Roman Republican Denarius # 40 -- another "panther" that's really a leopard

...To reiterate @DonnaML's point, you're referencing a (medieval) cultural context which is of minimal -negligable relevance to the present, Classical one.
As I like to say from time to time, In a world stinking of false dichotomies, this ain't one of 'em.

 

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I think the main problem is that the Wikipedia article is not a good source for supporting your argument. And that, regardless of the word's etymology, the term panthera was used by the Romans to refer to spotted big cats that were associated with Bacchus, but also existed in reality and were seen in the arena -- i.e., leopards (and occasionally also cheetahs, because the Romans weren't necessarily clear on the distinction between the two). There's simply no good reason why we shouldn't translate the term panthera into its actual English equivalent when we see that animal on a coin. Always calling them panthers, even when the spots are obvious, is unnecessarily confusing, because panther has a different meaning in English than it did in the classical world. And because even the Romans used the term pardus, as a gendered subset of panthera.

We're not talking about centaurs and pegasi and hippocamps here. Should we stop calling hounds on coins by the term "hound" simply because those hounds weren't just "normal" dogs when portrayed accompanying Diana?

Also, the fact is that many of the descriptions I see of the mosaics showing Bacchus/Dionysus with a "panther" actually do call the animal a leopard, because it's too obvious that that's what it is to ignore. Whereas it's easier to ignore what it really is on coins, the majority of which are too worn for people to be easily able to see the spots.

 

...And if you found something better, it would be so for admitting of a great deal more nuance, relative to the widely disparate cultural contexts, and any ostensible connection between them. For instance, with words like, 'impressionistically,' or, 'anecdotally....'

 

Great looking coin. Alot of good info on it.

 

Am I the only one who thinks the mask of Silenus on top of the altar on my coin looks like a Jack-in the-box that's going to pop up as soon as the leopard touches it, and cause the animal to react like any cat would? Maybe it's the pointy hat Silenus is wearing.

 

Oh, Dang, Definite Jack-in-the-box going on here. ('Meme'? 'Motif'? can we just be 6 years old for a minute? ...Hang on, more like 4.) One benefit of having it in hand, one would suppose.

 

Great coin, Donna. I do get a vicarious thrill out of watching updates to your Roman Republican collection.

Here is a two-headed Republican denarius showing Liber (or Bacchus) and his daughter Libera. Sorry about the worse-than-usual photos - this one has been very harshly cleaned and is quite shiny, a condition that usually overwhelms my camera and its operator:



Roman Republic Denarius
L. Cassius Q.f. Longinus
(78 B.C.)
Rome Mint
Head of Liber or Bacchus right, thyrsus over shoulder / Head of goddess Libera left, L . CASSI Q . F behind.
Crawford 386/1.; Cassia 6; BMC 3152; Sydenham 779.
(3.51 grams / 18 mm)

"In Roman mythology, Liber was originally associated with husbandry and crops, but then was assimilated with Dionysos. He is the consort of Ceres and the father of the goddess Libera. His festival, the Liberalia, was on 17 March when young men celebrated the arrival of manhood."
https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/sergey_nechayev_ancient_coins...

 

Very nice, and interesting coin DonnaML.

It's interesting to see that many coins from the Roman republican era are filled with references to myths/legends/deities/and so on, that have a connection with the name of the specific moneyer. In that sense I wonder, perhaps it was a good way to make yourself known (in a grand way) to the audience? And would there have been a competition between moneyers, to create the coin with the best reference?

Another brainwave: I've read (see e.g. https://www.ancient.eu/article/635/roman-games-chariot-races--spectacle/) that spotted cats were used in circus games which most likely led to their death. But as I understand from your write up, the spotted cat was the animal of Dionysos/Bacchus. So, were the Romans okay with slaying an animal that was associated with a deity?

Unfortunately, no coins with leopards, cheetas or other spotted African cats in my collection...

 

Very impressive coin, @DonnaML , maybe the most complete I have ever seen.
About the meaning of the reverse scene of course there will never be a definitive solution. The most interesting one, IMO, is that the coin celebrates the victory of the Italic deity Liber (obverse) on Bacchus/Dyonisus/Pan, deriving from the Greek tradition, and connected with the rituals of the Bacchanals. The reverse should show the panther/leopard honoring Bacchus represented in a defeat context, as a mask deposed on an althar. This should refer to the forbidding of the Bacchanals, as stated in the Senatus Consultus de Bacchanalibus of 186 b.C., reported on the bronze table found in Tiriolo in 1640.

 

And this is my Vibius Varus

 

(Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
While I am intrigued by @Scipio's Liber (Roman tradition) v. Bacchus (Greek tradition) explanation, I just shake my head when I look at this coin, bewildering: an anthropomorphized wild beast {panther|leopard|cougar|dalmatian|ocelot} sticking a large gumby plant thrysus down the throat of a comedic silenus mask that is about to pop off the top of the puteal Scribonianus, a sacred well or spot struck by lightning where oaths were taken?

 

I am 100% with dltsrq on this one and regret that modern people try to force their way of looking at things on the ancient civilizations who made these coins. Even today the 'scientific' name for the lion is Panthera leo honoring the concept that Panthera means 'big cat'. The genus includes P. pardus and P. tigris and all are Panthers in that sense of the word. Add to that the fact that there was a mythological belief in a godly cat Panther and we might forgive and forget language differences that provide popular names for 'real' animals. Do you see spots on this Panther? If so, do you believe that Dionysos carried a spotted staff? This coin of Septimius Severus shows a panthera not because of its anatomy but because it is shown as a companion of Liber (Dionysos).

 

Panthera was indeed a generic name for all the big cats. That does not mean anything, however, with regard to the interpretation of the coin reverse.

 

@Sulla80 there is no hint to consider the altar of this coin to be the puteal scribonianus.

 

Understood - it is just the odd scene that I see - not intended to suggest that this is what the moneyer would have seen.

 

I got your point. It’s very common that the the roman religious artifacts are represented with decorations like wreaths or garlands

 

A good reminder that I am not that funny, and on a serious note - I am genuinely intrigued and curious to know more about the reference you make to the forbidding of the Bacchanals, as stated in the Senatus Consultus de Bacchanalibus of 186 BC...a reinforcement of the authority of the senate?

 

Pliny distinguishes the "panthera" from the "tigris" (tiger) and the "leo" (lion): "Panthera et tigris macularum varietate prope solae bestiarum spectantur, ceteris unus ac suus cuique generi color est, leonum tantum in Syria niger" (Historia naturalis 8,23; just above the passage that Donna cited in the original post). His disctinction between these three types of cats is purely phenotypical: panthers have spots, tigers have stripes, lions are monocolored.

At least in Pliny, "panthera" thus doesn't mean any big cat, but only any spotted big cat. Since jaguars had not yet been encountered by Europeans, the word would have been used to refer to the animals we today call leopards and cheetahs. As Donna stated above, the Romans apparently did not really distinguish between these two species.

Yet, since the ancient idea of a panther obviously differs from our modern zoological classifications, I prefer to just call the little animal on this coin a panther in the ancient sense:

Septimius Severus, Roman Empire, denarius, 194 AD, Rome mint. Obv: L SEPT SEV PERT AVG IMP III, head of Septimius Severus, laureate, r. Rev: LIBERO PATRI, Bacchus (Liber), wreathed, naked except for cloak over left arm, emptying oenochoe in r. hand over panther, and holding garlanded thyrsus in l. hand 17.5mm, 2.53g. Ref: RIC IV.1 Septimius Severus 32.

 

Phil Davis

 

Yes, I believe Pennywise would agree with you...