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Message:: [QUOTE="Curtisimo, post: 3166642, member: 83845"]Hello everyone and welcome to Round 2 of the 2018 CoinTalk Imperator Tournament!  If you are unaware of the tournament I invite you to get caught up with all the fun in the master thread; <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancients-it%E2%80%99s-time-the-second-annual-coin-imperator-tournament-2018.320328/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancients-it%E2%80%99s-time-the-second-annual-coin-imperator-tournament-2018.320328/">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancients-it’s-time-the-second-annual-coin-imperator-tournament-2018.320328/</a> [ATTACH=full]814088[/ATTACH] A big thank you to all of our participants.  Here we go with the last, but certainly not least, match up of our spectacular Round 2! ............................................................ #22 [USER=77704]@panzerman[/USER] [ATTACH=full]814089[/ATTACH]AV Stater ND 8.57g./ 17mm (Salamis Mint) Price 3149King Nikokreon of Salamis 331-310BCobverse/ Helmeted head of Athena rightreverse/ Nike standing left, holding wreath and stylis/ rudder in left fieldStruck circa 323-17BC Price: $6,000 Why It’s Cool:Historical significance: Nikokreon was the King of the City State of Salamis, on the island of Cyprus. When Alexander started out on his campaign versus the Persian Empire, Nikokreon and the other Kings of Cyprus allied themselves with Alexander. After the death of Alexander, a period of chaotic warfare ensued amongst the Macedonian generals. Nikokreon, allied himself with Ptolemy against Antigonus. In 315 BC, he colluded with Seleucus and Menelaus (two of Ptolemy's generals) in crushing the Cypriot city kingdoms that had supported Antigonus. After this was completed, Ptolemy rewarded Nikokreon by making him his strategos of Cyprus in addition to remaining King of Salamis. After Nikokreon’s death in about 310BC, Ptolemy added Cyprus to his domain of Egypt. Cyprus would be under control of foreign rulers, till its independence in 1960!!!! [ATTACH=full]814090[/ATTACH] Very little is known about Nikokreon’s character except that he once had the philosopher Anaxarchus brutally tortured and killed in revenge for an insult that he had given Nikokreon in the presence of Alexander. In addition, it used to be accepted that Nikokreon was the king that Diodorus mentions was forced to commit suicide by Ptolemy.  It is now thought that this might have been a different Cypriot king named Nikokles.  This makes the disappearance of Nikokreon from the historical record around 310BC an interesting mystery. [ATTACH=full]814091[/ATTACH]Ruins of Salamis, Cyprus (Wikipedia) ............................................................ #27 [USER=84744]@Severus Alexander[/USER] [ATTACH=full]814092[/ATTACH]Julius Caesar, denarius 49-48 BCE, military mint traveling with CaesarObv: Pontifical implements (simpulum, aspergillum, securis, and apex)Rev: Elephant advancing right, trampling on serpent, CAESAR in exergueReferences: Cr 443/1; Sydenham 1006; RSC 49Note: Most dealers have obverse and reverse the other way around, but since exergues are otherwise exclusive to the reverse on Republican silver, I have gone with the minority opinion. --Also: it is not a fourrée! The dark stuff in the edge crack at the top is dirt, not base metal. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie31" alt=":cat:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> Price: $280 Why It’s Cool:My coin for this round is a numismatic Darth Vader: the denarius that destroyed the Republic and sowed the seeds of Empire. <blockquote>It is 49 BCE. Caesar has done the unthinkable: crossed into Italy with his army and thus plunged his world into civil war. Having scared off Pompey and the conservative faction, he has now entered Rome and is flinging his rhetoric at a sparse, nervous Senate. “The Gaulish threat is no more, so the sacred treasure no longer serves a purpose. Give it to me so I can defend the Republic!” Finally the senators are ready to concede, when a noisy tribune by the name of Lucius Caecilius Metellus shouts “Sacrilege!” and dares to interpose his veto. Caesar is not pleased. “Come to me with your petty scruples when armies no longer march the length and breadth of Rome’s dominions. As it is, Caesar shall simply take what is rightfully his.” At his command, soldiers gleefuly batter down the door to the storerooms beneath the ancient Temple of Saturn. Inconceivably, though, the odious Metellus again interposes, not his veto, but his very body! Caesar’s rage is monumental. (At the same time he is mystified why he envisions himself clad entirely in black, wielding a red sword of light, and slicing the hapless burlap-clad tribune in two. Feel the power of the Dark Side!) Drawing himself to his considerable height, with great difficulty he manages a venemous whisper: “Get. Out. Of. My. Way. Killing you will be easier than saying it.” An enveloping silence. Metellus pales, hesitates… and steps aside. The treasure now belongs to Caesar, who smiles. Let law and sacred duty be damned… he must win! *</blockquote> Pliny reports that Caesar removed fifteen thousand bars of gold, thirty thousand bars of silver, and coins worth fifty million sestertii. The silver bars became elephant denarii, an estimated 22.5 million of them (based on the number of dies). Where did my coin’s silver originate? Carthaginean reparations? booty from Macedon or the East? Caesar’s enormous haul from Gaul enabled him to pay his debts, but it was the money from the state treasury that won him the war. In five years it would be passed down to his heir Octavian/Augustus, who used it to establish the Empire. The elephant denarius is truly one of the hinges upon which history turned. [ATTACH=full]814093[/ATTACH] With the obverse type (the accoutrements of his office as Pontifex Maximus), Caesar advertised his (alleged) legitimacy. The reverse type must also be some sort of propaganda, but what would Romans of the time have seen in it? A good topic for the comments, but I’d like to note <a href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=88757.0." target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=88757.0." rel="nofollow">an intriguing theory recently proposed on Forvm</a> by Michael Harlan, and further developed by “crispina.” I’ll add a couple thoughts of my own here. Given the problems attending other hypotheses, I really think this new idea should be taken seriously. Briefly: Previous elephants on Republican coins are most strongly associated, by far, with the Caecilii Metelli (see the coin pictured below). Now, it seems that Caesar regarded his principal enemy in the conservative faction to be Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio, upon whom he laid most of the blame for the civil war. Reasonably so; Scipio was behind the past few years’ moves to declare Caesar an outlaw and to deprive him of his troops, a consulship, and protection from prosecution. Remember also that our obstinate tribune was a Caecilius Metellus! If the elephant represents the enemy Caecilii Metelli, what is it trampling? There are a few possibilities, not mutually exclusive: 1) Salus, the health of the Republic; 2) the People, whom Caesar always claimed to champion; and/or 3) Caesar’s household genius. The snake’s connection with Salus is straightforward. Representations of the People’s guardian spirits (their household “genii locii”) and the genius of the paterfamilias** are less familiar to us because they were not public; <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/499103?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/499103?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents" rel="nofollow">but they would have been familiar to every Roman</a>. You can see an example below, from Pompeii, of this very common household representation… a crested and bearded serpent, exactly as on the coin! In Caesar’s view, the Caecilii Metelli had assaulted the Republic’s health, trampled on the People, and dealt a mortal insult to Caesar’s personal and family dignitas, which was the fundamental cause of his crossing the Rubicon. Moreover, these messages would be decipherable by everyday Romans of the time. Note that Scipio was also deeply jealous of Caesar’s position as Pontifex Maximus, as depicted by Caesar in the Bellum Civile, so both sides of the coin would do a tremendous job of pushing Scipio’s buttons. Coincidence? I think perhaps not! It is natural for us to assume that the name in the exergue must denote one of the animals on the coin, but there was no such convention at the time. In fact, quite the opposite was true. Representing a clan was one thing, but a living individual, whether figurative or otherwise? That was unheard of on Roman coinage. (Of course, Caesar would upend that convention eventually, but it would take a few more years!) [ATTACH=full]814094[/ATTACH] Bargain: Please note that my example features a complete name, and every device has good detail, even the toughest one, the snake. You can see from <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=caesar+elephant+denarius&category=1-2&en=1&de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ot=1&images=1&thesaurus=1&order=4&currency=usd&company=" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=caesar+elephant+denarius&category=1-2&en=1&de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ot=1&images=1&thesaurus=1&order=4&currency=usd&company=" rel="nofollow">acsearch</a>, factoring in fees, that you can’t get that in recent memory for less than about $400, usually more. Only three coins auctioned in the last ten years are even in the same value ballpark: two from Gorny & Mosch in 2008 ($320, weak name) & 2010 ($325, weak snake and bankers’ marks), and one from Obolos in 2018 ($335, nice but broken). (But I mustn’t forget @Orfew’s nice example for which he paid only a little bit more - another great bargain!) A Canadian conclusion: Veni (excuse me!), Vidi (I’m not interrupting, am I?)… Vici? (If so, I’m terribly sorry!!) ---------------------* True story! Well OK, I made up the light sabre bit. Sources: Plutarch (Caes. 35, Pomp. 62), Lucan (Phars. III.153-168), Pliny (Hist. Nat. XXXIII.17), Cassius Dio (XLI.17). Unsurprisingly, <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Caesar/Civil_Wars/1B*.html#ref1" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Caesar/Civil_Wars/1B*.html#ref1" rel="nofollow">Caesar himself</a> skims over the episode. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie11" alt=":rolleyes:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> ** “The genius was a kind of spiritual double, often portrayed as either a snake or a stately male in a toga and covered head. Somehow connected with the family line, the genius imbued the individual with procreative and inspirational powers. The genius was a kind of tether to the family line which, through the act of procreation, a paterfamilias was able to pass to the next generation.” <a href="https://www.unrv.com/culture/roman-domestic-cult.php" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.unrv.com/culture/roman-domestic-cult.php" rel="nofollow">unrv.com</a> ............................................................ A Gentle ReminderRound 1 went about as well as anyone could have hoped from the perspective of keeping the commentary fun, interesting and friendly. It would be a challenge to run a tournament of this type on almost any other board but with the great people here on CT it has been both an honor and a pleasure. Lets try to keep up with the perfect score in the friendliness department by concentrating comments on why you liked an entry instead of why you didn't like the other. Remember that everyone gets 3 votes to choose which coin you think comes out on top in each of the three categories. With that I will open the thread for comments, opinions, coin pile-ons and random posting of coin things as you see fit.[/QUOTE]

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