NotMyCoins: Monuments and landscapes, or Roman Coins as Postcards

These are slides from a slideshow I had prepared for students. None of the coins are mine, natürlich. They show monuments or landscapes, sometimes aerial views figured on Roman coins, and the same site photographed today.

Athens, the Acropolis


Athens, pseudo-autonomous AE coin from c.140-175 AD. View of the Acropolis from North-West; on right, steps of the Panathenaic Way lead upward to Propylaea, at summit, Erechtheum and colossal statue of Athena Promachus standing right, mid-summit, niche representing the Cave of Pan.


Nicaea (Iznik, Turkey)

Bithynia, Nicaea, AE octassarion of Gallienus : the city walls.


Same coin: polygonal circuit of the city-walls.


Mount Argaeus (Erciyes Dağı, Turkey)

Caesarea of Cappadocia (Kayseri, Turkey), AR drachm of Septimius Severus, 207 AD. Mount Argaeus with hoodoos (or fairy chimneys) typical of the Cappadocia landscape.


Amasia (Amasya, Turkey)

Amasia, AE hexassarion of Severus Alexander, 225/6 AD. View of the walled city built on a rocky terrain. The temple of Zeus Stratios in the centre has vanished, today one can see a nice 16th c. mosque built by Soliman the Magnificent, with some "flamboyant" ornaments probably added by Western craftsmen hired for this project.


Heliopolis (Baalbek, Lebanon)


Heliopolis, AE24mm of Septimius Severus. The temple on the coin is Jupiter Temple, of which remain the monumental stairway, the podium and 8 columns (under restoration on the photograph). The Bacchus Temple besides was roughly similar, but smaller.


Heliopolis, AE tetrassarion of Philip the Arab. The coin shows the Propylaea built under this emperor, with much accuracy if compared with the actual view. The monumental stairway has disappeared, the one on the photo is modern.


I have made many others...
My favourite is perhaps Trajan's port at Ostia :
Trajan, sestertius : PORTVM TRAIANI / SC. Today it is just besides Rome's Fiumicino airport. The taxiways and runways cover the old Claudius Port figured on famous sestertii of Nero.

 

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Great pics !

Q

 

Excellent post.

 

Very cool!
Here's some post card coins of mine:


Tiberius

As Caesar, AD 4-14. Æ Dupondius (26mm, 9.90 g, 1h). Lugdunum (Lyon) mint. Struck AD 13-14. Laureate head of Tiberius right / Front elevation of the Altar of Lugdunum, decorated with the corona civica between laurels, flanked by nude male figures; to left and right, Victories on columns, facing one another. RIC I 244 (Augustus). VF, Unearthed Dec 2021 Burgundy region of France

We are told that the Altar of Rome and Augustus at Lugdunum and the cult activities surrounding it were established by Drusus in 12 BC amidst uprisings in Gaul (Dio 43.32; Livy, Epit. 138-9). The sanctuary where the altar stood, easily accessible since Agrippa’s road network was laid out, served as the assembly place for the tribal representatives of the Tres Galliae. Convening annually, the provincial assembly effectively gave the local Gallic communities a voice while uniting them under the backdrop of the imperial cult. It also provided tribal leaders an opportunity to compete on a larger stage. Among the activities at the assembly were the elections of the cult’s officers and the annual high priest. The latter was the highest office one could hope to obtain in Gaul and brought great prestige to both the priest and his community.





Diva Faustina Junior. Died AD 175/6. Æ Sestertius (29,4mm, 18.28 g, 12h). Consecration issue. Rome mint. Struck under Marcus Aurelius, circa AD 175-176. Draped bust right / Altar with closed doors. RIC III 1706 (Aurelius); Unearthed Marne 2020






Augustus

Æ21 of Pergamon, Mysia. 27 BC-AD 14. M. Plautius Silvanus, proconsul, and Demophon. SIΛBANON ΠEPΓAMHNOI, the proconsul M. Plautius Silvanus standing left, holding patera, being crowned by uncertain male figure / Tetrastyle temple of Augustus; ΣEBAΣTON above, ΔHMOΦΩN below. RPC 2364; BMC 245. 4.93g, 20mm, 2h.
Very Fine. Ex: Savoca blue




Hadrian

(117-138) AR Drachm, CAPPADOCIA, Caesarea: issued 128-138. 2.94g, 17mm.
Obv: Laureate head right
Rev: ΥΠATOC Γ Π-ATHΡ ΠAT, Mount Argaeus surmounted by a statue of Helios, holding globe and sceptre.
RPC III, 3119, S 263a, Metcalf Conspectus 106, Ganschow 184b
Rare! (only 2 specimens in RPC). Gift from @Severus Alexander from AMCC3 July 2021





CIVIL WAR, 68-69 CE,

Denarius, fouree, Mint in Southern Gaul, Forces of Vitellius in Gaul and in the Rhine Valley. Anonymous, 2 January-19 April 69. Denarius (Silver, 18 mm, 2.5 g, 4 h), Lugdunum. 'Jupiter-Vesta Group'. VESTA P R QVIRITIVM Veiled, diademed and draped bust of Vesta to right; before, burning torch. Rev. I O MAX CAPITOLI-NVS The Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus on the Capitoline Hill: distyle temple with wreath in pediment and acroteria in the form of aphlasta; within, statue of Jupiter seated left, holding thunderbolt in his right hand and scepter in his left. BMC 70. CG 15.8. Cohen 368. Martin 13. Nicolas 15. RIC 128. Rare and of great numismatic interest. Frank Robinson’s notes “F or so BUT much patchy core exposure, somewhat off-ctr, lgnds crude & partly off; bust clear; but pretty ugly. Or, as a certain deity would say, "A beautiful coin, folks, believe me, a beautiful coin, I can tell you that." But Very rare.

Ex: Frank Robinson

 

Good! excellent ! I should have made a slide for this one. Er... couldn't resist, I did it.

Lugdunum (Lyon, France), Altar of Rome and Augustus

Lugdunum, AE sestertius of Augustus, monumental altar, mentioned by Strabo, dedicated to the cult of Rome and Augustus. On the spot today there is nothing to see, but not far from there, in the medieval Basilica of Saint Martin d'Ainay, we still can see the two monolithic Egyptian granite columns that once, with statues of Victories on top of them, flanked the altar. They have been sawn in half and are now the four columns supporting the church crossing.

 

Here the two examples from my collection coming to my mind:
Tetrapylon in the city of Aphrodisias in Caria:

Tempel of Roma and Venus in Rome (The most commonly depicted building on roman coinage but there is not much left of it today so I added a modern reconstruction graphic)

 

I always wanted one of those Heliopolis dekastyle from perspective coins but they are very popular and expensive so I make do with the less commonly seen (?) AE26 straight on front façade version that came to me in 1994. As bad as it is, I have seen worse.

 

The thread is old but I wanted to drop in and appreciate the slides you shared from your slideshow featuring Roman coins depicting monuments and landscapes. It's fascinating how these coins provide a visual connection between the past and the present.