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The thin line between love and death: Eros-Thanatos
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<p>[QUOTE="Roman Collector, post: 4006483, member: 75937"]The identity of the figure on the reverse of this little provincial is somewhat unclear. Varbanov describes the figure as a "winged Genius," <a href="http://www.wildwinds.com/moushmov/hadrianopolis.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.wildwinds.com/moushmov/hadrianopolis.html" rel="nofollow">Moushmov</a> as "Thanatos or Eros," and the <a href="https://www.corpus-nummorum.eu/thrace/coins?id=5217" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.corpus-nummorum.eu/thrace/coins?id=5217" rel="nofollow">Corpus Nummorum</a> as "Nude Eros in attitude of Thanatos." So, which figure is depicted here -- Genius, Eros, or Thanatos?</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/caracalla-hadrianopolis-winged-genius-jpg.1054668/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><blockquote><p><font size="3">Caracalla, AD 198-217.</font></p><p><font size="3">Roman provincial AE 17.1 mm, 3.44 g, 12 h.</font></p><p><font size="3">Thrace, Hadrianopolis, AD 198-217.</font></p><p><font size="3">Obv: AVT K M AVP CE ANTΩNEINOC, laureate head, right.</font></p><p><font size="3">Rev: AΔΡIANOΠOΛEITΩN, Nude Eros-Thanatos standing right, left leg crossed over right, leaning with right hand and left elbow on inverted lit torch.</font></p><p><font size="3">Refs: Varbanov 3526; Jurukova, Hadrianople 390.2; <a href="https://www.corpus-nummorum.eu/thrace/coins?id=5217" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.corpus-nummorum.eu/thrace/coins?id=5217" rel="nofollow">CN 5217</a>; Moushmov 2615; cf. SNG Cop 271.</font></p><p><font size="3">Notes: Reverse die match to CN 5217 specimen (Nacionalen Arheologičeski Institut s Muzej, Sofia, no. 1566).</font></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>I think Genius can be readily dismissed here as a possibility. There is simply no mythological basis for identifying the figure on the reverse of this coin as Genius. Distinguishing between Eros and Thanatos, however, isn't so easy because the two deities were conflated in antiquity. It's perhaps best to refer to this figure as Eros-Thanatos.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Greek word θάνατος (thanatos) means death, and Thanatos was thus a personification of death. Hesiod's <i>Theogony </i>(758 ff)[1] describes Thanatos as a son of Nyx (Night) and Erebos (Darkness) and the twin of Hypnos (Sleep).</p><p><br /></p><p>Thanatos had numerous other siblings responsible for human ills: Geras (Old Age), Oizys (Suffering), Moros (Doom), Apate (Deception), Momus (Blame), Eris (Strife), Nemesis (Retribution) and even the Stygian boatman Charon. Thanatos had three half-sisters, the Moirai (the Fates, daughters of Night), of which one of them, Atropos, was a goddess of death in her own right.</p><p><br /></p><p>Early depictions of Thanatos in art and literature depict him as a fully-grown, bearded, winged male figure who carries away the dead, such as on this Attic krater[2], which depicts Sarpedon’s body carried by Hypnos and Thanatos (note the name Θάνατος is retrograde), while Hermes watches.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1054721[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Over time, Thanatos became associated more with a gentle passing than a woeful demise, in contrast to Keres, the personification of violent death. As such, he becomes depicted as a nubile, beardless winged youth, as on this Attic vase[3] and sculptured marble column drum[4], each in the British Museum.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1054731[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1054732[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>By the Roman imperial period, Thanatos became even more youthful and was regularly depicted as a very young boy. Many Roman sarcophagi depict him as a winged boy, very much akin to Cupid. Particularly relevant to the iconography on the coin above, "Eros with crossed legs and torch reversed became the commonest of all symbols for Death", observes Arthur Bernard Cook.[5] This terracotta figurine from the 3rd century AD[6] depicts the god in exactly the same way as on the reverse of my coin -- a winged boy with legs crossed with an inverted torch to extinguish its flame against the ground, an allegory for snuffing out a human life.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1054740[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>~~~</p><p><br /></p><p>1. Hesiod, Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica. Translated by Evelyn-White, H G. Loeb Classical Library Volume 57. London: William Heinemann, 1914.</p><p><br /></p><p>2. Side A of the so-called “Euphronios krater”, Attic red-figured calyx-krater signed by Euxitheos (potter) and Euphronios (painter), ca. 515 BC. H. 45.7 cm (18 in.); D. 55.1 cm (21 11/16 in.). Formerly in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (L.2006.10); Returned to Italy and exhibited in Rome as of January, 2008.</p><p><br /></p><p>3. Hypnos and Thanatos carrying the body of Sarpedon from the battlefield of Troy. Detail from an Attic white-ground lekythos, ca. 440 BC. British Museum, accession number Cat. Vases D56.</p><p><br /></p><p>4. Winged youth with a sword, probably Thanatos, personification of death. Detail of a sculptured marble column drum from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos, ca. 325-300 BC. Found at the south-west corner of the temple. British Museum, accession number GR 1872.8-3.9 (Cat. Sculpture 1206).</p><p><br /></p><p>5. Cook, <i>Zeus: A study in ancient religion</i>, 1940:1045, citing Adolf Furtwängler, in Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher, <i>Ausführliches Lexikon der grieschischen und römischen Mythologie</i>.</p><p><br /></p><p>6. Terracotta figurine of Eros leaning on an inverted torch, dating from the 3rd century AD. On display in the Ancient Agora Museum in Athens, housed in the Stoa of Attalus. Picture by Giovanni Dall'Orto, November 9, 2009. The copyright holder of this file allows anyone to use it for any purpose, provided that the copyright holder is properly attributed. Redistribution, derivative work, commercial use, and all other use is permitted.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Roman Collector, post: 4006483, member: 75937"]The identity of the figure on the reverse of this little provincial is somewhat unclear. Varbanov describes the figure as a "winged Genius," [URL='http://www.wildwinds.com/moushmov/hadrianopolis.html']Moushmov[/URL] as "Thanatos or Eros," and the [URL='https://www.corpus-nummorum.eu/thrace/coins?id=5217']Corpus Nummorum[/URL] as "Nude Eros in attitude of Thanatos." So, which figure is depicted here -- Genius, Eros, or Thanatos? [IMG]https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/caracalla-hadrianopolis-winged-genius-jpg.1054668/[/IMG] [INDENT][SIZE=3]Caracalla, AD 198-217. Roman provincial AE 17.1 mm, 3.44 g, 12 h. Thrace, Hadrianopolis, AD 198-217. Obv: AVT K M AVP CE ANTΩNEINOC, laureate head, right. Rev: AΔΡIANOΠOΛEITΩN, Nude Eros-Thanatos standing right, left leg crossed over right, leaning with right hand and left elbow on inverted lit torch. Refs: Varbanov 3526; Jurukova, Hadrianople 390.2; [URL='https://www.corpus-nummorum.eu/thrace/coins?id=5217']CN 5217[/URL]; Moushmov 2615; cf. SNG Cop 271. Notes: Reverse die match to CN 5217 specimen (Nacionalen Arheologičeski Institut s Muzej, Sofia, no. 1566).[/SIZE][/INDENT] I think Genius can be readily dismissed here as a possibility. There is simply no mythological basis for identifying the figure on the reverse of this coin as Genius. Distinguishing between Eros and Thanatos, however, isn't so easy because the two deities were conflated in antiquity. It's perhaps best to refer to this figure as Eros-Thanatos. The Greek word θάνατος (thanatos) means death, and Thanatos was thus a personification of death. Hesiod's [I]Theogony [/I](758 ff)[1] describes Thanatos as a son of Nyx (Night) and Erebos (Darkness) and the twin of Hypnos (Sleep). Thanatos had numerous other siblings responsible for human ills: Geras (Old Age), Oizys (Suffering), Moros (Doom), Apate (Deception), Momus (Blame), Eris (Strife), Nemesis (Retribution) and even the Stygian boatman Charon. Thanatos had three half-sisters, the Moirai (the Fates, daughters of Night), of which one of them, Atropos, was a goddess of death in her own right. Early depictions of Thanatos in art and literature depict him as a fully-grown, bearded, winged male figure who carries away the dead, such as on this Attic krater[2], which depicts Sarpedon’s body carried by Hypnos and Thanatos (note the name Θάνατος is retrograde), while Hermes watches. [ATTACH=full]1054721[/ATTACH] Over time, Thanatos became associated more with a gentle passing than a woeful demise, in contrast to Keres, the personification of violent death. As such, he becomes depicted as a nubile, beardless winged youth, as on this Attic vase[3] and sculptured marble column drum[4], each in the British Museum. [ATTACH=full]1054731[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1054732[/ATTACH] By the Roman imperial period, Thanatos became even more youthful and was regularly depicted as a very young boy. Many Roman sarcophagi depict him as a winged boy, very much akin to Cupid. Particularly relevant to the iconography on the coin above, "Eros with crossed legs and torch reversed became the commonest of all symbols for Death", observes Arthur Bernard Cook.[5] This terracotta figurine from the 3rd century AD[6] depicts the god in exactly the same way as on the reverse of my coin -- a winged boy with legs crossed with an inverted torch to extinguish its flame against the ground, an allegory for snuffing out a human life. [ATTACH=full]1054740[/ATTACH] ~~~ 1. Hesiod, Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica. Translated by Evelyn-White, H G. Loeb Classical Library Volume 57. London: William Heinemann, 1914. 2. Side A of the so-called “Euphronios krater”, Attic red-figured calyx-krater signed by Euxitheos (potter) and Euphronios (painter), ca. 515 BC. H. 45.7 cm (18 in.); D. 55.1 cm (21 11/16 in.). Formerly in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (L.2006.10); Returned to Italy and exhibited in Rome as of January, 2008. 3. Hypnos and Thanatos carrying the body of Sarpedon from the battlefield of Troy. Detail from an Attic white-ground lekythos, ca. 440 BC. British Museum, accession number Cat. Vases D56. 4. Winged youth with a sword, probably Thanatos, personification of death. Detail of a sculptured marble column drum from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos, ca. 325-300 BC. Found at the south-west corner of the temple. British Museum, accession number GR 1872.8-3.9 (Cat. Sculpture 1206). 5. Cook, [I]Zeus: A study in ancient religion[/I], 1940:1045, citing Adolf Furtwängler, in Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher, [I]Ausführliches Lexikon der grieschischen und römischen Mythologie[/I]. 6. Terracotta figurine of Eros leaning on an inverted torch, dating from the 3rd century AD. On display in the Ancient Agora Museum in Athens, housed in the Stoa of Attalus. Picture by Giovanni Dall'Orto, November 9, 2009. The copyright holder of this file allows anyone to use it for any purpose, provided that the copyright holder is properly attributed. Redistribution, derivative work, commercial use, and all other use is permitted.[/QUOTE]
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