List of animals shown at the Colosseum

Maybe already done some times, but I am looking forward to see those beautiful coins with animals that gave presence in the 'theatre of dead' in Rome.

I made a list (nope, I stole it from the internet) with animals that were transported from their natural habitats to be slaughtered at the Colosseum. Even the giraffe could pass through the gates ! The list is not exhaustive, but it is long enough.....

Wild boar *** Bulls *** Bears *** Deer *** Stags *** Dogs *** Wolves *** Goats *** Antelopes *** Buffaloes *** Snakes *** Camels *** Donkeys *** Jackass *** Hyena *** Giraffes *** Lions *** Tigers *** Leopards *** Cheetahs *** Panthers *** Elephants *** Crocodiles *** Jaguars *** Chimpanzees *** Apes *** Baboons *** Hippopotamus *** Rhinoceros *** Crocodiles ***

Please copy the list and underline the animals that you attach so others know what we we're still missing. If you have ten, only do one or two photos so others can contribute as well. Hope this will work

As a start I throw in two coins. The lion and the hippopotamus. I wonder what they did with a hippopotamus in the arena


Otacilia Severa, Antoninianus
22-23 mm; 4.05g;
Obv. OTACIL SEVERA AVG Draped bust on crescent to right.
Rev. SAECVLARES AVGG Hippopotamus standing to right; in exergue IIII.
RIC IV, III p. 82, 116b.




Philip I AR Antoninianus.
3,74g
Obv. IMP PHILIPPVS AVG, radiate, draped & cuirassed bust right
Rev. SAECVLARES AVGG, lion walking right, I in ex.
RIC 12, RSC 173.

 

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Great idea! I don’t have those beautiful sharp animal coins like yours, but I’ll sit and watch (and applaud).

 

Wild boar *** Bulls *** Bears *** Deer *** Stags *** Dogs *** Wolves *** Goats *** Antelopes *** Buffaloes *** Snakes *** Camels *** Donkeys *** Jackass *** Hyena *** Giraffes *** Lions *** Tigers *** Leopards *** Cheetahs *** Panthers *** Elephants *** Crocodiles *** Jaguars *** Chimpanzees *** Apes *** Baboons *** Hippopotamus *** Rhinoceros *** Crocodiles ***


Some of those don't exist on coins and I am reasonably sure one of our members has an ostrich which should be on the list.

 

Gallienus' "zoo" series has a lot of these.

Wild boar *** Bulls *** Bears *** Deer *** Stags *** Dogs *** Wolves *** Goats *** Antelopes *** Buffaloes *** Snakes *** Camels *** Donkeys *** Jackass *** Hyena *** Giraffes *** Lions *** Tigers *** Leopards *** Cheetahs *** Panthers *** Elephants *** Crocodiles *** Jaguars *** Chimpanzees *** Apes *** Baboons *** Hippopotamus *** Rhinoceros *** Crocodiles ***



Here's a panther:


Gallienus, 253-268 AD.
Roman Æ Antoninianus, 2.65 g, 20.1 mm, 5 h.
Rome Mint, 10th emission, 267-268 AD.
Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate head right.
Rev: LIBERO P CONS AVG, panther walking left, B in exergue.
Refs: RIC 230K; Göbl 713b; Cohen 586; RCV 10281; Hunter 112.

Stag:


Gallienus, AD 253-268.
Roman billon Antoninianus, 3.53 g, 20.1 mm, 1 h.
Rome, AD 267-268.
Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate head, right.
Rev: DIANAE CONS AVG, stag walking right; X I in exergue.
Refs: RIC 179K; Göbl 745b; Cohen 157; RCV 10201.

 

Wild boar *** Bulls *** Bears *** Deer *** Stags *** Dogs *** Wolves *** Goats *** Antelopes *** Buffaloes *** Snakes *** Camels *** Donkeys *** Jackass *** Hyena *** Giraffes *** Lions *** Tigers *** Leopards *** Cheetahs *** Panthers *** Elephants *** Crocodiles *** Jaguars *** Chimpanzees *** Apes *** Baboons *** Hippopotamus *** Rhinoceros ***










Q

 

Panther and jaguar may refer to the same type of large cat. Ostriches were added to the list because various sources indicate they were shown at the games as well.

Wild boar *** Bulls *** Bears *** Deer *** Stags *** Dogs *** Wolves *** Goats *** Antelopes *** Buffaloes (Bison) *** Snakes *** Camels *** Donkeys *** Jackass *** Hyena *** Giraffes *** Lions *** Tigers *** Leopards *** Cheetahs *** Panthers (Jaguars) *** Elephants *** Crocodiles *** Chimpanzees *** Apes *** Baboons *** Hippopotamus *** Rhinoceros *** Crocodiles ***Ostriches

Here's one coin that covers many of those animals: ostrich, bear, lions, ass, panther (jaguar), bison (buffalo).


Septimius Severus
Rome, CE 206
AR denarius, 3.41 gm, 20 mm, 12h
Obv: SEVERVS PIVS AVG, laureate head right
Rev: LAETITIA TEMPORVM, the spina of the Circus Maximus decorated as a ship facing left, with the turning posts at its prow and stern, a sail mounted on the central obelisk, and the spina's other monuments visible in between; above the ship, four quadrigas racing left; below, seven animals: an ostrich at left and a bear at right; between them a lion and a lioness chasing a wild ass and a panther attacking a bison
Ref: RIC 274; BMC 343.
ex Colosseo Collection

 

A single ostrich and better depiction than the tiny ostrich on my Septimius Circus denarius:


THRACE, Hadrianopolis. Gordian III
AE 18 mm, 2.59 gm
Obv: AVT K M ANT ΓORΔIANOC AVΓ; laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: AΔPIANOΠOΛEITΩN; ostrich running right like stevex6 is chasing it with a basting brush
Ref: Varbanov 3833, rare
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/a-now-extinct-animal-on-a-roman-coin.287175/

A solo bear:


MYSIA, Hadrianothera. Hadrian
After CE 123
Æ 16 mm, 2.30 gm
Obv: AΔPIANOC AYΓOYCTOC; bare head right
Rev: AΔPIANOΘHPITN; head of she-bear left
Ref: AMNG 565; SNG France 1091; RPC 1629. Rare.

A winged boar:


LESBOS, Mytilene
521-478 BCE
EL hekte, 10.5 mm, 2.6 gm
Obv: forepart of winged boar right
Rev: incuse head of lion left; rectangular punch behind
Ref: Bodenstedt Em. 10; HGC 6, 935; SNG von Aulock –; Boston MFA 1678; BMC –

A tigress:


Gallienus, sole reign
CE 260-268
Antoninianus, Rome mint
Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate head right
Rev: LIBERO P CONS AVG, striped tigress standing left; B in exergue
Ref: RIC V 230 (Sole reign)

Of my many snakes, this is my favorite:


EGYPT, Alexandria. Domitian
Regnal year 10, CE 90/91
Æ diobol (25mm, 10.86 g, 12h)
Obv: AVT KAICAP ΔΟ ΜΙΤ CEB ΓΕΡΜ, laureate head right
Rev: Agathodaemon serpent, wearing the skhent crown (emblematic of upper and lower Egypt), on horseback galloping left; L I (date) below
Ref: Köln –; Dattari (Savio) –; K&G 24.109; RPC II 2585; SNG Copenhagen 214; Emmett 277.10 (R5).
Provenance:
Ex Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection
Ex West Coast/Lloyd Beauchaine Collection (Classical Numismatic Group 41, 19 March 1997), lot 1110
Ex Classical Numismatic Review Vol. XVI, No. 1 (January 1991), lot 31
Ex Numismatic Fine Arts Fall Mail Bid Sale (18 October 1990), lot 2365
Appearances:
Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 39 (this coin)
Emmett, Alexandrian Coins; obverse illustrated as the header for the Domitian section, p. 24 (this coin) and fully illustrated on p. 26 as a featured (this coin)
Sear, Roman Coins and Their Values, Vol. I, #2868, p. 511 (this coin)
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/so-these-exist-snake-cowboys.314032/

(I'll update the checklist in the next post.)

 

Rhino:


EGYPT, Alexandria. Trajan
year 17, CE 113/4
dichalkon
Obv: Laureate head right
Rev: rhino standing left; LIZ above
Ref: Emmett 719v(17) R5 per Emmett but based on the number of these I've seen in the last six years it's not rare; BMC 500

In the list, deer and stag should probably be combined.

Stags:


L. Hostilius Saserna
48 BCE
AR denarius, 19 mm, 4.1 g, 6 h. Rome
Obv: Bare head of a Gallic woman to right, with long disheveled hair; behind, carnyx; in field to right, 3 test cuts.
Rev: L.HOSTILIVS / SASERNA; Artemis (Diana) standing facing, holding stag with her right hand and spear with her left
Ref: Crawford 448/3. Sydenham 953.
Ex W. F. Stoecklin, Amriswil, Switzerland, acquired prior to 1975.


EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian
year 11, CE 126/7
AE obol, 10 mm, 5.8 gm
Obv: AVTKAITPAIAΔPIACEB; Laureate head right
Rev: Stag standing right; L - IA
Ref: Emmett 1169(11) R1, Milne 1235; Dattari 7942; K&G 32.439

Dogs:


Roman Republic, L. Caesius
112-111 BCE
AR denarius, 3.92 gm
Obv: bust of Vejovis (some references say Apollo?) from behind, head turned left, holding a thunderbolt, legend AP; dotted border.
Rev: Lares praestites seated with heads left, dog between, bust of Vulcan above, with tongs behind; legend LA-RE; dotted border.
Ref: Crawford 298/1. Sydenham 564. RSC Caesia 1


Roman Republic, C. Postumius
73 BCE, Rome
AR denarius, 18.74 mm, 3.6 gm
Obv: bust of Diana right, bow and quiver over shoulder
Rev: hound running right, spear below; C. POSTVMI, TA in exergue
Ref: Crawford 394/1a


Updated list, reflected all animals shown in this thread, and with amendments:

Wild boar *** Bulls *** Bears *** Stags *** Dogs *** Wolves *** Goats*** Antelopes *** Buffaloes *** Snakes *** Camels *** Donkeys *** Jackass *** Hyena *** Giraffes *** Lions *** Tigers *** Cheetahs *** Panthers/Jaguars/Leopards *** Elephants *** Crocodiles *** Chimpanzees *** Apes *** Baboons *** Hippopotamus *** Rhinoceros *** Ostrich

 

Here's a coin showing a member of the ape family that isn't a homo sapiens. To the best of my knowledge there aren't any Roman coins depicting apes-chimps-baboons except for some ape-gods of Egypt shown on some provincial rarities.

Ape/chimp/baboon/monkey (monkeys and apes are in different taxonomic superfamilies but I'm lumping them together for this list):


MACEDONIA, uncertain
c. 500 BCE
AR trihemitetartemorion (trihemiobol), 5 mm, 0.26 gm
Obv: monkey squatting left
Rev: round shield or pellet within incuse square
Ref: "Uncertain Thraco-Macedonian Coins, Part II", Nomismatika Khronika (1998, Tzamalis), 67

Another of the same type:



Already posted but this coin is relatively new and I haven't had the chance to show it off as much as the rest... elephants :


EGYPT. Alexandria. Trajan
AE drachm, 32.3 mm, 19.8 gm
Regnal year 14 (110/11 CE)
Obv: AYT TPAIANC EBΓEPM∆AKIK; laureate bust right, with aegis on left shoulder
Rev: Trajan, laureate, wearing a toga and holding an eagle-tipped sceptre and branch, standing in an elephant quadriga right; LIΔ above.
Ref: Emmett 462.14; Dattari-Savio Pl. 31, 766 (this coin); RPC 4510.3 (this coin)
ex Dattari collection (Giovanni Dattari, 1858-1923)

The updated list of animals shown in this thread (animals shown are in bold because bold carries over with copy/paste and underlining does not, so it will be easier for the next person to copy and paste the list):

Wild boar *** Bulls *** Bears *** Stags *** Dogs *** Wolves *** Goats*** Antelopes *** Buffaloes *** Snakes *** Camels *** Donkeys/Jackass *** Hyena *** Giraffes *** Lions *** Tigers *** Leopards *** Cheetahs *** Panthers/Jaguars *** Elephants *** Crocodiles *** Chimpanzees/Apes/Baboons/Monkeys *** Hippopotamus *** Rhinoceros *** Ostrich

I know many people have camels and antelopes. A few members will have a donkey (coins of Mende). I'm not sure that the feline family, on ancient coins, is distinguishable beyond lion, tiger, and "other large feline". There are a few types of Greek and Eastern ancient coins which have a feline described as a leopard but I don't know the basis for that distinction-- there is nothing specifically leopardish about the animals on those coins, at least not on the examples I surveyed. Cheetahs are not specifically depicted on any ancient coins I've found, nor are hyenas or giraffes.

Edited: apparently donkeys and asses are the same thing.

@Marsman (and other members who are newer than the thread below) might be interested in this old and lengthy thread:

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancient-coin-animals-by-alphabet.267837/

 

CAMEL


RI Trajan CE 98-117 AR drachm Struck CE 114-116 Arabia Petraea Bostra - Camel SNG ANS 1158

 

GIRAFFE (well it LOOKS like one)


RR PrvMacedon Amphipolis AE Semis187-131 BC Zeus Prow giraffe shape SNG Cop 69

 

Gallienus to the rescue with an antelope/gazelle. It's well-rendered, down to the ridges on the gazelle's horns. I think the die-engraver even attempted to render the color pattern on the gazelle's fur on the animal's nose and across the back.


Gallienus, 253-268 AD.
Roman Æ Antoninianus, 2.26 g, 16.4 mm, 5 h.
Rome Mint 267-268 AD.
Obv: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate head right.
Rev: DIANAE CONS AVG, gazelle walking left, XII in exergue.
Refs: RIC 181; Cohen 165; RCV 10200; Göbl 750b.



New list:

boar *** Bulls *** Bears *** Stags *** Dogs *** Wolves *** Goats*** Antelopes *** Buffaloes *** Snakes *** Camels *** Donkeys/Jackass *** Hyena *** Giraffes *** Lions *** Tigers *** Leopards *** Cheetahs *** Panthers/Jaguars *** Elephants *** Crocodiles *** Chimpanzees/Apes/Baboons/Monkeys *** Hippopotamus *** Rhinoceros *** Ostrich

 

To complement TIF's coin...Caracalla's animals in the Circus Maximus.


Caracalla

ANTONINVS PIVS AVG
Laureate head of Caracalla right

LAETITIA TEMPORVM
The spina of the Circus Maximus decorated as a ship facing l., with the turning posts at its prow and stern, a sail mounted on the central obelisk, and the spina's other monuments visible in between; above the ship, four quadrigas racing l.; below, seven animals: an ostrich at l. and bear at r.; between them a lion and a lioness chasing a wild ass and a panther attacking a bison.

Rome 206 AD

3.34g

Ex-Londinium coins, Ex Professor K.D. White with original envelope.

Sear 6813, RIC 157, BMCRE 257, CSS 793

Very rare! Only 2 examples in the Reka Devnia hoard

Better in hand

A very special thanks for Notes by Curtis Clay:

This famous type commemorates the chariot races and animal hunt that took place on the seventh and final day of Severus' Saecular Games in 204 AD, as described in the inscriptional acts of those games which were found in Rome in the 1870s and 1930s. According to the acts, after three days of sacrifices and three days of honorary stage shows, Severus and Caracalla held circus games on the seventh day, consisting of chariot races and then a hunt of 700 beasts, 100 each of "lions, lionesses, panthers, bears, bisons, wild asses, ostriches". Dio Cassius describes the same hunt, adding the detail that the cage from which the animals were discharged was formed like a boat: "The entire receptacle in the theater had been fashioned in the shape of a boat and was capable of receiving or discharging four hundred beasts at once; and then, as it suddenly fell apart, there came rushing forth bears, lionesses, panthers, lions, ostriches, wild asses, bisons, so that 700 beasts in all, both wild and domesticated, at one and the same time were seen running about and were slaughtered. For to correspond with the duration of the festival, which lasted seven days, the number of the animals was also seven times one hundred." In Dio's text this passage follows directly on his account of Severus' Decennalian Games in 202 AD, causing scholars to accuse Dio of misdating the hunt or to postulate that similar hunts of 700 animals were held both in 202 and in 204. But the true explanation, in my opinion, is that Dio's Byzantine epitimator Xiphilinus, on whom we are dependent for this section of Dio's text, has simply jumped without warning or transition from Dio's description of the Decennalian Games of 202 to his description of the circus spectacle concluding the Saecular Games of 204. This hypothesis easily explains why Dio's text as we have it makes no mention of the Saecular Games themselves or of any event of 203: Xiphilinus omitted this whole section of Dio's history! The seven kinds of animals named by both Dio and the inscriptional acts are also depicted in the coin type: on good specimens, especially the aureus BM pl. 34.4, the ostrich and the bear are clear, the lion has a mane, the ass has long ears, the bison has horns and a hump. Two large felines remain, of which we may suppose that the one accompanying the lion is the lioness and the one attacking the bison is the panther. The animals are named somewhat differently in Cohen, BMC, and other numismatic works: though numismatists have long cited Dio's text to explain the coin type, no one previously seems to have posed the question whether the seven animals in the lower part of the type might not be the same seven that Dio and now the inscriptional acts too name! These circus games with the ship and 700 animals were held in 204 AD, but the coin type commemorating them did not appear until two years later: on aurei of Septimius the type is die linked to a dated type of 206 AD, and for Caracalla the type passes from a draped and cuirassed obverse type on the aureus to the "head only" type on his denarii, a transition that took place in 206 AD according to his dated coins.

 

Some zoological notes:

(1) Jaguars are living on the American continent, not possible to see them in the Colosseum.
(2) Buffaloes (Bison americanus) are living in North America, not possible to see them in the Colosseum
(3) Wisents (Bison bonasus) are living in Northern Europe. Possible, but not very likely.
(4) Panther is the name of the genus Panthera and not the name of a species.

Best regards

 

True... all of the large felines listed in the OP are members of the genus Panthera. In modern times I think the lay term "panther" is generally used to mean a melanistic or albinistic animal of the Panthera genus, either jaguar (Panthera onca) or leopard (Panthera pardus).

 

The word leopard comes from two Greek words, λέων (lion) and παρδιαῖος (spotted).* Hence, "spotted lion." On coins, I would venture that any large feline with spots would have been called a leopard by the ancients.

*Some etymologies (i.e. Wikipedia) will state that "leopard" comes from λέων (lion) and πάρδος (male panther), but I believe that to be incorrect. Not that πάρδος doesn't mean a male panther--it does--but πάρδος specifically means SPOTTED large cat. In "leopard," the -pard refers to the spotted nature of the beast, not to the fact that there is a spotted beast called a pardos. An analogous English situation is that we call certain pied cats calicos. A calico is a cat, to be sure, but calico doesn't ONLY mean cat; it primarily refers to a pied pattern of colors, but has come to refer to a pied cat by extension. This women's calico coat isn't made out of cat fur; calico is a color. "Leo-pard" doesn't mean lion-panther, it means spotted lion.

For example, the Greek word for giraffe is καμηλοπάρδαλις (camelopardalis in Latin). This is a compound of καμηλο- (camel) and πάρδαλις (spotted). A giraffe is described as a spotted camel. No one in their right mind would claim a giraffe means camel-panther.

 

"Buffalo" in ancient descriptions of animals in the Colosseum would undoubtedly refer to the water buffalo of Asia or the African buffalo.

 

Here are a couple of relevant denarii:

Nice hippo! Saw many last CNG E-auction, but sadly missed out.

 

I thought that the jaguar was native to South and Central America. How were they transported to Europe when, at the time, the Americas were undiscovered?

Chris

 

Coats made from cat fur are generally labeled French Rabbit.
Also, leopard tastes great.