Dear friends of ancient mythology The peacock was an attribute of Hera in antiquity. 1st coin: Moesia inferior, Nicopolis ad Istrum, Septimius Severus, 193-211. AE 27, 11.61g, 26.69mm, 210° struck under governor Aurelius Gallus Obv.: AV.K.L.CEP. - CEVHROC – P Laureate head r. Rev.: VP.AVR.GALLOV.NIKOPOLITWN / .PROC I. Hera, in long, girded double chiton, veiled, standing frontal, head l., with raised l. hand resting on long sceptre and holding patera in outstretched right hand; peacock standing l. in front of her feet. Ref.: a) not in AMNG b) not in Varbanov c) Hristova/Hoeft/Jekov (2021) No. 8.14.3.19 (this coin) rare, VF, dark green patina The reverse was also struck for Caracalla. An example of parallel coinage for members of the imperial family, Most spectacular is when Hera rides in a peacock biga, as here on a coin of Antoninus Pius from Kos: Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna Etymology: In West Germanic the name is attested in Old High German phao (9th century), Middle High German phawe, pha, in Early High German pfaw(e), phow(e), New High German Pfae, Pfauw (until the 17th century). In old Saxon pao, Middle Low German pawe, pauwe, as in English pawa, pea, English (older) pea (today folk-etymological peacock). These are all borrowed from Latin pavo, pavonis, which comes from an unknown, probably oriental language. Mythology: The peacock leads us to the mythology of Argos. Argos (from Greek "argos = the shimmering one") was a huge monster with 100 or more eyes all over his body (or around his head) so that he could see in all directions. That is why he was also called Panoptes (Greek = all-seer). Of the eyes, only one pair slept at a time, while the others were awake. In one tradition he was the son of Inachos, the first king of Argos and progenitor of the kings of Argolis, and of unusual strength. Thus he once slew an monstrous ox that ravaged Arcadia. Afterwards he wore its hide as clothing. He also executed a bad type of satyr who plagued Arcadia. He even surprised Echidna, the daughter of Tartaros and Gaia, a terrible serpent and mother of many monsters, such as the three-headed hellhound Kerberos, the Hydra, the Chimaira, the Sphinx and the Nemean Lion, in her sleep and killed her. He should therefore know that sleep could be dangerous! Argos had a son named Iasos, who became king of the city of Argos. It happened that Zeus fell in love with Io, a priestess of Hera, and seduced her. When his jealous wife Hera discovered this, Zeus turned Io into a white cow. But Hera saw through this and demanded the cow as a gift, which Zeus dared not refuse her. And she commissioned Argos to guard the cow. He tied her to an olive tree in the Mycenaean forests. When he drove her to pasture during the day, he sat on a high mountain to keep an eye on her. Zeus, however, could not forget Io. He gave Hermes the order to kidnap the cow, even by force. Hermes went to Argos in the guise of a shepherd and played so sweetly for him on the pan flute that he made him sit down beside him. Through the conversation and the flute playing he finally put Argos to sleep. He then cut off his head and threw it down the rock. Since then Hermes has been nicknamed Argiphontes, the Argos slayer. Io, however, was able to escape. Afterwards, Hera sent her a gadfly that drove her around the world. But that is another story. To honour her faithful servant Argos and to commemorate his treacherous murder, Hera planted his hundred eyes in the plumage of the peacock, her favourite animal. The peacock is also in the starry sky. But it did not receive this honour in antiquity; for the constellation of the peacock lies so far south that it cannot be seen from the Mediterranean. It is one of the constellations introduced at the end of the 16th century by the Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. Johann Bayer adopted it in his celestial atlas Uranometria, published in 1603. In Homer's Odyssey, Argos is also the name of Odysseus' hunting dog, who waited 20 years for his master to return. When Odysseus returns home, he is too weak to rise from the dung heap on which he is lying. He just wags his tail and dies. Whether this dog was named after the giant because of his vigilance is possible but not clear. The peacock in Aesop: In the fables of Aesop (6th century BC, a rather legendary person) the peacock is mentioned a few times. In the fable of the peacock and the jackdaw, the peacock boasted about the shine and colour of its feathers. The jackdaw admitted all this, but noticed that all this beauty was not good for the main thing, flying, and flew away. At that time, the peacock was already a symbol of ostentation and vanity. In his 25th fable, the peacock complains to Juno that he cannot sing as beautifully as the nightingale and is ridiculed because of his voice. Juno replies that all animals have a special gift. His was the beautiful plumage. And he must be content with that, for that is what the gods have given him. The peacock in religion: Hera was the patron goddess of marriage. If a wheel-beating peacock is depicted on this coin, then Hera is meant. And just as the emperor with the eagle on the coins wants to show his connection to Zeus, so here the empress's connection to Hera is meant. Nicopolis ad Istrum, Hristova/Hoeft/Jekov 8.14.3.18 The peacock played an important role as a symbol of Hera in the consecratio of the empress. While emperors entered the world of the gods after their death through the eagle of Zeus (or Zeus himself), empresses (or their souls) were elevated to the gods at the apotheosis through the peacock of Hera. The apotheosis was usually approved in a kind of decree of the Senate. 2nd coin: Mariniana, wife of Valerian I, died before 253 AD AR - Antoninian, 3.47g, 20.49mm, 0° Rome 254 AD Obv.: DIVAE MARINIANAE Veiled bust r., crescent behind shoulders Rev.: CONSECRATIO Peacock flying n.r., carrying seated figure of empress on back, veiled, r. hand raised, sceptre in left hand Ref.: RIC V/1, 6, Pl. I, 12; C. 16 In Christianity, the beauty and splendour of the peacock was a symbol of the coming paradise (first in the Catacomb of Callist in Rome) and the joys of the afterlife. Augustinus (de. civit. Dei 21, 4) wrote that the flesh of the peacock was incorruptible, thus making it a symbol of immortality. Since the peacock loses its feathers during the moulting season in late summer and regains them in the spring, it stands for resurrection and renewal. This is why we often find the peacock on ancient Christian tombs. Christian sarcophagus (detail) It thus resembles the phoenix, who is eternally reborn from the ashes. The peacock symbolism also represented the "all-seeing" church and the holiness associated with it. However, this idea changed in the Middle Ages, when the peacock became a symbol of arrogance and vanity because of its beauty and courtship behaviour. History: The peacock is already mentioned in the Old Testament. In 1 Kings 10:22 it says of King Solomon: "The king had tarsis ships that sailed the sea together with the ships of Hiram. These came once in three years, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks." So Solomon had peacocks, among other things, imported from other countries for his pleasure. It is not clear which place was meant by Tarsis, but it is usually identified with the Phoenician trading city of Tartessos in the Guadalquivir estuary in southern Spain. The name "Tarsis" is probably Iberian or "Tartessic". The Hebrew word for peacock "tukkiyyi" is very similar to "tokei", the native name for the peacock in Sri Lanka, which suggests that these peacocks came from their original homeland. Probably in the 7th/6th century BC, the peacock reached Samos via Iraq and the Near East, where it was a sacred animal in the Heraion (Pauly). In the 5th century, peacocks were a precious rarity and were shown in Athens in the breeding yard of Pyrilampes and Demos at new moon for an entrance fee (Plutarch). The Romans, however, were not so scrupulous. For them, the peacock, introduced by Q. Hortensius, became the epitome of table luxury, surpassed only by peacock brains (Suetonius) and - next to nightingale tongues - by peacock tongues (HA, Heliogabal), the degenerate pinnacle of luxury. Here, it was not the taste but the difficulty of obtaining it that determined the value of a meal (Demandt). Art history: The story of Argos is not rarely depicted in art. I have chosen the following works: (1) The oil painting "Juno and Argus" by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), which was painted around 1611 and is now in the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne. Juno sets the eyes of Argus in the tail feathers of the peacock. (2) By Antonio Belluci (1654-1726) "Juno orders Argus to guard Io". I have chosen this picture because a dog is lying next to Argus, a clear allusion to Argos, the faithful dog of Odysseus. Sources: (1) The Old Testament (2) Suetonius, Biographies of the Emperors (3) Ovid, Metamorphoses (4) Aesop, Fables (5) Homer, Odyssey (6) Apollodorus (5) Herodotus, Histories (8) Plutarch, Parallel Biographies Literature: (1) Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie (Detailed Dictionary of Greek and Roman Mythology). (2) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon, 1770 (3) Seth William Stevenson, Dictionary of Roman Coins (4) Alexander Demandt, The Private Lives of the Roman Emperors, 1997 (5) Hristova/Hoeft/Jekov, Nicopolis ad Istrum, Blagoevgrad 2021 (6) Der Kleine Pauly Online sources: (1) The Bible Dictionary (2) The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (3) theoi.com (4) Wikipedia Best regards Jochen
I love it, @Jochen1! I want one of those peacock biga coins!!! You might be interested in this installment of Faustina Friday about the peacock of Juno. Here are a couple of favorite peacock coins: Faustina I, AD 138-140. Roman AR Denarius, 3.10 g, 17.6 mm, 6 h. Rome, AD 150 and later. Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right. Rev: CONSECRATIO, peacock walking right, head left, on scepter (?). Refs: RIC 384(a); BMCRE 473-75; Cohen 175; Strack 453; RCV 4594; CRE 106. Diva Faustina II, AD 147-175. Roman AR denarius, 2.73 g, 17.1 mm, 12 h. Rome, AD 176-180. Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA PIA, bust of Faustina II, draped, right. Rev: CONSECRATIO, peacock standing facing with tail spread, head right. Refs: RIC 743; BMCRE 712-13; Cohen/RSC 70; RCV --; CRE 200.
Fun post, Jochen. That peacock biga is something else! On the coin below Juno's peacock must have been taking a day off and got a rooster to stand in for it. JULIA DOMNA AR Denarius. 2.43g, 19mm. Laodicea ad Mare mint, AD 200-207. RIC IV 640 var. (peacock); BMCRE V 602 var. (same). O: IVLIA AVGVSTA, draped bust right. R: IVNO REGINA, Juno standing front, holding patera in right hand and sceptre in left; on left, in front of her, rooster standing left. Ex A.K. Collection (Triton XX, 9 Jan 17, Part of Lot 614)
Some of my favorite peacocks: Salonina AD 254-268. From the Tareq Hani collection. Antioch Billon Antoninianus 20 mm, 3,74 g RIC V Salonina (2) 92 Date Range: AD 260 - AD 268 Obverse Legend: SALONINA AVG Type: Bust of Salonina, diademed, draped, right, on crescent Reverse Legend: IVNO REGINA Type: Juno, draped, standing left, holding patera in right hand and sceptre in left hand; at her feet, peacock Diva Faustina I AD 140-141. Rome Denarius AR 17 mm, 2,56 g RIC III Antoninus Pius 384a (denarius); RSC 175; BMC 473 AD 141 Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, bust of Faustina I, draped, right, hair elaborately waved in several loops round head and drawn up and coiled on top. / Rev: CONSECRATIO, peacock, walking right, head turned back left Diva Faustina I. Rome. Denarius AR. 18 mm, 2,74 g AD 141 DIVA FAVSTINA, bust of Faustina I, draped, right, hair elaborately waved in several loops round head and drawn up and coiled on top / AETERNITAS, throne, draped and ornamented, against which rests transverse sceptre, pointing up right: in front, peacock standing right RIC III Antoninus Pius 353a; RSC 61; BMC 384 On this Crispina denarius the reverse should also be Juno with peacock - sadly the wear and the bad die don't leave much to be seen.
Excellent writeup as usual @Jochen1 Peacocks : Diva Paulina, Denarius - Rome mint, AD 236 DIVA PAULINA, Veiled and draped bust of Paulina right CONSECRATIO, Paulina on peacock flying 3.3 gr Ref : RCV #8400, Cohen #2 Diva Mariniana, Antoninianus - Viminacum mint, AD 253-254 DIVAE MARINIANAE, veiled, diademed and draped bust right, above a crescent CONSECRATIO, peacock walking right, its tail in splendor 4.0 gr Ref : Cohen # 11, RCV # 10069, RIC # 5, Eauze Hoard #1429, 3 specimens Thanks to Curtisclay for additionnnal informations And the real thing, from a picture I took years ago at Leeds castle, Kent (UK) Q
CONSECRATIO consecratio , in the religion of Ancient Rome , was a ritual act by which a mortal was elevated to the state of divinity, was raised to heaven ( apotheosis ) and was called to participate in the honors dedicated to them. This imperial cult was surrendered to deceased emperors and members of the imperial family and officially deified by a decree of the Roman Senate . The consecratio was unknown during the Roman Republic . In order to acquire this new divine nature, it was necessary for the Senate to decree the consecratio , according to the merits and the work of the emperor or members of the imperial family.
RI Mariniana AR Ant 253-254 CE DIVA Crescent - On Peacock flying 21.2mm 3.1g RIC VII 6 Rome RI Paulina w Maximinus I D before CE 235 AE sestertius 30.77mm 19.66g 2nd emiss of Maximinus I CE 236 Peacock RIC IV 3 R
