Featured Here Comes the Moon

So Dies Natalis Solis Invicti is already over here, and today in my part of the world, the annular solar eclipse was fully visible, with the maximum annular phase reached at 13:23 hrs.



After we ooh'ed and aah'ed over the "Ring of Fire" that we won't be experiencing here for another 40 years, it occurred to me that the moon-impeded daytime lighting seemed just about right for a little coin photography.

There were a few coins that were already in my photography queue, but I figured I would include, as a tribute to Luna and Sol, the following two subjects...


CARACALLA
AR Antoninianus. 5.18g, 23.6mm. Rome mint, AD 217. RIC IV 284a corr. (draped and cuirassed; see plate); RSC 396a. O: ANTONINVS PIVS AVG GERM, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind. R: P M TR P XX COS IIII P P, Diana Lucifera (or Luna) wearing crescent on head, fold of drapery in circle round head, holding reins and driving galloping biga of bulls left.
Ex Michael Kelly Collection


PROBUS
AE Antoninianus. 3.31g, 22mm. Rome mint, circa AD 276-282. RIC 202; Cohen 644. O: IMP PROBVS AVG, Bust radiate left, almost half-length, seen from front, wearing consular robes and holding eagle-tipped scepter. R: SOLI INVICTO, Sol raising right hand and holding globe and whip in left, in quadriga of horses leaping left; in exergue, crescent flanked by R and B (officina 2).
Ex Phillip Davis Collection

For some silly reason, I was hoping that the light from the annular eclipse might work a little magic and aid in my re-photography attempts of these coins. It didn't, but I think the resulting pics are still passable.

Anyway, since you're here, please do free to share your favorite coins of Luna and Sol, or anything else related!

 

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It's particularly interesting that the animals on your Caracalla ant have a bull's head but a horse's body. Is that part of the design or was the engraver so used to engraving horses that he rendered all other draught animals horse-ish, too?

Here is a Republican Luna, identifiable by the crescent over her head:

Roman Republic, anonymous issue, AR denarius, 179–170 BC, Rome mint. Obv: Helmeted head of Roma, r.; behind, denominational mark X. Rev: Luna in biga r., with horses prancing; in exergue, ROMA (traces of overstriking?). 20mm, 3.80g. Ref: RRC 158/1. Ex JB collection; ex AMCC 2, lot 93 (their picture).

 

zumbly, The Caracalla double-denarius is a gem ! The portrait is excellent & the reverse is imaginative & exceptional . This is the 1st time I've seen this reverse .

 

Nice coins and write up!

Here are two portaits of Luna aka Selene:


Commodus
Alexandria
Billon-Tetradrachm
Obv.: M A KOM ANTω CЄB ЄYCЄB, laureate head right
Rev.: Bust of Luna/Selene left within crescent; LΛ (date) to right, LΛ= year 30 = AD 189/190
Billon, 11.19g, 23mm
Ref.: Geißen 2252, Dattari 3889


Hierapolis
Asia Minor, Phrygia
Æ 17
Obv.: Draped bust of Selene right on crescent
Rev.: IEPAΠOΛEITΩN, winged Nemesis standing left, holding bridle and drawing drapery away from her neck
Æ, 17.6mm, 5.16g
Ref.: SNG Cop 420, SNG Muenchen 220

 

I wouldn't be surprised! I do think the reverse style of my ex x6 example is much better, even if I can't speak to the accuracy of the bulls.


CARACALLA
AR Antoninianus. 5.19g, 24mm. Rome mint, AD 215. RIC 245c; BMCRE 121. O: ANTONINVS PIVS AVG GERM, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right. R: P M TR P XVIII COS IIII P P, Luna in biga of oxen galloping left, fold of drapery billowing in semicircle around head.
Ex Stevex6 Collection, CNG E-sale 297 (27 Feb 2013), lot 436; ex CNG E-sale 186 (16 Apr 2008), lot 197

Thanks! I love the reverse type. We see Sol so much more often than Luna on our coins. Here they are gracing the Parabiago Plate, and getting equal billing.

 

That Caracalla is an exceptionally nice example of that issue and it's one I've been wanting to add to my own collection. Not to disrespect the Probus (which is very lovely), I'd like to focus on the iconography of the coin of Caracalla. You describe the reverse figure as:

I think it's clear that the figure is Luna Lucifera, for the companion issue for his mother, Julia Domna, overtly titles her with the inscription LVNA LVCIFERA:


Julia Domna, AD 193-217.
Roman AR denarius, 3.07 g, 20.6 mm, 12:00.
Rome mint under Caracalla, AD 215.
Obv: IVLIA PIA FELIX AVG, bare-headed and draped bust, right
Rev: LVNA LVCIFERA, Luna in biga of horses, galloping right, drapery billowing behind head.
Refs: RIC 379c; BMCRE 10; Cohen 105; RCV 7101; Hill 1477.

But that's not the important issue. I'd like to bring attention to the fold of drapery in a circle billowing behind the figure of Luna Lucifera on both the Caracalla and Domna issues. I don't think this is merely the representation of the goddess's palla billowing like a parachute from the speedy travel in her biga. I think it represents the entire star-filled nighttime sky -- the celestial hemisphere itself.

A denarius or antoninianus is too small a medium to express this idea, but I see it put forth on this sestertius of Faustina I which I recently acquired for my collection:


Faustina I, AD 138-141.
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 26.54 g, 33 mm.
Rome, AD 150-161.
Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: AETERNITAS, Aeternitas standing left, holding globe and raising above head a starry mantle.
Refs: RIC 1106; BMCRE 1495-97; Cohen 30; Sear 4610; Strack 1262; Dinsdale 020810.

Note that Aeternitas bears a similar billowing circle behind her, but that it is decorated with stars. This is better seen on the British Museum's example of the coin:



Now, I'd like to focus on @zumbly 's coin. It's a well-struck, well-preserved example and the details are clear:



Luna Lucifera has a crescent moon on her forehead -- after all, she IS the moon -- but is that a star I see within that billowing circle of drapery behind the crescent?

I think it is, just as represented on the billowing mantle in my sestertius of Faustina I, above. If so, the biga carries not only the moon (Luna), but the entire star-filled nighttime sky!

 

The reverse of this coin under Alexander Severus depicts Sol driving quadriga in upper center. It was struck in Amasia.

 

Super cool getting a day of Eclipse in for your Holidays!!! Neat pic.

I only have a couple Lunas


RR Anon 189-179 BCE AR Den Roma Luna Biga S 69 Cr 158-1



RR Furius Purpurio 169-157 BCE Roma Luna Biga Linear Frame murex shell Cr 187-1

 

Thanks! I'm pretty sure I just copied that description from somewhere. In any case, I was under the impression, possibly mistaken, that Diana Lucifera and Luna Lucifera were essentially one and the same?

Interesting! That would be a lovely and poetic detail, but having just taken a quick look at a dozen or so other examples of this Caracalla type, most of which were clear enough, I can't say I see anything resembling stars in the billowing drapery of any of them. I might have to take a closer look at mine in hand again.

 

A great thread. I'm envious, not only of that spectacular solar eclipse!
Here are some of my lunar objects.


Julia Domna 193-217, denarius, Rome. Obv. Bust to the right, hair without recognisable bun or moon pin (or very insignificant). IVLIA PIA FELIX. Rev. Luna, cloak billowing around her head (no star visible), in biga drawn by horses on ground line, to the left, LVNA LVCIFERA. 18 mm, 2.85 gr. Ex-Tom Cederlind.


AE16 Elagabalus 218-222, Nikopolis ad Istrum, Moesia Inferior. Obv.: Laureated head r. Rev.: Crescent with 3 stars. 16 mm, 3.23 gr.


Tetradrachm Elagabalus (218-222), Alexandria. Billon. Dated RY 5 (221/222). Obv. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. Rev. Conjoined busts of Helios, draped and wearing radiate crown, and Selene, draped and wearing crescent-moon crown, right; L Є (date) to lower right. 22.5 mm, 12.62 gr. Emmett 2933.5.

This is a favorite coin. On the reverse, a royal and godly pair, one looking up, the other one down: a highly developed realistic design involving movement and contrast (characteristics of Baroque style!), whereas most often Roman numismatic art is static.


Phraates IV (38-2). AR drachm. Obv. Bust to the left with Parthian tiara, left crescent moon and star, right an eagle with a wreath in its beak. Cartoonish style. Rev. Archer on a stool, before him ‘NI’ (don’t think of those Knights!). Lettering unreadable. Mint Mitradatkert. 19.4 mm, 3.84 gr. Sellwood 54.10 (more or less).

If you talk crescent moons, you talk Sasanians. Many of them abound in crescents. Here’s one:


Yazdgard I (399-420), silver drachm. Obv. Head right with hairball-topped crown, a merlon at the side, large crescent at the front, pearl netted hairball in the neck. Rev.: Fire altar with attendants. A word on the pillar of the altar. To the upper left, two crescents, the lower one with a dot in it. To the upper right, a crescent with a dot under it. 26.5 mm, 4.25 gr. Göbl type I/1.


Qarakhanid AE fals Bukhara. 384H? (=994 AD). Obv. Four upturned crescents, a horizontal line of text in the middle. Vertically, two symbols. Rev. Four upturned crescents, with Arabic text in the form of a cross (!) in the middle. Compare with Cannito 38. 29 mm, 2.55 gr.

 

...i love that song and album....i bought the it when it came out for 'all i got to do', but it all is good..

 

Not gonna lie...I was hoping to open this thread and see a bunch of nekkid Venus bums...but this is a good thread none-the-less
I only have two coins featuring a moon:

Kingdom of Elymais
Orodes III, AE Δrachm
Obverse: Bust of king facing, anchor and crescent to right
Reverse: Pattern of dashes and dots.


Kingdom of Elymais
Orodes I
AE Drachm. ca 100 AD.
Obverse: Bust left, with long beard and wearing diademed tiara ornamented with anchor. Pellet within crescent above anchor with one bar, to right
Reverse: bust of Artemis right.

 

I have no Luna but I do have many Sol.

 

That must have been spectacular @zumbly ! I’ve traveled to parts of the country where solar eclipses were to be visible but on both occasions, cloud cover moved in and I was unable to view the totality.

Here is the only coin that I own that features and astronomical event.

 

Superb Elymais, @furryfrog02 !

 

Blow Away! I like that one too.

Mine's not the best, but here you go.

I'm not especially knowledgeable about astronomy, but I understand they're not rare, per se, so I'm sure you'll eventually get to see one unobstructed.

Nice one! I've always liked these, and actually bought one about 5 or 6 years ago. It turned out to be the first coin that ever went missing in the mail for me, under rather dodgy circumstances, too. It was a bit traumatic, and I never could bring myself to buy another one.

 

Diana Lucifera and Luna Lucifera are essentially the same. I didn't bring this up to distinguish the two names of the goddess as if they were somehow different. I said this to point out that the figure on the Caracalla coin is Luna Lucifera because that coin doesn't specifically say that it is. The coin's reverse reads P M TR P XX COS IIII P P. I note that the corresponding coins of Domna do explicitly read LVNA LVCIFERA, so the figure on the reverse of the Caracalla coin is almost certainly Luna Lucifera, too.

I know the small silver coins don't show stars. Nor do they on the Faustina silver issues:



But they do on the corresponding sestertius:



I think this is only because the silver issues are too small to represent them. I think, though, the typical Greco-Roman polytheist may have interpreted the "billowing veil" as representing the celestial hemisphere despite the lack of detail or stars. We see what we expect to see and I think the average Roman was familiar with representations of Luna, including some that depicted her with the mantle of the heavens.

 

ah, right....i can remember every word of a song, but not recall the title..

 

@zumbly - fun post and I like the idea of capturing photos of luna by the light of an eclipse. You can include me in the list of fans of your Caracalla with bull-horses. The first predicted eclipse is said to have been on May 28, 585 BC, when Cyaxares of Media was at war with Lydia. Herodotus writes:

In the sixth year, when neither could claim superiority, in the midst of an engagement, the day was suddenly involved in darkness. This phenomenon, and the particular period at which it was to happen, had been foretold by Thales the Milesian. Awed by the solemnity of the event, the parties desisted from engagement, and it further influenced them both to listen to certain positions for peace, which were made by Syennesis of Cilicia and Labynetus of Babylon.
-The History of Herodotus p 61​

Here is a coin with Sun, Moon and Stars:

L. Lucretius Trio, AR Denarius, 74 BC. Rome
Obv: Radiate head of Sol right
Rev: L LVCRETI in exergue, crescent moon with TRIO and seven stars above.
Ref: Crawford 390/1
Note : 32 obverse dies and the 7 stars refer to the constellation known as Septentriones, the Triones were 7 oxen driving a mill stone, as the the 7 stars of Ursa Major (Big Dipper) drive around the pole, a play on the moneyer's name.

 

Septimius Severus Luna and Gallienus SOLI CONS AVG.