoroastrian fire attendants on the other. Terrific as the thought is, I think we'll have to be happy with the relief sculpture.
(Edit: ) ...Hey, wainnaminnit. Just today, a guy on this forum sent me a link to an outfit that sells remarkably accurate historical models in painted white metal. And they've got one of Shapur!
https://www.art-girona.com/product/shapur-i-the-great-sassanid-king-240-272ac/
I haven't checked whether the crown conforms exactly to the ones on his coins (each king has a different one; it's a key feature in distinguishing the reigns), but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.