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<p>[QUOTE="akeady, post: 4960355, member: 83175"]I'd say it's mostly down to the type of government - the Classic Greek coins were of democratic city states who had no king with a string of titles to list on the coins, so they just stuck to the name of the issuing city and its symbols.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Hellenistic kings put their names, some titles and their heads on their coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>The earliest Roman coins had Greek inscriptions meaning "Of the Romans", which later became the Latin "ROMANO" and finally the nominative "ROMA". Roman Republican denarii were conservative in design - Roma/Dioscuri, with ROMA in the exergue. Over time the moneyers seem to have been given or taken liberties to put their names on the coins and to incorporate designs which reflected their own ancestry, real or imagined. Eventually, the name ROMA was omitted as there was no need to tell anyone where the coins were from. Moneyers were junior officials (though some went on to greater things) and only held office for a year, so had no great titles of their own to list.</p><p><br /></p><p>The situation is quite different in the Imperial period - especially in the earlier Empire where there was some pretence of being a Republic and the emperor's authority ostensibly was down to having tribunician or consular powers and so these are often listed listed along with the likes of AVGVSTVS, the main Imperial title, PATER PATRIAE, PONTIFEX MAXIMVS, imperatorial acclamations, etc. Equally, the reverse types often reflect the deeds of the emperor, so megalomania reigned.</p><p><br /></p><p>The early coins of Augustus are interesting, in that his legends are sparse - IMP CAESAR or CAESAR DIVI F are typical ones - and his portraits godlike. By the later Julio-Claudians, the typical Imperial coin was of the same format as we have today in many countries with a monarchy - head of ruler with his/her titles on one side.</p><p><br /></p><p>ATB,</p><p>Aidan.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="akeady, post: 4960355, member: 83175"]I'd say it's mostly down to the type of government - the Classic Greek coins were of democratic city states who had no king with a string of titles to list on the coins, so they just stuck to the name of the issuing city and its symbols. The Hellenistic kings put their names, some titles and their heads on their coins. The earliest Roman coins had Greek inscriptions meaning "Of the Romans", which later became the Latin "ROMANO" and finally the nominative "ROMA". Roman Republican denarii were conservative in design - Roma/Dioscuri, with ROMA in the exergue. Over time the moneyers seem to have been given or taken liberties to put their names on the coins and to incorporate designs which reflected their own ancestry, real or imagined. Eventually, the name ROMA was omitted as there was no need to tell anyone where the coins were from. Moneyers were junior officials (though some went on to greater things) and only held office for a year, so had no great titles of their own to list. The situation is quite different in the Imperial period - especially in the earlier Empire where there was some pretence of being a Republic and the emperor's authority ostensibly was down to having tribunician or consular powers and so these are often listed listed along with the likes of AVGVSTVS, the main Imperial title, PATER PATRIAE, PONTIFEX MAXIMVS, imperatorial acclamations, etc. Equally, the reverse types often reflect the deeds of the emperor, so megalomania reigned. The early coins of Augustus are interesting, in that his legends are sparse - IMP CAESAR or CAESAR DIVI F are typical ones - and his portraits godlike. By the later Julio-Claudians, the typical Imperial coin was of the same format as we have today in many countries with a monarchy - head of ruler with his/her titles on one side. ATB, Aidan.[/QUOTE]
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