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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Curtis, post: 24855197, member: 26430&quot;]I understand what you mean here, and I think the kneeling figures on Roman coins are often, perhaps even usually, friends.</p><p><br /></p><p>But <i>never</i> enemies, <i>always</i> friends, strikes me as far too strong a statement. In my view, it&nbsp; varies quite a bit, depending on details and context:</p><p><br /></p><p>After all, the kneeling figure is sometimes also bound -- clearly a &quot;captive,&quot; if &quot;captives&quot; exist at all:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1593201[/ATTACH]</p><blockquote><p>(My collection, ex RL)</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>This type may illustrate the scene from Florus, “Their king, Teutobodus himself … having been captured in a neighbouring forest was a striking figure in the triumphal procession; for, being a man of extraordinary stature, he towered above the trophies of his defeat.”</p><p><br /></p><p>There are many later coins showing the figure kneeling with hands bound (e.g., Memmius Denarius, <a href="https://numismatics.org/crro/id/rrc-427.1" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://numismatics.org/crro/id/rrc-427.1" rel="nofollow">Cr. 427/1</a> or the <a href="https://numismatics.org/ocre/results?q=titus+kneeling" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://numismatics.org/ocre/results?q=titus+kneeling" rel="nofollow">Titus Denarii &amp; Aureii</a> that borrowed the design; J. <a href="https://numismatics.org/crro/id/rrc-468.2" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://numismatics.org/crro/id/rrc-468.2" rel="nofollow">Caesar&#039;s 468/2</a>).</p><p><br /></p><p>From the ANS Collection:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1593203[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Even if we qualify it to &quot;kneeling figures with their hands free,&quot; we see a range of relationships depicted, many of which are difficult to view as friendships:</p><p><br /></p><p>There are various series of &quot;Capta&quot; types on which some issues show two bound figures, and sometimes <i>one bound</i> and <i>one kneeling unbound</i>.</p><p><br /></p><p>Or a range of standing and seated figures, some of them bound, others kneeling in supplication, others in mourning pose.</p><p><br /></p><p>Such as Domitian&#039;s &quot;Germania Capta&quot; series. It seems a stretch to call the Germans &quot;friends&quot; <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=3359384" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=3359384" rel="nofollow">in those images</a>, except in the sense that they are defeated enemies in the act of surrendering &amp; pleading for mercy. (The historical context would seem consistent with the &quot;enemies&quot; view; I believe he remained in conflict with them at the end of his reign, and peace wasn&#039;t reached (temporarily) until Trajan&#039;s reign.)</p><p><br /></p><p>On occasion they are even shown in the same tableau as a bound captive in the same dress.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here, the bound figure stands to the left of the trophy, while another kneels. It&#039;s a bit hard to see on this specimen/photo, but they&#039;re wearing the same headwear (also on <a href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/4806.1" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/4806.1" rel="nofollow">Trajan&#039;s Alexandrian Drachms</a> of this type):</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1593202[/ATTACH]</p><blockquote><p>(My collection, ex Dattari &amp; ETB)</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>And similar series through the 3nd century.</p><p><br /></p><p>In my opinion, what we see across all the kneeling figures on Roman coins, is a range of different statuses, ranging from captured enemy, bound and awaiting execution at the end of the Triumph; defeated enemies begging mercy; Provincial personifications accepting their fate and submitting (here we see a kind of friendship); Provincial friends honoring the Emperor or making supplicating requests; all the way through honored friends being elevated to their own local Kingdoms.</p><p><br /></p><p>Too much to say that they&#039;re <i>never </i>enemies.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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