My Little Pony

Although this Antiochene issue of Trebonianus Gallus has decent artistry, I have to laugh at the comic disproportion of the emperor on the reverse and his horse! It looks like he's riding a little pony, not a mighty steed!

Post your coins with comic malproportions, coins depicting people riding horses, or anything you feel is relevant.


Trebonianus Gallus, AD 251-253.
Roman AR antoninianus, 3.82 g, 19.7 mm, 11 h.
Antioch, second series, AD 251-252.
Obv: IMP C C VIB TREB GALLVS P F AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right.
Rev: ADVENTVS AVG, Emperor on horseback, left, raising right hand and holding scepter.
Refs: RIC 79; Cohen 2; RCV 9622; Hunter 56; ERIC II 44.

 

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One of my favourite reverses for Domitian.

 

Small hands, short forearms.

 

A cartoonish horse. (And that obverse! Wacky.)


CELTIC, Central Europe (Rhineland). "Dancing Mannikin" type
65 BCE - CE 1
AR Quinarius, 13 mm, 1.62 gm
Obv: dancing mannikin right, head turned left, holding snake in right hand, torque in left hand.
Rev: horse standing right, head turned left; around, zig zag border.
Ref: SLM 1118. Dembski 73, 396.

My Little Ponies




Elagabalus
AR denarius, 19.4 mm, 3.5 gm
Antioch, 218-219 CE
Obv: ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG, Laureate draped cuirassed bust right
Rev: SANCT DEO SOLI / ELAGABAL, Quadriga right, bearing sacred Baetyl stone, flanked by four parasols
Ref: RIC IV 195
Vauctions 310, lot 250 (25 Sept 2014)
ex CNG Mail Bid Sale 33, lot 914 (15 March 1995)
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancients-a-boy-and-his-stone.254886/

Certain tetrarchal coins depict the emperor as an achondroplastic dwarf (big head and torso, tiny limbs). The coin below isn't mine but the photoshopping is . It's an ex Stevex6. Did anyone here buy it?

 

Ancient Roman horses were far smaller than most breeds of horses you see today. Remember that back then they did not use stirrups. Horses have to be small enough for a rider to securely grip himself around the horse using nothing but the pressure of his knees and thighs to keep himself secured to the horse. Also, without stirrups the horse couldn't be too large for another reason... you can't even mount the horse in the first place.

Every time you see a reenactment or a movie or show, and the riders are riding massive Iberian stallions or other large breeds, you are seeing a distortion of history and getting the wrong impression.

Here's a museum exhibit that accurately reflects the size of Roman horses, which we know well from finding bones, and also from mosaics and other ancient art.



and here's a horse from a Roman mosaic next to a person. Granted, this was a special breed for chariot racing and would have been a bit smaller and lighter than a calvary horse, but it's still a helpful illustration.



And look closely at Marcus Aurelius' statue. As an imperial horse I'd imagine it would have been one of the finest and largest specimens that the empire had to offer. Even then, you can see the horse is quite small relative to the rider by our modern standards.



Also, there is a research published by Dr. Kyra Lyublyanovic titled "Size Variability In Roman Period Horses from Hungary", produced in 2002 for the 9th Conference of International Archaezoologists, that found that the average Roman war horse in Hungary during the times of the empire was around 14.4 hands in height, which is basically around the dividing line between a pony and a small horse.

Quite simply, horses did not start to be bread for large size until stirrups became commonplace in Europe. After all, why breed a huge horse that's so massive you won't be able to ride him securely by using the pressure of your knees and thighs to keep yourself upright? Horses of similar sizes to what we see today did not first appear until around 800 or 900 years ago.

 

Excellent research and pictures!
Live and learn.

 

I was about to write about the same thing. That apparently midget horse on the coin was not that far off in proper proportion to the rider. Sallent is right on, with examples to boot, about the smaller size of ancient horse. One other matter on ancient times cavalry. Look for the position of the troopers lance (lancea). In the Middle Ages, with stirrups, the rider could couch the weapon under his arm but in ancient times the weapon was held just above the shoulder and thrust downward at the enemy. On some occasions the lance was held lower to jab on a level with the riders hand but without the stirrups the couching under the arm was rarely observed. For anyone interested more on Roman Cavalry, from breeds of horses to equine weaponry, may I recommend the book, The Roman Cavalry by Karen R. Dixon and Pat Southern, 1992 B.T. Batsford Lid, London. From pp. 39-51 the authors write of the cavalry lance (even the two handed contus) with illustrations from tombstones showing troopers on their horses employing their weapons from horseback. Now go check your coins for any images of horsemen with lances and see how they are pictured.

 

Wow!! That's fascinating and educational! I had no idea!

 

Here's my little pony - Carthaginian fifth stater.



ATB,
Aidan.

 

I believe the use of stirrups by the Romans came by contact with the Sarmatians and/or Avars. By the time of Basil I stirrups are depicted in Byzantine art. I would suspect that by the time of Maurice Tiberius and his Strategikon that the use of stirrups had been adopted. Other Avar innovations were also accepted into the Byzantine cavalry, such as types of spears/lances and bows, where the first priority of the Byzantine cavalry was to field mounted archers of high quality, as well as cataphractoi or heavy cavalry adopted from the Persians.

 

Don't get much better than a horse with an "ox head". And that's just what they called Alexander the great's horse, Bucephalus:



Of course Philip II's horse won the Olympics the year Alexander was born (a hilariously big horse for the time)!



Or this Greeks head is twice the size of his horse. Guy loved his horse so much he shared the obverese with it and kicked his old lady to the reverse!



Snakes riding horses would be a pretty rare sight... Unless you'rer here on coin talk:

 

I don't own one of these coins and don't know whether I can post an image from someone else, but if one wants to see how a Roman handled a lance on horseback, take a look at a denarius of Caracalla, RIC 108, C.510 BM 574

 

Well, I do have a coin with spearmen on horseback

 

Well, these guys look fishy:

13th century immitation of Venetian Grosso by Stefan Uroš II (1253 – 1321)
Reverse: Christ enthroned, holding Book of Gospels, lilies on each side. Latin legend IC-XC ("Jesus Christ")
Obverse: King receiving banner from St. Stephen, holding scrolls with his left hand, Latin legend: VROSIUS REX S STEFAN ("Uros King, St.Stephen")
Reference: Maric 1956 T XIII 17, Jov 7-13, J 25, LJ (VI-12), I (3.3)
Comment: Milutin was born in 1253, took over Kingdom from his brother Dragutin and ruled for 39 years. After having brain stroke he died on October 29th 1321. He was buried in his Memorial in Banjska in order that his remains should be transferred to Trepca. They were taken to Sofia capital of Bulgaria, to the church " The holy king", around 1460, where they were being kept till the present day.

I have this association...