Post/show coins you own or know that are "different" from the majority. Anything strange or peculiar, maybe even sexual, like the greek one with satyr abducting nymph..or however that one is called. Weren't there roman brothel tokens that showed sexual acts ? Maybe any nudity ? Thought I would start a fun thread.
Great. Another penis thread. Well, for one thing, the Romans depicted many gods without any pants - or shirt, or shoes, or loincloth for that matter. Look for good strikes to get the junk. However, there is nothing unusual about this coin at all. Just a normal Roman depiction of Genius.
Just so this thread is not all about sex, here is a coin depicting a sacrifice to the gods. L POMPONIUS MOLO ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS POMPONIA AR Denarius OBVERSE: Laureate head of Apollo right; L POMPON MOLO around REVERSE: Numa Pompilius standing right before altar preparing to sacrifice a goat which is being held by a youth; NVMA POMPIL in exergue Struck at Rome 97 BC 3.7g, 18mm Crawford 334/1; Pomponia 6
Or a coin depicting a Roman myth. L. TITURIUS L.F. SABINUS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS TITURIA AR Denarius OBVERSE: Head of Taitus facing right, SABIN behind, palm before REVERSE: Tarpeia buried to her waist in shields, fending off two soldiers about to throw their shields on her; L. TITVRI in exergue Struck at Rome 89 BC 3.2 g, 20 mm Cr344/2b; Sydenham 699; Tituria 4 The legend tells that while Rome was besieged by the Sabine king Titus Tatius, Tarpeia, daughter of the commander of the citadel, Spurius Tarpeius, approached the Sabine camp and offered them entry to the city in exchange for "what they bore on their left arms". Greedy for gold, she had meant their bracelets, but instead the Sabines threw their shields—carried on the left arm—upon her, crushing her to death. Her body was then hurled from (or, according to some accounts, buried at) a steep cliff of the southern summit of the Capitoline Hill. The cliff was named the Tarpeian Rock after its victim, and would become known as the place of execution for Rome's most notorious traitors. The Sabines were however unable to conquer the Forum, its gates miraculously protected by boiling jets of water created by Janus.
Or we can show body parts: ISLAND OFF THRACE THASOS AR Trihemiobol OBVERSE: Satyr running left in three-quarter view, holding kylix REVERSE: ΘΑΣ − ΙΩΝ Amphora Struck at Thasos, 411-350BC 0.69g, 12 mm SNGCop 1030
And I would strongly recommend that anyone doing so here would also read the rules very carefully. As the original poster seemed to be asking for posts that might result in problems for the authors due to his/their definition of 'fun' , I ask that they consider the rules. The members of the forum who have posted here so far , John and Bing, have presented material and explanations in a very acceptable format, lets keep it that way. Thanks, Jim
To a large extent, it seems to me that ancient engravers regarded their depictions of the gods as works of art, and thus not necessarily subject to any type of self-censorship. While clearly tesserae / spintria coins were intended to be explicitly sexual, coins engraved for general circulation probably had no such intentional or unintentional connotations. Throughout history, sculptors (e.g., Michelangelo's David) and artists (.e.g, Rembrandt's various nudes) considered depictions of the nude human form to be fundamentally and wholly artistic and not erotic. In fact, on general-circulation Roman coins (at least those with which I'm familiar) such depictions are usually in militaristic or deific (is that a word?) poses: DOMITIAN 69 - 81 AD. AE Sestertius (26.88 g.) Thrace 80-81 AD RIC 509 Titus CAES DIVI AVG VESP F DOMITIANVS COS VII, laureate head right / S C across field, Mars walking right, holding spear in right hand, trophy over left shoulder VESPASIAN 69 - 71 A.D. AV Aureus (7.35 g.) Rome Jul. - Dec. 71 A.D. RIC 44 IMP CAES VESP AVG P M Laureate head right. Rev. NEP - RED Neptune standing left, right foot on globe, holding acrostolium and scepter.
IOM eloquently addressed the "erotic" issue. As for "occult", to people who believe in one of the modern religions, I'd guess that most ancient coins could be viewed as "occult". Romans had deities for everything and Greeks had their extensive pantheon. Local and regional gods, myths, and legends abounded. As for "odd" coins... sure! We can take this thread to page 100 . Although, like beauty, odd is in the eye of the beholder. I'll kick off the "odd" with one of my favorite types: a flying pig IONIA, Samos. 510-500 BCE AR drachm, 13.7 mm, 3.2 gm Obv: forepart of winged boar left Rev: facing lion scalp with dotted square, within incuse square Ref: SNG Cop 1673 Part of the TIF Pink Floyd Animals collection; track 5, "Pigs on the Wing, Part II" The reason for winged boars on ancient coins is unclear. This is the only written mention I've found: From http://www.theoi.com/Ther/HusKlazomenaios.html THE HUS KLAZOMENAIOS was a gigantic winged sow which terrorized the Greek town of Klazomenai in Ionia, Asia Minor. Aelian, On Animals 12. 38 (trans. Scholfield) (Greek natural history C2nd A.D.) : "I have heard that on Klazomenai [and island west of Smyrna] there was a Sow with wings, and it ravaged the territory of Klazomenai. And Artemon records this in his Annals of Klazomenai. That is why there is a spot named and celebrated as `The Place of the Winged Sow,’ and it is famous. But if anyone regards this as myth, let him do so."
Ummmm, how 'bout a snake riding a horse? Or four elephants with riders pullin' a cart? ... or a cow hangin' five? ... or a nude dude drinkin' a beer and ridin' a dolphin? ... maybe a lion with a goat protruding from its back and a snake for a tail? ... or a chick feeding a snake? ... or maybe a serpent eating a maiden is more your speed? ... or cupid ridin' a goat (always a winner, eh?) ... or this cute lil' dude with a snake in one hand and a hammer in the other? ... who would win a 50 meter sprint, a gryphon or a dog?
Ummm .... or how 'bout the original Santa Claus reindeer sleigh? ... a nude dude turtling behind his shield? ... not quite sure what these two are up to? Perseus with Medusa's bloody head perhaps? Who doesn't get a kick outta an angel riding a dolphin, right? How 'bout a chick swingin' a rudder as a weapon (oh, did I forget to mention that she has a body made from fishes and wild dogs?) oops, we can't forget about the guy with the amazing lion hat!! Man, I am not quite sure what this farmer is doing with his oxen? (*awkward*) anybody lookin' for a two-bodied owl?
Those are some truly odd coins, Steve-O! I want one of those conjoined owls (had to correct my typo; muscle memory kicked in after typing the c and o... coinjoined ) Ancient coins are rife with odd modes of transportation. How about a chariot of cupids! Roman Republic moneyer L. Julius L. f. Caesar, 103 BC AR denarius, 17mm, 3.9 gm Obv: Helmeted head of Mars left; CAESAR; ・J above Rev: Venus Genetrix in chariot left, drawn by two Cupids; lyre to left; ・J above Ref: Crawford 320/1 1. The pudgy cupids are not aerodynamic. 2. The chariot wheels don't touch the ground. 3. Splat. ... or a quadriga of hippocamps? PHOENICIA, Berytos 1st century BCE Æ19.5, 5.9 gm Obv: Turreted head of Tyche right Rev: Poseidon standing left in quadriga drawn by four hippocamps Ref: SNG Copenhagen 83 ... or a flying serpent? THRACE, Pautalia. Caracalla CE 198-217 AE29, 16.4 gm Obv: AYT K M AY CEY ANTΩNEINOC; Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right Rev: OYΛΠIAC ΠAYTAΛIAC; Asklepios seated right on back of winged serpent Ref: Varbanov 5007
I started a thread with this coin and I've always liked the way this dolphin rider is dragging an octopus along for the ride: And here's an earlier type of the same city I'm hoping to be high bidder on, and he's dragging the poor octopus the opposite direction!
I can probably speak to the erotic tesserae better than any of our other members. I've been collecting and studying tesserae, primarily the lead, but to a lesser extent the bronze, for some time now. The idea that they were used as entrance tokens for whatever was depicted on them simply does not hold up, especially for the erotic bronze types. The numbers on the reverses do not correspond to the acts on the obverse, and the find spots do not correspond to brothel sites. Their true purpose remains unknown, but I speculate that were simply a parody of the more common bronze tesserae bearing an imperial image on the obverse and a numeral on the reverse. With regards to the erotic types in bronze - mostly simple phaluses - I think that Thornton makes a convincing argument that, as Mercury is frequently depicted as herm, a statuary type consisting of a bust set on a square pedestal adorned with only genitalia, the phallus is in fact an emblem of the god in his guise as a fertility deity. This fits much better with the pattern presented by other tesserae of mostly matching diety/symbol types. Here are the two phallic types in my collection: ROME PB Tessera (16mm, 2.92 g, 12 h) Horse standing right; C above Erect phallus; A V flanking Rostovtsev - Rostovtsev1 gathers into one group all tesserae depicting the phallus, various iterations of the word Amor, and the extremely rare pieces depicting sexual acts. He assumes that these pieces were entrance tickets to the Lupanaria, ancient brothels. This association has caused many scholars to refuse to accept tesserae as currency, as they feel that such crude themes would never have been depicted on currency. Thornton2, however, convincingly argues that, as Mercury is sometimes depicted as a herm, a statuary type consisting of a bust set on a square pedestal adorned with only genitalia, the phallus is in fact an emblem of the god in his guise as a fertility deity. ROME PB Tessera (14mm, 3.31 g) Phallus Two-pronged pitchfork Rostovstev 919 corr. (rev. description); Minturnae 49
We've probably never seen that as "odd", but franckly, would you regard a she-wolf feeding two little poor abandonned twins as something "normal" ? I guess not... Republic, Didrachm Rome mint c. 269-266 BC No legend, Diademed head of young Hercules right, with club and lion's skin over shoulder ROMANO, She wolf right, suckling Romulus and Remus 7.29 gr Ref : RCV # 24, RSC # 8 Q
well, i went through my ancients, and i don't really have any erotic coins. i recently posted by olbia dolphins in another thread, they're weird. this is kind of strange...mauryan punchmark square coin. i looked through my modern coins as well...had also recently posted my wire money, but is a porcelain gilded notgeld coin.
