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Constantine I VIRTVS PERPETVA AVG; Hercules strangling the Nemean Lion
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<p>[QUOTE="Curtis, post: 24898638, member: 26430"]Great coin, very interesting reverse! Not just a reference to Constantine's Tetrarchic pedigree (I'm assuming), but an homage to a very old image on ancient Italian coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>There always seem to have been plenty of Roman coins showing Hercules with clubs and lion <i>skins</i> -- but, as far as I can see, this particular scene of Hercules strangling the lion seems absent until only recently, with Diocletian & Maximian. (I don't think it appears on Provincials either.)</p><p><br /></p><p>So, it seems like there may have been almost four centuries since it had last appeared on a Roman coin -- with <a href="https://numismatics.org/crro/id/rrc-380.1" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://numismatics.org/crro/id/rrc-380.1" rel="nofollow">Republican Publicius Denarius (RRC 380/1)</a>? (Hercules didn't go out of fashion, but that design seems to have.)</p><p><br /></p><p>It had been a very common image on Classical Greek coins of Magna Graecia, of course.</p><p><br /></p><p>Not the best example, but about 600 years earlier, a Tarentine Diobol, c. 325-280 with similar reverse:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1599961[/ATTACH] </p><blockquote><p><font size="4"><b>Calabria Tarentum, AR Diobol</b> (12mm, 1.02g), circa 325-280 BCE. </font></p><p><font size="4"><b>Obv</b>: Head of Athena r., wearing Attic helmet decorated with circles. </font></p><p><font size="4"><b>Rev</b>: Herakles standing r., strangling Nemean lion. </font></p><p><font size="4"><b>Ref</b>: Vlasto 1376; HNI 976.</font></p><p><font size="4"><b>Prov</b>: Ex Elvira Clain-Stefanelli Coll., ex <a href="https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?lot=15&p=lot&sid=2436" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?lot=15&p=lot&sid=2436" rel="nofollow">Naville Numismatics 38 (10 Mar 2018), Lot 15</a></font></p></blockquote><p>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Curtis, post: 24898638, member: 26430"]Great coin, very interesting reverse! Not just a reference to Constantine's Tetrarchic pedigree (I'm assuming), but an homage to a very old image on ancient Italian coins. There always seem to have been plenty of Roman coins showing Hercules with clubs and lion [I]skins[/I] -- but, as far as I can see, this particular scene of Hercules strangling the lion seems absent until only recently, with Diocletian & Maximian. (I don't think it appears on Provincials either.) So, it seems like there may have been almost four centuries since it had last appeared on a Roman coin -- with [URL='https://numismatics.org/crro/id/rrc-380.1']Republican Publicius Denarius (RRC 380/1)[/URL]? (Hercules didn't go out of fashion, but that design seems to have.) It had been a very common image on Classical Greek coins of Magna Graecia, of course. Not the best example, but about 600 years earlier, a Tarentine Diobol, c. 325-280 with similar reverse: [ATTACH=full]1599961[/ATTACH] [INDENT][SIZE=4][B]Calabria Tarentum, AR Diobol[/B] (12mm, 1.02g), circa 325-280 BCE. [B]Obv[/B]: Head of Athena r., wearing Attic helmet decorated with circles. [B]Rev[/B]: Herakles standing r., strangling Nemean lion. [B]Ref[/B]: Vlasto 1376; HNI 976. [B]Prov[/B]: Ex Elvira Clain-Stefanelli Coll., ex [URL='https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?lot=15&p=lot&sid=2436']Naville Numismatics 38 (10 Mar 2018), Lot 15[/URL][/SIZE][/INDENT][/QUOTE]
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