Sleeping Hermaphrodite

Interesting coin of Marcus Aurelius from Augusta Traiana, Varbanov 847. It portrays a very famous statue, now in the Louvre, Sleeping Hermaphrodite, which was copied and widely distributed in the Greco-Roman world.



You may read more about the statue and see additional images at the Louvre website.

 

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Is that your coin? Fantastic!!

 

Love the coin and the sculpture it copied. Congrats

 

Very nice!

 

How do they know it's a hermaphrodite? You only see the butt?

 

Yeah. Good question

 

What paddyman 98 said!

 

Click the link in the OP. To save you the exertion, here's a view from the other side of the famous sculpture.



As for the coin, I guess it is thought that the strong resemblance to the sculpture is enough to nail the ID.

 

OK..
But from my understanding a Hermaphrodite has no.. excuse my language.. testicles! Those silly romans!

 

Dang TIF, that ended that mystery. Good research!

 

I think this thread is at its logical conclusion. But there were testicles.

 

I did not know this existed. Interesting. Cool coin.

 

Excellent coin, @Roman Collector! I'd never seen this type before either. Quite fascinating.

 

@Roman Collector I am PhD student doing research on Hermaphroditus, this coin is absolutely fascinating! Would I be able to get in contact with you and ask you more about this coin?

 

Hi, Brittany. The coin is about the size of a penny and was struck during the reign of Marcus Aurelius sometime between 161 - 180 CE.

When this coin was put up for auction in 2007, the auctioneer specifically said it depicted the statue as displayed in the Louvre:



"RÖMISCHE PROVINZIALPRÄGUNGEN
THRAKIEN
AUGUSTA TRAIANA
Objekt-Nr.: 1811
Marc Aurel, 161 - 180 n. Chr. AE Einer (3,90 g.), Vs.: AU KAI M AURH ANTWNINOS, Kopf r. Rs.: AUGOUSTHS TRA/IANHS, rechtshin lagernder Hermaphrodit vor angedeutetem Landschaftshintergrund. Schönert - Geiss, Augusta Traiana - ; A.Chadzikostov in FS Schönert-Geiss - ; Varbanov, GIC 855 (schwimmender Flussgott). RRR! Schöne dunkelgrüne Patina, gutes ss
Die berühmteste statuarische Fassung eines schlafenden Hermaphroditen ist im Louvre zu bewundern: Man erblickt den Körper einer auf dem Bauch ruhenden Frau, die ihren Kopf auf den verschränkten Armen gebettet hat. Im Schlaf ist ihr Gewand weit herabgerutscht und gibt den Blick auf runde, weibliche Formen frei. Erst wenn man die Figur umrundet, entdeckt man irritiert das männliche Geschlecht. Der reizvolle Typus ist für Augusta Traiana nur in wenigen Exemplaren nachweisbar."

HOWEVER ... it's important to note that the coin has also been interpreted as depicting a river god swimming right, and a different auctioneer who sold the coin in 2002 described it as such:

"Marcus Aurelius AE 17mm of Augusta Traiana, Thrace.

AV KAI M AVR ANTWNEINOC, bare head right.
AYGOYCTHC TRAIANHC, river-god swimming right.

Varbanov 854."

There are many coins in antiquity depicting swimming river gods and this may well be one of them. But I was struck by the resemblance of the coin to the Sleeping Hermaphrodite statue and think the auctioneer may well have been right. The issue is far from settled, however. Unfortunately, I am unable to find another example of this particular coin online anywhere to compare its reverse to others out there.

 

@PeteB has a very interesting coin depicting Pan and Hermaphroditos. I'm going to copy and paste it here. (Hope you don't mind, Pete.) I'd love to have this coin or one like it!

(Scroll down this page to see the coin on his website)


Septimius Severus. 193-211 A.D
Hadrianopolis, Thrace; Æ 28
Obv: His laureate and draped bust, r.
Rev: To right, Pan, with goat legs, holding lagobolon and facing HERMAPHRODITOS (!!) on the left.
Note that Hermaphroditos depicts both male and female attributes. The legend of this mythological figure stems apparently from a single ancient source: Ovid, in his play Metamorphosis. He was said to have been the son of the messenger god Hermes and Aphrodite, the goddess of love. He was born a male and nursed by Naiads in the caves of Mount Ida in Asia Minor. At the age of 15 he wandered through the lands of Lycia and Caria. In his travels, he came upon a beautiful pool of clear water, in which lived the Naiad Salmacis, who was gathering flowers nearby. He decided to refresh himself by bathing in the pool. Salmacis, struck by his handsomeness, slipped into the pool with him and sang to him of her love. However, the youth rejected her advances. Salmacis embraced him and tried to win him over, and prayed to the gods that they be joined together as one, forever. The gods granted her prayers and the two were joined, displaying both male and female attributes of the two; hence, the name Hermaphroditos (Hermaphrodite). The coin is in VF condition, with a dark green patina. The patina is chipped on the obverse edge, with a small, hard green deposit behind Severus' ear. This is an exceedingly rare coin; the second example of which I have seen in 40 years! It is not listed in the British Museum catalog, SNG Copenhagen, or in Jurukova's corpus on Hadrianopolis, though its obv. die is her V114. See Varbanov II (English), 3392 for a second example, incorrectly identified as Apollo, in my opinion. The referenced source as "WW" is also incorrect.

 

I saw an Etruscan mirror the other day featuring a hermaphrodite. If it interests you I can send the link. It is from Gerhard’s 19th century work in Etruscan art.

 

I subscribe to the theory first introduced to me by Pat Lawrence many years ago that most coin reverses copied statues known to the die cutter but not all of them have survived. The vast majority of ancient marbles were smashed and recycled. Bronzes could have been melted and reused as coins or a thousand other products. Many of the statues we do have are cobbled together from parts with the exact position and identification being a bit subject to question. There were certainly many original statues that have not survived in original or copy form. Some may be shown on our coins but we don't know where that pose originated.

 

F. Imhoof-Blumer and P. Gardner wrote Ancient coins Illustrating Lost Masterpieces of Ancient Art: A numismatic Commentary on Pausanias, which was reprinted in 1964. 176 pages and 36 page plates (of casts). If the OP coin is in there, I didn't find it.

 

I do not have this book but the title suggests that it would not have that coin even if the authors knew of it since the work of art is not lost. Does the book include other extant works (like Apollo Sauroktonos)?