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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kevin McGonigal, post: 7394372, member: 72790&quot;]Have you ever noticed that ancient coins often figure rulers and their relatives? Some may be side by side, on one side, or one image on the obverse and one on the reverse. I started going through my collection recently and discovered that I had a number of the latter, but none of the former. I thought it might be instructive to see what other members of this site might have in the way of coins where there is both a ruler and a relative.</p><p><br /></p><p>I found out that I do not have such coins that might be considered to have been Greek coins. I don&#039;t know if there are any or I just need to buy some more Greek coins to rectify this glaring lacuna in my collection (notice the use of rationalization here). I also found that I have many Byzantine coins that have rulers and sons, rulers and spouses but I have not pictured any here. There may be Roman Republic coins that have both a ruler and a relative, but if so I don&#039;t have of those&nbsp; (NB to author: another lacuna needing filling). I have, however, a number of Imperial Roman that do.</p><p><br /></p><p>First it might be interesting to figure out why this is so. In some cases it might be an attempt to link a ruler to a famous relative to boast his own image as in &quot;I am descended from Maximus Optimus, Pater Patriae, Salus Mundi, Imperator Imperatorum&quot; and as such my subjects should appreciate me on the throne. Or it might be a promotion of a potential successor. &quot;This is my son, grandson, little brother, adopted son-in-law,&nbsp; in whom I am well pleased. Get used to seeing him&quot;. Perhaps there is affection involved. This is my beloved spouse, mother, Divine parent, without whom I would not be so great as I am&quot;, something mildly self effacing, but not too much. The Roman ruling class was not much on humility. Whatever the motive, we do find rulers putting themselves and a relative on the same coin. Below are some of these coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>From the left top we have first a silver Denarius of Augustus, (RIC 207) probably the most commonly encountered silver coin of that emperor. He is on the obverse and his two grandsons, Gaius and Lucius,&nbsp; being groomed as successors, were joined together on the reverse holding shields. As we know, Augustus was big on survival and outlived all his heirs, a number of them, until only the not too much beloved Tiberius was left. Oh well, any port in a storm.&nbsp; The second coin is bronze As of his unbeloved Tiberius on the obverse and his pious mother, Livia,&nbsp; weaving something with a spindle (and getting ready to snip some more threads of life?. It is Sear 1769. The third coin is a Syrian Tetradrachma with Agrippina on it. I am not sure of the correct attribution of this coin because (any help appreciated) I cannot figure out for sure if the male image is Claudius, in which case it is an Uncle/niece relationship, or a spousal one after he married her, or if it is Nero, in which case it is a mother-son one. In either case it was not a good pairing for anybody. The fourth coin is a Cappadocian silver didrachma with Claudius the adoptive father being paired (posthumously) with his adopted son, Nero. It is Sear 2055. The fourth is somewhat light (17 grams) sestertius of Philip II,&nbsp;&nbsp; and the co-Augustus with his father Philip I (the Arab). He is about ten or eleven years old at the time of its minting and about a year way from being murdered by the Praetorian&nbsp; Guard, anxious to put another notch on its standard. I am not sure of this but he may have been the youngest Co-Augustus to have been killed on the throne. If you look closely on the reverse you can see the father, on the right, looking kindly and proudly at his son. He seems almost beaming at his offspring, fat lot of good it did for him. It is Sear 9279. The last coin is a silver (barely) double denarius of the Emperor, Valerian, one of the better known emperors paired with their co-Augustus sons, Gallienus. On this reverse he is paired with his father with an image that seems very similar to the Augustus one pictured here, the two co emperors holding a shield. It is RIC 277, Sear 2891 (1988 edition).</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;Hopefully readers here can provide some other coins similar to these where the ruler and a relative are pictured together on the same coin, maybe a Greek coin, or Roman Republican, if such exist.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1286561[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1286567[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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