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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 3165918, member: 75937&quot;]A new purchase. I&#039;ve always wanted one of these because Isis is one cool goddess! Post anything you feel is relevant!</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]816981[/ATTACH] </p><p>Claudius II Gothicus, AD 268-270.</p><p>Roman billon antoninianus, 4.07 g, 22.4 mm, 5 h.</p><p>Antioch, officina 5, issue 1, end 268-end 269.</p><p>Obv: IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right.</p><p>Rev: SALVS AVG, Isis standing left, holding sistrum and situla; Є in exergue.</p><p>Refs: RIC 217A; MER/RIC temp 1024; Cohen 256; RCV 11370; Huvelin 1990, 10; Normanby 1109.</p><p><br /></p><p>This coin shows one of the most common representations of Isis. It is very similar to a Roman marble <a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?assetId=377287001&amp;objectId=459787&amp;partId=1" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?assetId=377287001&amp;objectId=459787&amp;partId=1" rel="nofollow">statue of Isis in the British Museum</a>:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]813747[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>On the coin, as in the statue, Isis wears some sort of headdress (which Bill Welch discusses in greater detail on an <a href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/reverse_isis.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/reverse_isis.html" rel="nofollow">excellent page about Isis on Roman coins</a>). In her left hand, she is holding a ceremonial water container, called a <i>situla</i>. Sometimes this is called a bucket or pail but, as you can see in the statue, a <i>situla</i> is more ornate than <i>bucket</i> or <i>pail</i> might suggest. In her right hand she holds a <i>sistrum </i>(missing on the statue), a kind of metallic rattle made of an oval metal frame on a handle, with loose metal rods passed horizontally through holes in the frame. Sometimes metal discs were strung on the rods. When shaken, it made a metallic jingling sound similar to a tambourine. It was used by the priestesses in Isis&#039;s temples to draw attention to various parts of the ceremonies.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is <a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=428932&amp;partId=1&amp;searchText=sistrum&amp;page=1" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=428932&amp;partId=1&amp;searchText=sistrum&amp;page=1" rel="nofollow">one</a> of many examples in the British Museum:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]813759[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The sistrum on my coin has only two horizontal bars; <a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=448837&amp;partId=1&amp;searchText=sistrum&amp;page=1" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=448837&amp;partId=1&amp;searchText=sistrum&amp;page=1" rel="nofollow">this example at the British Museum</a> has only two as well, but unfortunately, it&#039;s missing its handle:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]813765[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>You can listen to a four-rod sistrum that was found in Pompeii in this video:</p><p><br /></p><p>[MEDIA=youtube]yCVnYGPvzTQ[/MEDIA]</p><p><br /></p><p>Early, possibly romantic, modern interpretations of these attributes of Isis include <a href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=isis%20faria" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=isis%20faria" rel="nofollow">this tidbit</a> by Servius, as quoted by Eckhel: &quot;Isis is the genius of Egypt, who by the movement of her <i>sistrum</i>, which she carries in her right hand, signifies the access and recess (or the rising and falling) of the Nile; and by the <i>situla</i>, or bucket, which she holds in her left hand, she shows the filling of all <i>lacuna</i>, that is all of the ditches and furrows into which the stagnant water of the Nile is received.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Thus, to her followers, Isis was responsible for the fertility of the land as well as the transport of the grain. Given that much of the grain consumed in the Roman empire came from Egypt, and Isis&#039;s religious impact on Roman life, I share Bill Welch&#039;s surprise that she does not appear on more Roman coins.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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