You are the sun I am the moon You are the words I am the tune… The emperor as sun and the empress as moon is a recurrent theme in Roman numismatic iconography. This is exemplified by the use of the radiate crown on an emperor to assimilate him to Sol, the sun god, and the use of a crescent on the shoulders or forehead of an empress to assimilate her to Diana Lucifera, the goddess of the moon. This pair of antoniniani from Philip I and his wife, Otacilia Severa illustrate this principle quite well. Philip I, AD 244-249. Roman AR Antoninianus, 3.73 g, 22.4 mm, 7 h. Rome, AD 247. Obv: IMP PHILIPPVS AVG, radiate and draped bust, right. Rev: AETERNITAS AVGG, elephant guided by mahout with goad and wand, walking left. Refs: RIC 58; Cohen 17; RCV 8921; Hunter 31. Otacilia Severa, AD 244-249 Roman AR antoninianus; 3.75 g, 22.6 mm, 6 h Rome, AD 248-249 Obv: OTACIL SEVERA AVG, diademed and draped bust, right, on crescent Rev: CONCORDIA AVGG, Concordia seated left, holding patera and cornucopiae, altar at feet Refs: RIC 129; Cohen 16; RCV 9150; Hunter 7; CRE 524 But this practice antedated the use of the radiate crown on the dupondius and antoninianus on Roman provincial coins. This sestertius-sized bronze of Romula depicts Augustus as the sun, with a radiate crown and a sun placed above his head, and Livia as the moon, with crescent above and a globe below her head. Augustus and Livia, issued under Tiberius, AD 14-29. Roman provincial Æ 31 mm, 21.48 g. Spain, Hispalis, Colonia Romula, AD 14-29. Obv: PERM DIVI AVG COL ROM, radiate head of Augustus right; thunderbolt before, star above. Rev: IVLIA AVGVSTA GENETRIX ORBIS, head of Livia, left; globe beneath, crescent above. Refs: RPC-73; SGI-189; Heiss 393, 2; Cohen 169, 3; Alvarez-Burgos 1587; Lindgren II 69; SNG Tubingen 118; SNG Copenhagen 423.13.35. Similarly, this tiny provincial of Claudia Leucas depicts a radiate male figure on the obverse and a female figure surmounted by a crescent on the reverse. The identities of the figures, though, is a matter of controversy. I favor their identification as Trajan and Plotina. The obverse bust is similar to other coins of Trajan from Claudia Leucas; in addition, the reverse has the facial features and hairstyle of Plotina. Pseudo-autonomous issue, AD 50-117.* Roman Provincial Æ 15.2 mm, 3.06 g, 2 h. Syria: Coele-Syria, Claudia Leucas (Balanea), AD 50-117. Obv: ΛΕVΚΑΔΙѠΝ, radiate male head, right. Rev: ΤѠΝ ΚΑI ΚΛΑVΔΙΑΙѠΝ, female head, right, wearing crescent. Refs: SGI 508; BMC 20, p. 296, no. 1, pl. XXXVII, 1; Lindgren I 2180; RPC I 4465. *RPC I (p. 640) notes: The heads are often identified as Agrippina and Claudius (BMC; Mionnet; Seyrig on the tickets under his coins), but a simple radiate head, presumably of Helios, had occurred under Antony (4458). Imhoof-Blumer noted a similarity with heads of Trajan, but still preferred to date the coin to the period of Claudius or Nero (GRMK, p. 236), perhaps because he thought that the coin came from Apamea, whose coinage ended under Claudius. The origin of the identification as Claudius and Agrippina seems to go back to the misreading of ΤWΝ as ΘΠ (de Saulcy, p. 22, nos 5–6); the date 89 would, on an era of 37, be AD 52. Others prefer to consider this a pseudo-autonomous issue depicting Helios and Selene. Post your sun and moon coins!
Sol and Luna, vis-à-vis... CLAUDIUS II GOTHICUS Rare. AE Antoninianus. 3.34g, 22.9mm. Antioch mint, circa mid AD 270. New RIC V/1 Online temp #1069 (this coin cited). O: IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind. R: AETER AVG, Luna standing right, holding long-handled lighted torch in both hands, facing Sol standing left, with right hand raised and holding whip in left hand. Ex Finn Johannessen Collection (purchased from Jerome Holderman, 29 Mar 2008)
Sun and Moon, Faustina II and Marcus Aurelius: Faustina II Kilikia, Hieropolis-Kastabala Obv.: ΦΑΥСΤƐΙΝΑ СƐΒΑСΤΗ, Draped bust of Faustina (as Selene) right; crescent on forehead, countermark T Rev.: IEPOΠΟΛΙΤΩΝ, Radiate and draped bust of Helios left (portrait assimilated to Marcus Aurelius) AE, 11.32g, 24.5mm Ref.: SNG France 2231-2232, SNG Levante 1587, Howgego 686 (for countermark)
Here's Aeternitas holding the heads (!) of Sol and Luna on a worn denarius of Hadrian. Hadrian Denarius (119-122 A.D.) Rome Mint IMP [CAES]AR TRAIAN HAD[RIANVS AVG], laureate, heroic bust right, draped far shoulder / P M TR P [COS III], Aeternitas standing left, holding heads of Sol and Luna. RIC 81; RSC 1114. (2.78 grams / 18 mm)
