i was hoping to see a sculpture of one of my recent sestertii and the only one was this, which might feature Julia Mamaea: My coin: Julia Mamaea Æ Sestertius, 17.72g. IVLIA MAMAEA AVGVSTA Diademed & draped bust right / FELICITAS PVBLICA S-C, Felicity standing half-left, arm on column, holding caduceus. Cohen 21.RIC 676, Cohen 21, BMC 487. The other busts (please post a corresponding coin if you have one!): Septimius Severus fo Elagabalus or Severus Alexander: Commodus as infant Herakles!: Domitian: Nero Claudius Drusus: Augustus:
Shouldn't that be Julia Marmor-a? Sorry. That's a Latin pun. 0.00002 of readers just found that hilarious.
I wish I were one of them. Can you explain it to me so that I can repeat the joke to a non-coining person and then pretend that I am as erudite as Doug? Oh, wait-- is it pun on the Latin word for marble, since the her bust is carved from marble? (if so, I had to cheat and looked up "marmor" on a hunch)
I wonder how each of the people felt who toppled any one of these statues by accident. Seeing it face down with crumbs of marble staring back at you before turning it over to preview the damage. Must have made them feel really small.
Great thread, not being able to collect marble busts, coins are the next best thing...and if you think about it they are a pretty good next best thing. Think about it, you can own a portrait of a Roman Emperor made during his lifetime, often for less than the price of a good dinner. Where else can you do that?
Please forgive my ignorance, but may we be told which museum holds these treasures. I don't recognize the displays, even from the British Museum.
Faustina II middle bronze: Bust from about the same period, demonstrating a similar hairstyle: Capitoline Museum, Rome.
So true! ... Lucilla, daughter of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina Jr, wife of Lucius Verus, sister of Caligula. Marble bust from the Archaeological Museum of Ostia, image from ancientrome.ru: Lucilla Empress CE 163-169, wife of Lucius Verus AR denarius, 19 mm, 3.25 gm Obv: LVCILLA AVGVSTA; draped bust right Rev: PVDICITIA; Pudicitia, veiled, standing left, with right hand preparing to draw a veil across her face (or had she just drawn the veil off her face?), left hand at side Ref: RIC III 780