Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="Roman Collector, post: 7964795, member: 75937"]TGIFF, everybody!! <img src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f9/a0/16/f9a016399426aa14170709d7b92f56fa.gif" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> We're going to talk about some coins depicting the Temple of Diva Faustina. Let's see your temple coins of Faustina and Antoninus Pius or anything you feel is relevant! Becker, in his die-linkage study of the aurei and sestertii of Faustina the Elder, demonstrated that a trio of aurei bearing the obverse legend DIVA FAVSTINA and the reverse inscription AETERNITAS were issued in AD 150 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Faustina's deification.[1] These three types appear simultaneously in the die-linkage chain and are new types, but each reprises a design from years previously: an elephant cart reverse type, the temple of Diva Faustina type, and a Fortuna standing type. [ATTACH=full]1380938[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Beckmann's Die Chart 2 demonstrates the appearance of three new reverse types with the reverse inscription AETERNITAs. These may be dated to AD 150 by linkage to a hybrid of an aureus of Faustina II with a securely established date. These types are elephant cart (bottom left), the Temple of Diva Faustina (bottom middle), and Fortuna standing (bottom right).</blockquote> This week's installment of Faustina Friday discusses one of these types, the Temple of Diva Faustina type, and compares it to the earlier issues depicting the temple. We will explore the features of the coins' designs that illustrate probable modifications to the temple that occurred between its dedication and the tenth anniversary of the empress' death. Three types were minted in AD 143 depicting the temple on the occasion of its dedication: an anepigraphic type issued in the aureus denomination, silver and bronze issues bearing the inscription DEDICATIO AEDIS ("the dedication of the temple") and silver and bronze issues bearing the inscription PIETAS AVG[VSTI] ("the piety of the emperor"). Here are some representative denarii from my collection to illustrate the types. [ATTACH=full]1380939[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Faustina I, AD 138-140. Roman AR denarius, 3.44 g, 18.7 mm, 7 h. Rome, AD 143. Obv: DIVA AVG FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right. Rev: DEDICATIO AEDIS, hexastyle temple on stepped podium, above, a quadriga, Victories as acroteria. Refs: RIC 388; BMCRE 306; Cohen 191; Strack 426; RCV 4596; UCR 434; CRE 127.</blockquote> [ATTACH=full]1380941[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Faustina I, AD 138-140.Roman AR denarius, 3.55 g, 17.4 mm, 7 h.Rome, AD 143.Obv: DIVA AVG FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.Rev: PIETAS AVG, hexastyle temple on stepped podium, above, a quadriga, Victories as acroteria.Refs: RIC 396; BMCRE 319-21; Cohen 253; Strack 432; RCV 4599; UCR 435; CRE 129.</blockquote> [ATTACH=full]1380942[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Faustina I, AD 138-140.Roman AR denarius, 3.17 g, 17.4 mm, 7 h.Rome, AD 143.Obv: DIVA AVG FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.Rev: PIETAS AVGVSTI, hexastyle temple on stepped podium, above, a quadriga, Victories as acroteria.Refs: RIC –; BMCRE 322-323; Cohen –; RSC 253b; Strack –; RCV –;CRE 130.Note: Extremely rare; known specimens limited to the two in the British Museum collection, a specimen in the ANS collection (ANS 1956.127.574), and one in a private Ukrainian collection (CRE 130). This coin is a double die-match to BMCRE 323 and to the ANS specimen.</blockquote> The coins of the reprised issue of AD 150 include aurei and bronze issues with the AETERNITAS legend, a denarius with the legend AED DIV FAVSTINAE ("the temple of Diva Faustina"), and anepigraphic sestertii and dupondii. The temple on these coins exhibits four differences from its predecessor, though not all four are visible on any given specimen. Here are the examples of coins from my own collection, as well as a dupondius from the British Museum collection and a sestertius sold at auction, which illustrate these features. [ATTACH=full]1380943[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Faustina I, AD 138-140.Roman AR denarius, 3.27 g, 17.5 mm, 5 h.Rome, AD 150.Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.Rev: AED DIV FAVSTINAE, hexastyle temple; within, figure seated front, holding vertical scepter; in pediment, uncertain figures; above, a quadriga, and at angles, Victories; in front, lattice fence; to left and right, statues on pedestals.Refs: RIC 343; BMCRE 341; Cohen 1; RCV 4573; CRE 126; Strack 442.</blockquote> [ATTACH=full]1380945[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Faustina I, AD 138-140.Roman Æ as or dupondius, 10.28 g, 25.4 mm, 5 h.Rome, AD 150.Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.Rev: AETERNITAS S C, hexastyle temple; within, figure seated front, raising right hand and holding vertical scepter in left; in pediment, uncertain figures; above, a quadriga, and at angles, Victories; in front, lattice fence; to left and right, statues on pedestals.Refs: RIC 1168; BMCRE 1562-63; Cohen 66; RCV 4644; Strack 1259.</blockquote> [ATTACH=full]1380946[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Anepigraphic dupondius in the British Museum collection, BMCRE <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1936-0512-24" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1936-0512-24" rel="nofollow">1605</a>. The reverse depicts, in addition to the attributes on the coins above, a square podium surmounted by a facing carpentum in the bottom center, behind the latticework fence.</blockquote> [ATTACH=full]1380949[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Sestertius, RIC 1115. Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., auction 274, <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2988926" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2988926" rel="nofollow">lot 769</a>, 14 March 2016. This coin well illustrates the design features discussed below.</blockquote> 1. A fence has been erected. The first modification from the type of AD 143 is the addition of a fence in front of the bottom of the steps. This fence is readily seen on all four coins illustrated above. Beckmann discusses this fence in detail:<blockquote> There was not much space in front of the temple (it fronted directly onto the Via Sacra), so this barrier must have been situated at the base of the stairs. It was formed by a series of bars (almost certainly of metal—the pattern is much the same as on coins showing the metal railing atop the capital of Trajan's Column) between a series of uprights. These may have been of metal or stone; a number of dies … show them clearly in the form of herms with rounded heads and tapered torsos. This barrier probably had the simple purpose of keeping the crowds of the Forum off the steps and out of the pronaos of Faustina's temple, but … it was not fixed in a permanently straight line but rather hinged to form gates that could be opened when rituals were being conducted at the temple.[2]</blockquote> The herm-like, upright portions of the fence which formed the gates are well-demonstrated on the middle bronze in my collection with the AETERNITAS S C reverse legend and on the dupondius in the British Museum collection. The fence was probably erected to solve a problem that still plagues us today: graffiti artists. Lugli has noted the presence of 2nd century graffiti on the columns of the temple which show among other things Venus, Hercules, Victory and a <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Lar" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Lar" rel="nofollow">Lar</a>.[3] Beckmann postulates the "fence may have been a reaction to this defacement of the monument."[4] More follows …[/QUOTE]

Create my FREE Account!

Log in or Sign up

Reply to Thread

Useful Searches