The famous She-Wolf and twins Romulus and Remus have been such endearing cultural and artistic icons that they've lasted thousands of years, and to the present day they are still immediately identifiable. The She-Wolf nursed the twins, and Romulus went on to found Rome. If Remus founded the city, would it have been called Reme? Anyways, you see the artistic type in bronze statuary: Fig 1: Capitoline Wolf. Wolf possibly Etruscan, twins and base alter Renaissance additions. In marble, both relief and freestanding: Fig 2: Marble relief of twins suckling. And mosaic, among other media: Fig 3: The world's happiest wolf. In coinage, the she-wolf and twins type existed virtually unchanged for centuries, being found on imperial Roman issues, provincial Roman issues, and even post-Roman issues. I think it is fair to say that the wolf and twins is possibly the single most common reverse type across ancient and post-ancient coinage. For the longest time, all I had were the extraordinarily common VRBS ROMA commemorative issues. I just picked up this rather massive 32mm Antioch issue of Severus Alexander. The surfaces leave something to be desired, but I've been wanting a big wolf for a while now. I always found it interesting how the wolf variously switches stance from left facing to right facing, with no clear reasoning why. I do notice that the VRBS ROMA coin has the portrait and wolf both left-facing, and the SA has the portrait and wolf both right-facing...I'm sure that's a coincidence though. I'd love to see your wolf and twins coins, especially big provincial ones!
I enjoyed your post @hotwheelsearl My collection of Remus & Romulus/she-wolf coins is growing. Below are photographs of the two most recent I found in a lot of crusty ancients. At some point they will be tidied a bit.
Maxentius A.D. 309- 312 Ӕ follis 26mm 6.5g IMP C MAXENTIVS P F AVG; laureate head right. SAECVLI FELICITAS AVG N; She-wolf standing left, suckling the twins. In ex. MOSTT RIC VI Ostia 52
One of my favorite RR types features wolf and twins Roman Republic AR denarius(19mm, 3.87 g, 9h), anonymous, circa 115 or 114 B.C., Rome mint. Helmeted head of Roma right with curl on left shoulder; below, ROMA; behind, X. Border of dots. / Roma, wearing Corinthian helmet, seated right on pile of shields, holding spear in left hand; at feet, beside pile of shields, helmet; before, she-wolf right, suckling twins; on either side, bird flying. Border of dots. Crawford 287/1 Ex Andrew McCabe Collection, AM#13206-39, CNG e-Auction 443, 1 May 2019, lot 455, ex Roma V, 23 March 2013, lot 519, ex Mayflower (Herb Sukenik) Collection, Heritage 3019, 25 April 2012, lot 25924, ex George N. Polis M.D. Collection, Bowers & Merena, 10 June 1991, lot 74, ex Aurelia Collection, Owl, Ltd. & Thomas McKenna, November 1980, lot 72.
I've never really thought about the most common Roman coin reverse. For the Republic, it was probably the Dioscuri, or Victory (or some other deity) in a biga or quadriga. And then in the later Empire, there were all those incredibly common reverses listed on Tesorillo. like falling horsemen and soldiers with standards and Geniuses of the Roman people and so on. Overall, I have no idea. I have only three wolf & twins coins: Anonymous (Crawford 287/1): Philip I Urbs Roma: Plus one she-wolf without twins (P. Satrienus) (Crawford 388/1b): According to some authorities, the Satrienus is not intended to portray "the" wolf. Here is a photo I took in 2008 of the famous (and possibly Etruscan) statue in Rome, to which the twins were added during the Renaissance:
@DonnaML , from my meagre experience, it seems like the wolf and twins is the most popular reverse that goes across multiple centuries, coin series, generations, and denominations. Most of the other incredibly popular reverses (such as FTR) seem to be rather isolated to their either geographic, or temporal time space. I wonder if there's a singular answer to that questions. @lordmarcovan , it's so darn hard to find those VRBS ROMA coins in anything other than pot metal. Yours is about the best I've ever seen, and appears to be a higher silver content alloy rather than a silvered coin.
Not as big as those Pisidian provincials, but not an VRBS ROMA either... ANTONINUS PIUS AE As. 9.33g, 27.6mm. Rome mint, AD 140-143. RIC 734a. O: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS PP TR P COS III, laureate head right. R: IMPERATOR II, She-wolf suckling the twins Romulus and Remus; boat in exergue, between S C.
I only have the city commemoratives wolf and twins. My first, bought before I was collecting ancient coins and I thought it was Greek \ RIC VII Cyzicus 106 Date Range: AD 332 - AD 335 Obverse Legend: VRBS - ROMA Type: Bust of Roma, wearing plumed helmet, left Deity: Roma Reverse Type: She-wolf, standing left, suckling twins; above, two stars MintMark: -/-//•SMKA Further 1.78 g 18 mm Struck under Constantine I. Arelate, AD 333. VRBS ROMA, helmeted bust of Roma to left, wearing imperial cloak / She-wolf standing to left, suckling Romulus and Remus; wreath flanked by two stars above, PCONST in exergue. RIC VII 373; LRBC 376. A barbarous Obv:– VRBS ROMA, Helmeted bust of Roma left Rev:– –, She wolf feeding Romulus and Remus, two stars above My favorite coin with a she wolf lacks the twins. Trajan AD 98-117. Rome Quadrans Æ 114-117 20 mm., 3,01 g. RIC II Trajan 693 Legend: IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS VI P P Type: Head of Trajan, laureate, right Reverse Legend: S C Type: She-wolf walking right
@kazuma78 just up and gave that to me one day (sans slab). Said it was the first ancient he ever bought. Which goes to show you how sharp his eye was, even going into the game. Anyone who’s seen his collection progress since will notice that it wasn’t a fluke.
Wolf and twins being a subset of mine (I have too many...), I can show a few of them Didrachm - c. 269-266 BC S. Pompeius Fostlus - 137 BC Gallienus - Antioch mint, AD 265-266 Maxentius - Ostia mint, 3rd officina AD 309 Urbs Roma - Lyon mint, 1st officina, ca. AD 332 Die clash Q
Beautiful coins. Here’s my Flavian ‘wolf and twins’ coin. RIC 961, RSC 51. Rome Mint, 77-78 A.D. 3,08 g, 18 mm Obv. CAESAR AVG F DOMITIANVS; Head of Domitian, laureate, bearded, right. Rev. COS V, She-wolf and twins left, boat below. According to a legend, the city of Rome was founded by twins, Romulus and Remus. A female wolf found the twins when they were abandoned and fed them with her own milk.
Rome under Theodoric, Ostrogothic Kingdom AE follis Obv: IMVIC-TA ROMA, Roma helmeted, facing right Rev: She-wolf standing left, suckling Romulus and Remus, XL (40) above, dot V dot in ex Mint: Rome Date: 496-528 AD Ref: BMC 24
That top coin with the tiny she-wolf sucking the twins in the corner is so nice. I never saw a coin with suckling she-wolf like that before. I came to look at it again saw my 'like' was not reflected. I must have clicked 'like' twice! :-D
Hi Deacon Ray! The graphic you designed to showcase your she-wolf coin is outstanding (as always). The coin is pretty cool, too! The patina makes the coin look good enough to eat. Someone should make Hanukah gelt in ancient coin designs.
WUFF and TWINS RR Anon AR Denarius 115-114BCE Rome mint 19.52mm 3.82g ROMA X Seated r on shields spear birds she-wolf Romulus Remus Cr 287-1 S 164 RR Sextus Pompeius 137 BCE AR Den She-Wolf Rom Rem S112 Cr 235-1a RR Anon AE Sextans 217-215 BCE She-Wolf Twins Eagle Syd 95 Cr 39-3 S 609 Scarce