My first pickup of 2021 is a large bronze with Nero on the obverse, and on the reverse, Olympias, wife of Philip II of Macedon and mother of The Great One himself, Alexander III. Huh? NERO AE Contorniate. 18.18g, 36mm. Rome, circa late 4th century AD. Alföldi, Kontorniat 200; Cohen VIII pg. 290, 129. O: IMP NERO CAESAR AVG P MAX, laureate head to right; engraved palm leaf before. R: Olympias reclining left on couch, extending hand to serpent coiled at her knee. Okay, so this isn't a regular issue of Nero. In fact, it isn't a coin at all. Still, just as I love those enigmatic little bronzes of the Festival of Isis, I consider these 4th-5th century contorniate "medallions" with their groovy grooved edges to be pretty darn cool too. Typical contorniates were made and used in Rome, likely employed as New Year's gifts by the elite and well-to-do of society. They usually featured portraits of beloved earlier emperors of Rome (hence Nero! ) or other famous historical or legendary figures. An eclectic variety of scenes and subjects related to Greco-Roman mythology and the sporting games of the circus were common on the reverses. Pairings of obverse and reverse types were often random, sometimes making for rather incongruent mash-ups, such as one depicting the poet Homer on one side and a famous Roman charioteer (with his horses named) on the other, and another with a portrait of Alexander the Great paired with an aerial view of the Circus Maximus. The frequent use of pagan and mythological themes might seem to suggest that those amongst whom contorniates were popular were, in small and private ways such as this at least, rebelling against the prevailing state religion, Christianity. At the same time, Christian motifs, symbols and graffiti are also sometimes found on contorniates. One seemingly unique head-scratcher even had Nero on the obverse and a large Christian cross on the reverse! The reverse of my example has Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great, getting cosy on a couch with a rather large serpent. The Latin translation of the Alexander Romance by Julius Valerius, who was consul in AD 338, would have popularized legends of Alexander and his family for a 4th century Roman audience, but even before that, there was Plutarch's Life of Alexander in the early 2nd century, from which the scene on this contorniate would appear to have been lifted - "A serpent was once seen lying stretched out by the side of Olympias as she slept, and we are told that this, more than anything else, dulled the ardour of Philip's attentions to his wife." (As an aside, Plutarch also says that poor Philip was later instructed by an oracle of Apollo to "sacrifice to Ammon and hold that god in greatest reverence", but not only that, he was also told that he "was to lose that one of his eyes which he had applied to the chink in the door when he espied the god, in the form of a serpent, sharing the couch of his wife." Ouch! ) This reverse type was also paired with obverses featuring Trajan and Caracalla. On one reverse die, the legend below Olympias reads REGINA. On the contorniate from the British Museum collection below which has Alexander on the obverse, the reverse legend reads OLYMPIAS REGINA in full. One last detail of interest on my example is the palm branch engraved in the field before Nero's portrait. I don't know if there are any definitive theories about why this and other symbols are (seemingly frequently) found on contorniates, but perhaps they were were applied when the contorniates were re-used, or were placed on them as decorative embellishments, with some of the engraved symbols even having been inlaid with silver. I won't go into the related topic of proto-contorniates here, primarily because I don't have one of them yet and haven't researched that topic deeply, but if anyone does and would like to share, I'd be very interested to see them and read some comments about them. Please feel free to also share anything else that you feel might be related!
Well, that's purdy cool, @zumbly ! Really cool. I had to go look it up so that I further understood this "Groovy" coin. Very nice! Congrats on this pickup. And with the Ding-Bat Olympias! LOL When I FIRST saw the pic, I thought "Uh-Oh! Zumbly, what did you do!" Then read your story...wow, this is COOL! Do you have any others, or is this the first contorniate?
Wow, how cool is that? I don't think I've ever seen one of those before, what a great piece! Interesting write-up too! The only thing I have to share which is (a little bit) relevant is this Nero dynastic issue from Alexandria with the fairly odd pairing of Nero and Tiberius. Nero, Tetradrachm, Alexandria, (22 mm, 13.54g), 66-67 AD, NEPΩ KΛAY KAIΣ ΣEB ΓEP AY, Radiate bust of Nero to left, wearing aegis; Rev. TIBEPIOΣ KAIΣAP, Radiate head of Tiberius to right. RPC I 5295
Hate to ask, but are you certain its an ancient item? It has the "look" of imitations. I know squat of copper contorniates except they are usually horribly expensive. Bill Dalzell @Ardatirion I remember collects lead ones, since he told me he could not hope to ever afford a copper one.
If you mean that the style looks imitative of official issues, then yes - afterall, the engraver of the dies of this obverse would have copied off an original Nero bronze, but about 300 years after Nero's reign. The low relief of the devices on contorniates also deviate from the "look" of original coins, however, both this and the often unusual portraits are noted characteristics of contorniates rather than red flags. If you're suggesting it's a modern imitation of an authentic contorniate, I'm afraid you've lost me regarding how the "look" is problematic. Could you elaborate? As far as I'm aware, lead contorniates were never made. They were all orichalchum. Are you maybe thinking of Bill's collection of lead tesserae?
zumbly, when I saw your Contorniate of Nero I thought the palm leaf on the obverse looked odd , however it's a common motif on Contorniates as these examples from the MMA in NYC illustrate. Not all Contorniates were die struck, some were cast, & this may account for the "soft'' appearance of your example. Alexander the Great / Circus Maximus Nero / Apollo Valentinian III / Hydraulic organ in the Circus Maximus Honorius / Eugenius & his horses
Yes, some were struck and others cast. Both the grooves and the field symbols such as the palm leaf (the most common) were carved into the contorniates thereafter. Thanks for posting those examples. How cool is that hydraulic organ!
I had a sneak preview of this, and I think it's just spectacular. A beautiful example with a neat reverse type. I wish you luck in securing a companion proto-contorniate. Bonus points if it's a Nero, like this example from Triton XVII: The closest thing I have (not very close) is this medallion of Severus Alexander, likely a New Year's issue for his third consulship: The contorniates might be a successor to the Imperial tradition of New Year's medallions given out by the emperor in Rome. Could be thinking of lead casts of medallions, which were apparently made at least starting in the Renaissance, and possibly even in ancient times. (There are also rare examples of struck lead medallions that may be ancient test strikes.) Here's my example, a cast one with some patination, but it could just be 19th century: Side-note: both medallion photos were quickie cell phone shots (iPhone XS) that I did just now in a few minutes. This phone continues to impress me with its results sometimes! Maybe I should ditch the DSLR??
Thanks! I'd be very happy with a "matching" Nero at some point. I do have to say though that my favorite proto-contorniate that I've seen was auctioned off by Heritage last year... ... for a mere $42k. I like the idea that they were throwbacks to the old Imperial tradition of giving out medallions, but did just read this interesting paper on the topic by Franz Mittag. In it, Mittag cites a number of scholars who have rejected Alföldi's theory that contorniates were essentially anti-Christian propaganda issued on the occasion of the New Year's celebrations by pagan senators at Rome. The arguments come out more strongly in favour of these being related to festival games (you mentioned this point to me as well). He concludes by saying that: "Authors who deal with the contorniates in a more detailed way are more sceptical about Alföldi’s analysis. During the 1950s a large number of them did accept Alföldi’s thesis, but since then more and more numismatists and historians have returned to the older interpretation which associated the contorniates with the circus, or they have formulated alternative explanations of their own. As far as I can see Alföldi’s thesis is no longer accepted by a significant number of numismatists." Very interesting piece, and, yes, that's a great photo for an iphone quickie!
I have nothing that could reasonably be considered as relevant to this thread but just wanted to say wow! I love the new addition Z! I had my eye on a Hadrian Contorniate in an auction last year but ultimately decided to retreat back into my 2020 austerity. It’s a very neat coin and at that size I am sure it is a real treat in hand. Congrats my friend.
Wow - what a spectacular acquisition.. there are very few ancient personages who would outshine Nero in interest, but I certainly think Olympias is one. She led a life that Netflix should certainly look at... Wonderful!!
Thanks, Curtis. It is indeed a real treat in hand. That's actually the first thing that struck me when it arrived and I popped it out of its flip. It's large and quite evenly thin, and pleasingly round. Here's a this quickie video I shot this afternoon that maybe gives a better sense of what I'm talking about...
Thank you! No disagreement here - a movie or series with Olympias as the protagonist would be very intriguing!
