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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;PipersSpring, post: 3227850, member: 82411&quot;]I&#039;ve got this one up for sale, but that Artemide study was fascinating, and those coins are now extremely well documented, right down to the very die that each coin emerged from. Your rare censorious should prove to be a great acquisition. I don&#039;t know where the rest of the coins that were not part of the study will fit in, but mine doesn&#039;t have enough flan behind the post to have an identifying letter.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve also got a story about our pointing Satyr:</p><p><br /></p><p>A statue of Marsyas stood in the Roman forum, as well as other ancient cities. It was usually placed near the seat of Justice. Some historians believe it to be so placed to hold forth an example of the severe punishment that arrogant presumption brings on. Marsyas had presumed he could play his flue better than Apollo, his Lyre. Once Apollo demonstrated that his playing was superior to Marsyas’, Apollo lashed Marsyas to a pine tree and thoroughly flogged him, to the point of actually skinning him. Apollo intended to make the punishment severe because Marsyas was blatantly arrogant in his presumption that he could out do Apollo at anything. Several Greek historians note that Marsyas’ skin was on display at a couple of Greek villages. During Roman times, it’s likely that the statue, standing in the place where justice was administered, was intended to hold forth an example of the severe punishment of arrogant presumption.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>In Rome the statue was frequented by courtesans (as well as lawyers). These ladies of the night used to crown the statue with chaplets of flowers. Perhaps the prostitutes felt like kindred spirits, identifying with the god who also challenged the rules and the status quo. On the other hand, Marsyas was known for his devotion to upholding civil law, hence the right hand pointing upward on the coin, reminding those in possession of the coin that the state was in charge and was to be respected.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>There is another famous story about the statue of Marsyas in Rome. Julia, daughter of Augustus, at the time when she was a young woman, was known to frequent the statue and participate in crowning it with flowers. Indeed, she must have been going through a rebellious adolescent phase, as Pliny tells us that she didn’t stop with leaving flowers, but, like the courtesans that she celebrated with, she too sold her favors at the statue. Dad, the most powerful man in the world, was extremely upset, but Pliny didn’t make us privy to the details of the father-daughter talk.[ATTACH=full]842122[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]842124[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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