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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 8252663, member: 110350&quot;]Fascinating -- you should write an article! On my Septimius Severus, what is the captive on the left holding in his or her arms? It looks almost like an inflated life preserver!</p><p><br /></p><p>And then there are captives like this guy on my Licinius II follis who appear to have no arms at all, unless his arms are intended to be those two lines meeting in a V at the bottom of his neck.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1454298[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Or this guy on my Honorius solidus (RIC X 1287 ) with the Emperor&#039;s foot pressing into his groin -- as if Honorius ever got within a mile of a captive! -- in one of the apparently endless different captive positions on such solidi. I describe it as &quot;bound barbarian captive seated left on ground with both legs visible and sharply bent at knees (bent right leg is raised upright; bent left leg lies flat on ground with left knee extending below exergue line and left foot resting against right leg.&quot; Nobody knows what, if anything, the different positions mean.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1454294[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>As I noted in my description, this captive type &quot;does not seem to be included in the list of captive types (a)-(d) associated with RIC X 1287 (list is under RIC X 1205 at p. 318), or in expanded list of captive types (a)-(g) for RIC X 1287 at Wildwinds; see <a href="http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/honorius/solidi_table.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/honorius/solidi_table.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/honorius/solidi_table.html</a>:</p><p><br /></p><p>“a = captive: one leg crossed over the other [from RIC]</p><p><br /></p><p>b = captive: two parallel legs [from RIC]</p><p><br /></p><p>c = captive: one leg visible, more or less straight [from RIC]</p><p><br /></p><p>d = captive: one leg visible, sharply bent at the knee [from RIC]</p><p><br /></p><p>e (added) = captive: kneeling</p><p><br /></p><p>f (added) = captive: sitting</p><p><br /></p><p>g (added) = captive: one leg straight, one leg sharply bent at the knee”</p><p><br /></p><p>The captive type on this coin -- with both legs visible and sharply bent at knee, one of them with the knee upright and the other with the knee flat on ground -- simply does not fit in any of these categories. I have made no attempt to review the 400+ examples of RIC X 1287 at ACSearch to determine if there are any with the same captive type as mine.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>For all I know, the differences mean nothing at all.</p><p><br /></p><p>Edited to add: I also have coins with captives like this dwarfish pair on a &quot;centenionalis&quot; of Constans, for which I describe the reverse as depicting &quot;Emperor in military dress, standing left and holding labarum in right hand and shield in left, placing right foot on leg of one of two captives before him with hands bound behind their backs, wearing caps and kneeling facing with their heads turned towards one another.&quot; Are the caps &quot;Phrygian&quot;? Not sure.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1454307[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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