Featured Caesar's elephant and snake: what do they mean?!?

Great topic. I always thought that this coin was minted before Caesar crossed the Rubicon. If the elephant is "the enemy" maybe Caesar was using it to send a message to his own troops and make sure they were on the same page with him, before he broke the rules and crossed the Rubicon.

 

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So, I was / am intending to write a thoughtful response to your reply. I have been out in the field for work so I’ve been mobile and away from an easy method of research or easy way to type up my thoughts.

I greatly enjoy these types of discussions as you well know. For the benefit of folks on the forum, SA and I often discuss hypothetical ancient coin theories and questions (usually via PM) so our back and forth here is only good fun

You have obviously done some great research on this thread so I am certainly outclassed in that department when giving my very inexpert thoughts. One thing I was hoping to look into more is I wonder if the elephant was to ancient republican Rome what the lion was to medieval Europe. By that I mean could it be perfectly acceptable for many prominent Romans (or families) to associate themselves with an elephant without it becoming solely symbolic of that person or family? We know that Pompey, the Caecilii Metelli and Julius Caesar all associated themselves with elephants (even if we discard the OP coin type and only think of triumphs etc.). Maybe an elephant was just a symbol of power that anyone could claim and Caesar wanted to stake his claim. Perhaps as a way of inventing his own legend to his name?

I also want to know more about @Ancient Aussie ‘s coin. The snake certainly looks related iconographically. Do we know more about the message and circumstances of that coin issue? The thread raises some really great points and I am interested in looking more into it.

For me trying to understand the message on the coin and what it meant to the people who issued it and who spent it is one of the funnest things about collecting. I rarely hold to the philosophy of a “generic” meaning, especially for new or unfamiliar iconography. I think there is almost always a specific meaning... we just don’t alway know how to interpret it.

 

I think the symbolic elephant goes right back to bad guy Hannibal with elephants attacking good guys Rome (symbolized by the snake) and later on Caesar using it as a form of propaganda, the god of war Minerva protecting Rome (snake) against bad guy Pompey. Only a guess.

 

I think every Roman citizen&soldier would recognize a Roman war elephant ,and these carnyx horns would be captured by the dozens in the war with Gaul.
This my interpretation of the Caesar denarius:

 

Andres2 has has expressed the opinion I have always had about this coin; it's the Roman war elephant trampling on the Gauls represented by their war trumpet, the carnyx.

 

Sadly I have to +1 this one, too. I have read all the theories and have a favorite but my opinion is relatively worthless to me let alone anyone else. I see some likelihood that one of the theories is right but not necessarily the one I favor. I doubt I will be upgrading my old example. People pay more for popular coins than I do.


I have seen coins that suggest to me the elephant was struck by the anvil die but have not handled enough coins to be serious on the matter. If I were to put interest and effort into these coins, I would first want to know the cause of the very different elephant styles to be found.
Is this an elephant obverse due to edge of reverse die showing on the implements side?
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=355687

 

I have one that looks a lot like this, with the edges of the design not lined up with the coin..... Anyone know what this is!?

 

A few comments and questions

Somehow it seems odd to me that a culture would be pleased having it represented by a snake instead of an elephant. A snake is sneaky, slithery, stupid and sometimes poisonous. It’s long been associated with something that is not to be trusted. Was the Roman attitude toward them that much different?

An elephant is view as majestic, powerful, intelligent and useful, although that might not have been as much case in Rome because of the species they had available.

Did the Romans have access to the Asian variety of elephant or only the African kind? The African elephant is larger, but it’s also very uncontrollable. The elephants we see in zoos and for sure performing tricks are Asian elephants.

P.T. Barnum had a huge African elephant named Jumbo that was, I think, 12 feet tall. Jumbo was so unpredictable that that he had to be in cage when they took him out for the circus parade. What did or could the Romans do with African elephants?

 

Our modern opinion of snakes is not shared throughout the ancient world. There were many cultures and time periods, each having unique interpretation of snakes and to make things even more confusing, those interpretations changed over time. Here's a link covering some serpent reverse types:

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/snake_coins.html

Here are a few of my coins featuring snakes. The tetradrachm's serpents are in relation to the cult of Dionysus, a couple coins with a goddess of healing/health/hygiene feeding a serpent, and a couple with the demi-god of medicine Asklepios with a snake on his staff. None of these coins are depicting snakes in a negative way:



MYSIA, Pergamon. c. 166-67 BC.
AR Tetradrachm, 29mm 12.5, 12h; Cistophoric standard. Struck c. 104-98 BC.
Obv.: Cista mystica with serpent; all within ivy wreath.
Rev.: Bow case with serpents; above, KP above prytaneis monogram, civic monogram to left, serpent-entwined staff to right.


Hadrian, AD 117 - 138
AE as, 10.8g, 27mm; 6h; Rome mint, AD 128 - 132
Obv.: HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS PP; laureate head right
Rev.: COS III, S C in fields; Salus, draped, standing right, feeding out of patera in left hand snake held in right hand


Commodus; Philppopolis, Thrace; AD 180-192
AE, 4.07g, 18mm; 6h
Obv.: AY K? M?...-KOMOΔOC; laureate head right
Rev.: [Φ]ΙΛΙΠΠΟ[ΠOΛEITΩN]; bearded, coiled serpent with two head fins


Caracalla, AD 211-217.
Æ30, 16.2g, 7h; THRACE, Serdica.
Obv.: AVT K M AVP CEVH ANTWNEINOC; Laureate head right.
Rev.: OYΛΠIAC CEΡΔIKHC; Hygieia standing right, feeding serpent in arms.


Septimius Severus, 193 - 211 AD
Æ 8 Assaria, 32mm, 15.31g, 8h; Thrace, Pautalia Mint.
Obv.: AV K A CEΠTI CEVHPOC ΠEP; Laureate head of Septimius right.
Rev.: OVΛΠIAC ΠAVTAΛIAC; Fourfold coiled serpent with erect head right.


Caracalla, AD 198-217
AE30, 14.9g, 7h; Thrace, Pautalia.
Obv.: AVT K MAVP CEV ANTONEINOC, Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rev.: OVΛΠIAC ΠAVTAΛIAC, Asklepios standing front, looking left, leaning on serpent-entwined staff.


Gallienus, AD 260-268
AE Antoninianus, 1.9g, 18x22mm, 6h; Milan mint, 265-266.
Obv.: IMP GALLIENVS AVG; Radiate, draped bust right.
Rev.: SALVS AVG; Asclepius, naked to waist, standing front, head turned left, right hand on hip, left hand resting on serpent-entwined staff // MP

I imagine, and this is only speculation since I haven't given it much thought, that serpents really god a bad reputation after the rise and dominance of Christianity throughout the Western world. Are there any coins featuring snakes after Constantine? Are there any coins with snakes after the coinage reforms of Diocletian?

 

Yes, Medusa had snakes growing out of head, and people were turned to stone when they looked at her.

.????

 

And they were allowed to slither around the sick.

It's not very clear.

I'm not a scholar of classical mythology but snakes were not bad, at least not always. None of the coins I posted are contemporary to the Julius Caesar denarius or from Rome proper but I chose them because that's all I have and they show the reptile in roles being mysterious (the tetradrachm), beneficial (Salus, Hygieia, Asklepious myths), and divine (Glycon on the reverse of Commodus and Severus).

 

What would be the meaning of the worshipped snake in combination with a war elephant ? And it even doesn't look like a snake imho.

These denarii were struck to pay Caesar's legions during the wars with Gaul.
Every legionair would understand the carnyx against their war elephant.

@johnmilton, Hannibal used African elephants, the seleukid kings from Syria used Indian elephants.

 

This is an interesting idea, but I think the use of elephants on coins exclusively by the Caecilii Metelli (except for this Caesar issue) counts pretty strongly against this interpretation. Maybe there's some more evidence that elephants were used as a generic symbol of power, e.g. in art? There's no question that elephants were used, in a very limited way, both militarily and ceremonially, but it's a stretch to say that either Pompey or Caesar "associated themselves" with elephants in any way. As we've seen there's little other evidence of this for Caesar, and the association of Pompey with elephants was primarily a mocking one located in the minds of the populace. The other associations they'd have, of course, would be with Hannibal and Africa (which is where the link to the Caecilii Metelli comes from).

On the African link, I came across another hypothesis, from David Woods (Numismatic Chronicle vol. 169 [2009] pp. 189-192). He suggests that the snake represents king Juba, who was allied with the optimates and involved in the final showdown in Africa in 46. The Latin word for the crest on the snake is "iuba," which is interesting. The timing might seem too early, but he says that Caesar dispatched a force to Africa in 49 so it could represent that; and he wanted to portray the war as being against a foreign enemy rather than other Romans. Another interesting idea, at least.

I know it's long but the OP explains this. The suggestion is that it symbolizes an assault by the optimates (Caesar's enemies in the civil war) on Caesar and the people of Rome.

Hoard evidence indicates they were struck after the war in Gaul was all over, and rather in the initial stages of the civil war.

Caesar did depict a carnyx a year later:

That’s a very typical Republican depiction, and it looks nothing like the bearded and crested serpent on the elephant denarius and AA’s dupondius, which, on the other hand, does exactly resemble wall paintings of the genius of the paterfamilias. Here are some more examples:





These images would have been familiar to every Roman family and a part of their everyday lives in their observance of domestic religious duties.

 

Carnyx:

Bearded and crested serpent:



Caesar coins:






On the denarius, the snake is often not carefully engraved, and the beard is often not clear. Usually the crest is, and it never looks like a carnyx: wrong head shape, and it's clearly an animal not an implement.

You be the judge. Personally I'm very confident that's not a carnyx on the elephant denarius.

 

The elephant side has to be the obverse. The slight concavity of the implement side clearly suggests that the elephant die was the anvil die, and thus the obverse. Also, I highly doubt Caesars name would be relegated to the back of the coin.

Barry Murphy

 

I believe Woytek has argued the dumpy elephant was struck in Spain or Gaul. There are examples showing multiple anvil dies, usually the elephant side, which was apparently a common practice there. In reviewing Woytek's argument, Crawford doubts practices were uniform for this issue.

What about the argument that exergues are never found on the obverse? It's pretty normal for names to appear on the reverse (including on Caesar's other issues), so I don't think the second point holds. On the first point, about the concavity, I bow to your greater experience! On the other hand, Crawford puts the implements on the obverse, and there are more elephant dies, 750 vs. 833 (reverses wear out faster). I'm not sure what to think!

Excellent answer, @Jwt708!

 

I personally own this one, one of the most rare finds given the even more rare centering with the obverse and reverse sides ...love this one

 

Very nice coins.

I am not too sure that the Caesar coin is actually rare. In this article, an estimated 22.5 Million were minted:

"One of Julius Caesar's most famous coin issues is the ‘elephant denarius’. The reverse features a group of religious symbols: a culullus, aspergillum, an axe decorated with animal imagery, and an apex. On the obverse, the denarius shows a right facing elephant with the word "CAESAR" in the exergue. An estimated 22.5 million pieces were minted, making this coin the third most frequent in the Republican era and adequate to pay eight legions. It is often dated to 49 B.C, the year Caesar took large quantities of gold and silver from the treasury in the Temple of Saturn in Rome. This metal was probably used to fund his new denarius. The date is one among the questions about the coin that continue to be debated. Other undecided issues include what the elephant is standing on.

The elephant may symbolize Caesar's Gallic campaign against Ariovistus in the battle of Vosges in 58 BC, especially if the object on which the elephant treads is a Gallic war trumpet. "

https://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/numismatics/entry/the_elephant_denarius/


As to the "Snake", I kinda lean towards the Celtic CARNYX. Too many depictions give it that "dragon" shaped head, even my worn example above.

CARNYX


RImp Albinus Bruti AR Den 48 BC Mars Carnyces Cr 450-1a

 

Adding a new piece of information to this discussion: brockages of the elephant side seem to be much more common than for the implements side, which argues in favour of the elephant being the obverse. (As @David Atherton observed in a nice thread today, obverse brockages are much more common than reverse brockages.) That's enough to push me over to Barry's opinion here. I'll have to revise my photo of the OP coin.

There's still no way that serpent is a carnyx, though.


Philip I and II, from Tomis, Varbanov 5803

 

Very interesting write-up, @Severus Alexander ! I see your point, and it makes sense. On the other hand the simplicity of what @Andres2 says is very appealing too. The debate continues!

Either way it is a fascinating coin with a fascinating history.