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2 New Arrivals, Unrelated: Domitian Quadrans & Hadrian "ADVENTVS"
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<p>[QUOTE="DonnaML, post: 7428121, member: 110350"]Both of these arrived today, so I thought I'd post about them together, even though they're completely unrelated except in the sense, I suppose, that they both celebrate or commemorate something.</p><p><br /></p><p>First, now that I have a couple of quinarii, I figured it was time for a quadrans. Even though supposedly they were rarely used as actual currency, to make small change or otherwise, and spent their existences primarily as tokens used for entry to public latrines! (I'm getting adventurous in my old age, I suppose.) Regardless of the denomination, though, this quadrans is one I've wanted for quite a while given my fondness for coins with animals: the famous Domitian quadrans depicting a rhinoceros, one of only two Roman rhinoceros coins I know of, along with the small Trajan bronze from Roman Egypt.</p><p><br /></p><p>Unfortunately, on most of the ones I see, the horns are worn off completely and the animal looks basically like a rather large boar. So what's the point of buying one like that? The horns are definitely visible on this one, however (especially the lower one), and the animal's musculature is nicely portrayed, so it doesn't look anything like a boar. (Also, my, what big eyes you have, Grandma.) So I decided to buy it, even though the surface is so dubious-looking (described by the dealer as "slight corrosion"), especially on the reverse, that I'm a bit concerned that some of it might flake off completely at some point!</p><p><br /></p><p>Domitian (son of Vespasian), AE Quadrans [1/4 As] 84-85 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. African Rhinoceros with two horns advancing right with head down/ Rev IMP DOMIT AVG GERM (clockwise around starting at 1:00), S C across. RIC II-1 Domitian 249 (2007 ed.), Sear RCV II 2834, Cohen 673. 16.5 mm., 2.56 g.*</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1289580[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>*This variety, with the legend starting at 1:00 on the upper right, rather than 7:00 on the lower left, is the rarer of the two varieties that depict the rhino facing right (there are also two with the rhino facing left). There are only four examples of this type at OCRE, eight at acsearch by my count, and none at the British Museum. See <a href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2_1(2).dom.249" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2_1(2).dom.249" rel="nofollow">http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2_1(2).dom.249</a>. The number of examples with the legend beginning at 7:00 is far greater.</p><p><br /></p><p>The coin must have been issued after Domitian’s assumption of the Germanicus title in late 83 AD, but before the Consular date XI was added to his quadrantes in 85. It was possibly distributed as a token and/or souvenir to the crowds at the Colosseum, which Domitian completed in 82 by adding the uppermost story. See Martial’s <i>Liber De Spectaculis</i> (<a href="http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_on_the_games_of_domitian_01_text.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_on_the_games_of_domitian_01_text.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_on_the_games_of_domitian_01_text.htm</a>), which mentions Domitian's exhibition of a rhinoceros at the Colosseum, as well as the practice of showering the crowd with tokens. See also T.V. Buttrey, “Domitian, the Rhinoceros, and the Date of Martial's ‘Liber De Spectaculis,’" The Journal of Roman Studies Vol. 97 (2007), pp. 101-112, at <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20430573?seq=1" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20430573?seq=1" rel="nofollow">https://www.jstor.org/stable/20430573?seq=1</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>For a more detailed treatment, please go read [USER=82616]@David Atherton[/USER]'s wonderful post and the ensuing discussion from a couple of years ago, at <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/a-souvenir-from-the-colosseum.333441/#post-3372060" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/a-souvenir-from-the-colosseum.333441/#post-3372060">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/a-souvenir-from-the-colosseum.333441/#post-3372060</a>, from which I gleaned much of this information. His rhinoceros is also the rarer variety with the legend beginning on the upper right; the difference is that on his, the rhino faces left.</p><p><br /></p><p>Before turning to my second new arrival, a few more examples of celebratory pachyderms, i.e., large non-ruminant herbivores with thick skins, a category encompassing rhinos, elephants, and hippos.</p><p><br /></p><p>Titus's elephant, issued a few years earlier, supposedly to celebrate the opening of the Colosseum:</p><p><br /></p><p> [ATTACH=full]1289605[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Antoninus Pius's elephant, apparently issued to commemorate the games at the Colosseum celebrating Rome's 900th anniversary in 148 AD:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1289606[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Philip I's elephant and his wife Otacilia Severa's hippo, issued to commemorate the games at the Colosseum celebrating Rome's 1000th anniversary in 248 AD:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1289607[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1289608[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Now, to my new Hadrian denarius, part of his famous Travel Series, specifically the sub-category bearing "ADVENTVS" or "ADVENTVI" legends to commemorate his "arrival" in various provinces around the Empire -- or, in this case, his return home to Rome at the end of his journeys:</p><p><br /></p><p>Hadrian, AR Denarius 133-135 AD (according to RIC II-3) [<i>134-138 according to Mattingly & Sydenham in old RIC II</i>], Rome Mint. Obv. Bare head right, HADRIANVS - AVG COS III PP / Rev. Roma standing right in military dress, with right shoulder bare, holding inverted spear with left hand, receiving the arriving Emperor Hadrian standing left, togate, bearing a scroll in left hand, the two clasping their right hands, ADVE-NTVS AVG. RIC II-3 1984 (2019 ed.), old RIC II 225a (1926 ed.), RSC II 84a, BMCRE 581. 18 mm., 3.46 g.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1289610[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>(Note, as is often the case, the strong resemblance between Roma and Virtus when in their Amazonian presentations, bare right breasts and all.)</p><p><br /></p><p>There is some disagreement among the various authorities regarding exactly when this and all the other Travel Series coins were issued; see the reference in the description above. There seems to be no dispute that this coin, at least, was issued after Hadrian's final return to Rome from his journeys, whenever that was. Some apparently argue for an even earlier date than in 133 AD.</p><p><br /></p><p>See <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=ADVENTVS" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=ADVENTVS" rel="nofollow">https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=ADVENTVS</a> regarding the ADVENTVS legend in general. Leaving entirely aside the Travel Series types that simply bear the names of different provinces (like the AEGYPTOS denarius, my only other Travel Series example), or bear the "RESTITUTOR" legend, I counted 16 different provinces or cities listed in OCRE -- not including "Roma" itself -- for which Hadrian issued Travel Series coins with the legend ADVENTVS or ADVENTVI: in no particular order, Italia (not actually a province), Africa, Hispania, Mauretania, Alexandria, Arabia, Asia, Bithynia, Cilicia, Judaea, Macedonia, Moesia, Noricum, Phrygia, Sicilia, and Thracia. The great majority were issued only in AE, as sestertii and/or dupondii. If I missed any, please let me know! And, of course, quite a few other emperors also issued coins with ADVENTVS legends.</p><p><br /></p><p>Please post any or all of the following: your quadrantes issued by anyone, your coins depicting pachyderms (particularly if issued to mark a specific occasion), your Hadrian Travel Series coins of any type (hopefully someone has something to show beyond the Aegyptos variety which I and others always manage to post!),* and/or your ADVENTVS-type coins issued by anyone.</p><p><br /></p><p>*Like now, just in case there's a single person who hasn't seen me post it yet:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1289625[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="DonnaML, post: 7428121, member: 110350"]Both of these arrived today, so I thought I'd post about them together, even though they're completely unrelated except in the sense, I suppose, that they both celebrate or commemorate something. First, now that I have a couple of quinarii, I figured it was time for a quadrans. Even though supposedly they were rarely used as actual currency, to make small change or otherwise, and spent their existences primarily as tokens used for entry to public latrines! (I'm getting adventurous in my old age, I suppose.) Regardless of the denomination, though, this quadrans is one I've wanted for quite a while given my fondness for coins with animals: the famous Domitian quadrans depicting a rhinoceros, one of only two Roman rhinoceros coins I know of, along with the small Trajan bronze from Roman Egypt. Unfortunately, on most of the ones I see, the horns are worn off completely and the animal looks basically like a rather large boar. So what's the point of buying one like that? The horns are definitely visible on this one, however (especially the lower one), and the animal's musculature is nicely portrayed, so it doesn't look anything like a boar. (Also, my, what big eyes you have, Grandma.) So I decided to buy it, even though the surface is so dubious-looking (described by the dealer as "slight corrosion"), especially on the reverse, that I'm a bit concerned that some of it might flake off completely at some point! Domitian (son of Vespasian), AE Quadrans [1/4 As] 84-85 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. African Rhinoceros with two horns advancing right with head down/ Rev IMP DOMIT AVG GERM (clockwise around starting at 1:00), S C across. RIC II-1 Domitian 249 (2007 ed.), Sear RCV II 2834, Cohen 673. 16.5 mm., 2.56 g.* [ATTACH=full]1289580[/ATTACH] *This variety, with the legend starting at 1:00 on the upper right, rather than 7:00 on the lower left, is the rarer of the two varieties that depict the rhino facing right (there are also two with the rhino facing left). There are only four examples of this type at OCRE, eight at acsearch by my count, and none at the British Museum. See [URL]http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2_1(2).dom.249[/URL]. The number of examples with the legend beginning at 7:00 is far greater. The coin must have been issued after Domitian’s assumption of the Germanicus title in late 83 AD, but before the Consular date XI was added to his quadrantes in 85. It was possibly distributed as a token and/or souvenir to the crowds at the Colosseum, which Domitian completed in 82 by adding the uppermost story. See Martial’s [I]Liber De Spectaculis[/I] ([URL]http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_on_the_games_of_domitian_01_text.htm[/URL]), which mentions Domitian's exhibition of a rhinoceros at the Colosseum, as well as the practice of showering the crowd with tokens. See also T.V. Buttrey, “Domitian, the Rhinoceros, and the Date of Martial's ‘Liber De Spectaculis,’" The Journal of Roman Studies Vol. 97 (2007), pp. 101-112, at [URL]https://www.jstor.org/stable/20430573?seq=1[/URL]. For a more detailed treatment, please go read [USER=82616]@David Atherton[/USER]'s wonderful post and the ensuing discussion from a couple of years ago, at [URL]https://www.cointalk.com/threads/a-souvenir-from-the-colosseum.333441/#post-3372060[/URL], from which I gleaned much of this information. His rhinoceros is also the rarer variety with the legend beginning on the upper right; the difference is that on his, the rhino faces left. Before turning to my second new arrival, a few more examples of celebratory pachyderms, i.e., large non-ruminant herbivores with thick skins, a category encompassing rhinos, elephants, and hippos. Titus's elephant, issued a few years earlier, supposedly to celebrate the opening of the Colosseum: [ATTACH=full]1289605[/ATTACH] Antoninus Pius's elephant, apparently issued to commemorate the games at the Colosseum celebrating Rome's 900th anniversary in 148 AD: [ATTACH=full]1289606[/ATTACH] Philip I's elephant and his wife Otacilia Severa's hippo, issued to commemorate the games at the Colosseum celebrating Rome's 1000th anniversary in 248 AD: [ATTACH=full]1289607[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1289608[/ATTACH] Now, to my new Hadrian denarius, part of his famous Travel Series, specifically the sub-category bearing "ADVENTVS" or "ADVENTVI" legends to commemorate his "arrival" in various provinces around the Empire -- or, in this case, his return home to Rome at the end of his journeys: Hadrian, AR Denarius 133-135 AD (according to RIC II-3) [[I]134-138 according to Mattingly & Sydenham in old RIC II[/I]], Rome Mint. Obv. Bare head right, HADRIANVS - AVG COS III PP / Rev. Roma standing right in military dress, with right shoulder bare, holding inverted spear with left hand, receiving the arriving Emperor Hadrian standing left, togate, bearing a scroll in left hand, the two clasping their right hands, ADVE-NTVS AVG. RIC II-3 1984 (2019 ed.), old RIC II 225a (1926 ed.), RSC II 84a, BMCRE 581. 18 mm., 3.46 g. [ATTACH=full]1289610[/ATTACH] (Note, as is often the case, the strong resemblance between Roma and Virtus when in their Amazonian presentations, bare right breasts and all.) There is some disagreement among the various authorities regarding exactly when this and all the other Travel Series coins were issued; see the reference in the description above. There seems to be no dispute that this coin, at least, was issued after Hadrian's final return to Rome from his journeys, whenever that was. Some apparently argue for an even earlier date than in 133 AD. See [URL]https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=ADVENTVS[/URL] regarding the ADVENTVS legend in general. Leaving entirely aside the Travel Series types that simply bear the names of different provinces (like the AEGYPTOS denarius, my only other Travel Series example), or bear the "RESTITUTOR" legend, I counted 16 different provinces or cities listed in OCRE -- not including "Roma" itself -- for which Hadrian issued Travel Series coins with the legend ADVENTVS or ADVENTVI: in no particular order, Italia (not actually a province), Africa, Hispania, Mauretania, Alexandria, Arabia, Asia, Bithynia, Cilicia, Judaea, Macedonia, Moesia, Noricum, Phrygia, Sicilia, and Thracia. The great majority were issued only in AE, as sestertii and/or dupondii. If I missed any, please let me know! And, of course, quite a few other emperors also issued coins with ADVENTVS legends. Please post any or all of the following: your quadrantes issued by anyone, your coins depicting pachyderms (particularly if issued to mark a specific occasion), your Hadrian Travel Series coins of any type (hopefully someone has something to show beyond the Aegyptos variety which I and others always manage to post!),* and/or your ADVENTVS-type coins issued by anyone. *Like now, just in case there's a single person who hasn't seen me post it yet: [ATTACH=full]1289625[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]
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