The Ghost of Elagabalus

I picked up this denarius of Elagabalus a few months ago but only just got around to photographing it. I chased it for several reasons, but originally, I just wanted a decent portrait of our favorite fruitcake emperor wearing the infamous "horn"/dessicated bull penis/extra frilly laurel wreath on his head.

Beyond that, this particular coin was interesting to me because for this issue, the horned portrait was supposedly already abandoned, and RIC lists this reverse with only a standard laureate, draped bust obverse. In a brief auction writeup, CNG suggests that the change was likely because "popular unrest provoked a sudden attempt by the regime to reform its image, one act of which would obviously be the removal of the horn." I suppose, then, that this coin was mistakenly struck using a leftover obverse die with a horned portrait.

The reverse shows evidence of yet another mistake at the mint, a die clash that produced a "ghost" - the mirrored image of Elagabalus's head neatly framing the standing figure of him sacrificing at an altar. Rather appropriate, I thought, for a coin that was his last issue before he was assassinated, struck for less than three months, between 1 Jan - 11 Mar 222.

Please feel free to share your coins of Elagabalus or coins struck with clashed dies.


ELAGABALUS
AR Denarius. 3.02g, 20.8mm. Rome mint, 1 Jan - 11 Mar AD 222. RIC 52 var. (laureate, draped bust, hornless). O: IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate and draped bust right wearing "horn". R: P M TR P V COS IIII P P, Elagabalus, in Syrian priestly robes, standing left, sacrificing out of patera in right hand over lighted altar, and holding club in left hand; star in left field.

 

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Very interesting coin in the context of his reign.

Nice capture.

John

 

Thanks for sharing this coin and interesting background story.

 

Very nice. I have many ancients with clashed dies, but here is my Elagabalus a clash.


Elagabalus (218 - 222 A.D.)
AR Denarius
O.: IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate and draped bust right, from behind.
R.: PM T R P IIII COS III P P, Sol radiate, half-draped, with flying cloak, advancing left, raising right hand and holding whip; in field, star.
Rome mint, AD 220-221
20mm
3.49g
RIC IVb Elagabalus 40 (p. 31)

Reverse Die Clash

 

Congrats zumbly, its on my bucketlist, a horned fruitcake

My only elagabalus:

 

I should add "horned fruitcake" to my coin label.

ELAGABALUS
AR Denarius
A.D. 218 – 222 (struck A.D. 221)
3.73 grams, 19.5 mm diameter
Obv: IMP.ANTONINUS PIVS AVG, Laureate draped bust right with horn over forehead.
Rev: P.M.TR.P.IIII.COS.III.P.P. Elagabalus standing left sacrificing over small fire alter holding branch/club in left arm and patera in right hand with star above.
Grade: Good EF, well centered on good silver fabric.
Other: Variety with horn (Dehydrated Bovine Phallus) with extensive CoinTalk provenance. Ex Littleton coin. Sear Roman Coins and their values #2112.

 

Nice!

 

"Ghost of Elagabalus" got my attention! I like that ghostly clashed die. I don't have a clashed-die Elagabalus yet. Someday, hopefully!

Here's my coin with horn, from the same issue as yours. We're attributing it a bit differently. You have RIC 52 var., and I have RIC 53 var. It depends on if you think he's holding a cypress branch or a club. Branch seems more likely to me, even if it can sometimes look like a club. I don't think there's a wrong answer, though, because nobody really knows.

Elagabalus. AR denarius, Rome, 222 CE; 2.51g. BMCRE 269 var. (large star), RIC IV 53 var. (without “horn”), RSC III 213c (large star). Obv: IMP ANTONINVS – PIVS AVG; laureate bust r., draped, seen from front, with “horn” over forehead, bearded. Rx: PM TR P V COS IIII P P; Elagabalus, standing half-l., sacrificing out of patera over lighted altar, holding branch (cypress?) upwards in l. hand; star in field l. EF.

ex Spink, London.

 

Here's my Elagabalus AR Tetradrachm of Antioch. Nice coin in hand, believe me.

 

I only have a few ancient coins so far, but by far my best looking one is a "Horned" Elagabalus. I have shown it before, but what the heck I love sharing this one.

Elagabalus (218-222 AD)
Silver Denarius
Minted: 221 AD
Obv: IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, Draped bust right, laureate, "horned"
Rev: PM TR P IIII COS III P P, Emperor standing left sacrificing out of patera over lighted altar, holding branch in right hand, star in left field
Ric 46 Sear 7536

 

Elagabalus with with a "ding dong hat" is pretty high on my list!

Here is on my my favorite coins form him, a provincial from Edessa. The damage on the obverse is worse than it looks in the pic, it's a cavity that darn near punches through to the other side.

 

Wow, that coin has a lot of stories to tell, Z! Great capture!

Here's my horny coin (RIC 87):

Yes, sometimes it's hard to figure out what these are. (Mine is easy, however.) Check this one out (not my coin):

A very detailed image of... what, exactly?!

And here's my nearest dramatic die-clash, an earlyish issue of Sev Alex (courtesy @John Anthony):

 

WOAH - Those EYES @zumbly ! LOL... Intense for for a real "Horn-Head"!

Elagabalus:


RProv Elagabalus CE 218-222 AE 18mm 4.3g Thrace Philippolis Serpent entwined tripod Pythia Festival Moushmov 5423

 

Very nice @zumbly!

I really do need to get off my keister and get some Elagabalus coins!

 

Struck in Tyre-Phoenicia, the following coin represents horned Elagabalus with the goddess of love, Astarte, on reverse. BMC 397.

 

Wow, great coin-shares, everyone. Thanks!

I agree. It's even noted in RIC for the preceding issue of this type that "the object (branch of cypress or club) held by Elagabalus is not always easy to distinguish". For our issue, they give club or branch two different numbers, but for RIC 177 (Antioch), it's one number covering "club (or cypress branch)". *shrug*

For what it's worth, my sense of the convention in use on Roman imperial coins makes me think of a club when I see a stout knobbly thing, and as for branch, I look for something more like what we see on @Severus Alexander's first coin.

And as for this one...

Scoop of ice-cream in a cone?

 

Hmmm. No die clashes of Elagabalus, but I do have one of his grandma!


Julia Maesa, AD 218-225..
Roman AR denarius, 19.70 mm, 2.70 g, 12h.
Rome, AD 218-220.
Obv: IVLIA MAESA AVG, bare-headed and draped bust right.
Rev: IVNO, Juno standing left, holding patera and scepter.
Refs: RIC 254; BMCRE 67; Cohen 16; RCV 7750; Thirion 401.
Notes: The reverse features a die-clash, resulting in a ghost-like, incuse reverse image of the obverse portrait.

@zumbly has the last denarius issued by Elagabalus. This is the last issue of an Antoninianus--a denomination introduced by Elagabalus' cousin-once-removed, Caracalla, in AD 215--until reintroduced by Balbinus in the "year of the six emperors," AD 238.


Elagabalus, AD 218-222.
Roman AR Antoninianus, 5.17 g, 21.3 mm, 11 h.
Rome, AD 219.
Obv: IMP ANTONINVS AVG, radiate and draped bust, right.
Rev: P M TR PII COSII P P, Fortuna enthroned left, holding rudder on globe and cornucopiae; wheel below seat.
Refs: RIC 18; BMCRE 94; Cohen 148; RCV 7495.

 

Nice coin @zumbly ! I really like the "ghosting" on the reverse. I'll have to find my own horned portrait of the Priest of the Unconquered Sun-god Elagabalus as this is my only silver example at present:

​

 

Very nice coin.
Elagabalus 218-222, RIC 131, Denarius Obv: IMPANTONINVSPIVSAVG - Laureate, draped bust right. Rev: SACERDDEISOLISELAGAB - Elagabalus standing right, sacrificing over altar and holding palm; star in right field.

 

zumbly, you may very well be correct, and your rationale makes perfect sense if we're thinking of a conventional Roman branch. But Elagabalus was not conventional. Cypress is native to Syria and pinecones were a symbol of fertility in ancient times.

For example, bacchantes, who were priestesses of Bacchus, are depicted in Roman art carrying the thyrsus, which was a staff tipped with a pinecone and thought to represent a fertility phallus. Similarly, cypress pinecones could have represented fertility for El-Gabal, Elagabalus's sun god. The bull's penis ("horn") he wears on his head probably represents virility. It all fits the theme.

The "branch" then could possibly be a cypress-wood rod adorned with knobbly cypress pinecones as in the image below, fashioned into a sort of artificial "branch." This would account for it's knobbly-ness.



I just don't see how the symbol of a club fits in, other than that it kind of looks like a club. What would the club symbolize? Bashing the sacrificial animal over the head? Also, on coins of Elagabalus, Hercules is depicted holding a club, and it's definitely a club. That's the conventional Roman depiction of a club. It's more distinctly tapered from wide at the top for clubbing, to skinny at the bottom for a handle. And it's not very knobbly.



Maybe Elagabalus is holding neither branch nor club, but some completely unknown thing. We're all just guessing.