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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GinoLR, post: 25689619, member: 128351&quot;]Quadrans (or quadrantes) are interesting coins. In the 1st and 2nd c. they were the smallest coins issued by the senatorial mint of Rome (the SC coins), and they were the only coins without the effigy of the emperor (except for a few ones). </p><p><br /></p><p>They circulated in Rome, in Italy, in the western Latin speaking provinces but also in the eastern provinces along with locally minted AE coins. In 1st c. Orient, the quadrans was not the smallest coin in circulation, they had the half-quadrans. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]1642638[/ATTACH]</p><p>Domitian (81-96), quadrans, Rome 83-92. AE 17 mm, 2.60 g, 6 h.</p><p>Obv.: two-horned rhinoceros walking left</p><p>Rev.: IMP DOMIT AVG GERM around S C. </p><p>RIC II.1 249</p><p><br /></p><p>This rhino is not any rhino. It&#039;s probably the very first African rhino seen alive in Rome. There had been Indian rhinos under Augustus (twice) and perhaps before in the games given by Pompey, but the Domitian rhino was an African species, probably a &quot;black&quot; rhinoceros. It was opposed to a bear and a bull, there are short poems by Martial about these fights.</p><p>This rhino became a sensation, a superstar. It was represented by bronze statuettes, on oil lamps, on mosaics, and even on the frieze of the Divine Vespasian&#039;s Temple on the Roman Forum : </p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]1642640[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="4">(a scene from Domitian&#039;s games celebrated by Martial : we see a venator against a lion and the rhinoceros attacking a bull)</font></p><p><br /></p><p>This rhinoceros was even chosen to be the obverse type of quadrantes issued under Domitian ! </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Another quadrans : </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1642630[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Trajan (98-117), quadrans, Rome. AE 16 mm, 3.11 g, 6 h. </p><p>Obv.: IMP CAES TRAIAN AVG GERM, bust of Hercules, hair bound with taenia and with lion’s skin on shoulder</p><p>Rev.: boar walking right; in exergue S C</p><p>RIC 702</p><p><br /></p><p>This quadrans was minted in Rome, and several specimens have been found in the river Tiber, in Rome. It is scarcely found in Archaeological digs (or by MD) in western Europe but seems to be rather common in the Near East, many specimens have been found in Israel and Jordan.</p><p>It is possible that this quadrans with Hercules on obverse was minted in Rome specially for circulation in Judaea and Arabia.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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