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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 4024770, member: 75937&quot;]After reading the article posted by [USER=57495]@zumbly[/USER] and <a href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/ayiyoryitika/ProlegomenaEros/ProlegomenaEros.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/ayiyoryitika/ProlegomenaEros/ProlegomenaEros.html" rel="nofollow">this interesting one</a>, &quot;Prolegomena to a Study of Eros on Roman Provincial Coinage&quot; by Francis Jarman and Patricia Lawrence, I favor the explanation that the figure on the reverse of this coin type represents Eros/Cupid, but I still can&#039;t rule out Genius or Eros as Thanatos, either.</p><p><br /></p><p>Eros/Cupid is commonly depicted in ancient Greek and Roman art with a torch, with which he inflames the passions. See, for example, this statuette from the first century, BC, in the Harvard Art Museum:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1058286[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>There is another possibility for the identity of the figure on the OP coin&#039;s reverse. The inverted torch suggests the extinguishing of love (not necessarily the snuffing out of life by Thanatos, as suggested in my OP), and the coin might portray Anteros, known as Λυσέρως <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Serv.+A.+4.520" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Serv.+A.+4.520" rel="nofollow">(Serv. <i>in Virg. Aen.</i> IV.520)</a>,&quot;the deliverer from love.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>The relevant portion of Servius&#039; commentary on book four of Virgil&#039;s <i>Aeneid</i> (the Dido story) cited above is roughly translated, &quot;They invoke Anteros, the contrary to Cupid, whose responsibility it is to disentangle unfair love and is known as Eros Anteros Luseros.&quot;[1]</p><p><br /></p><p>Servius&#039; commentary notwithstanding, Cupid seems to have assumed Anteros&#039; role in Ovid&#039;s The Remedies for Love, where he is known as <i>Lethaeus Amor</i> <a href="http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/ovid/ovid.rem.shtml" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/ovid/ovid.rem.shtml" rel="nofollow">(Ovid, <i>Rem. Amor.</i> 551-555)</a>, roughly &quot;the eraser of love from the memory.&quot;[2] The relevant passage is translated[3]</p><p><br /></p><blockquote>There, in a curious guise, dwells Cupid as healer of heartache,</p><blockquote><p>There on his torch he pours water cooling the flame.</p></blockquote>Thither young men and girls repair when their vows are a burden,</p><blockquote><p>Seeking forgetfulness there, freed from the hurt in the heart.</p></blockquote></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>It seems reasonable to conclude that the figure on the reverse is more likely to be Eros/Cupid, possibly in his guise as <i>Lethaeus Amor</i>, as symbolized by the inverted torch, than Thanatos per se. However, I think I was too quick to dismiss the notion of Genius.</p><p><br /></p><p>For there is another interpretation of Genius here that is compelling. Frederick Weber notes a circular bezel of a Hellenistic finger ring which bears an intaglio device of a winged Cupid-like figure seated at the foot of a sepulchral column and leaning on an inverted torch. He calls the figure a <i>genius</i> and explains:</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p>One might here allude to something which is often not recognized, namely, that perhaps, <i>strictly speaking</i>, the winged genius with inverted torch represented on Roman tombs, antique gems, &amp;c., is not a <i>&quot;genius of death,&quot;</i> but rather <i>&quot;a genius of the mourning for death.&quot; </i>If that were so, the winged boy with the inverted torch would be more nearly related to the true god of love than has been popularly admitted, for he would represent the fond but hopeless yearning (&quot;Pothos,&quot; <i>πόθος</i>) after a loved one lost by death.</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>But Weber also concedes that Thanatos may be depicted as a Cupid-like figure, noting:</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p>Isaac D&#039;Israeli, however, wrote in the same sense as King: &quot;Love, with a melancholy air, his legs crossed, leaning on an inverted torch, the flame thus naturally extinguishing itself, elegantly denoted the cessation of human life.&quot;</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>So, I&#039;m no closer to understanding the reverse figure than before, for Genius, Eros and Eros as Thanatos all seem to be plausible identities for the figure.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>~~~</p><p><br /></p><p>1. <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Da)nte%2Frws" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Da)nte%2Frws" rel="nofollow">Ἀντέρως</a> (Anteros) was the god of requited love, literally &quot;love returned&quot; or &quot;counter-love&quot; and also the punisher of those who scorn love and the advances of others, or the avenger of unrequited love.</p><p><br /></p><p>2. <i>Lethaeus</i> is a Latin adjective meaning &quot;of or relating to Lethe&quot;, &quot;of the underworld&quot;, or &quot;causing forgetfulness or sleepiness&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>3. Ovid, and Rolfe Humphries. <i>The Art of Love: the Loves, the Art of Beauty, the Remedies for Love and the Art of Love</i>. Indiana University Press, 1957, p. 198.</p><p><br /></p><p>4. Weber, Frederick P. <i>Aspects of Death and Correlated Aspects of Life in Art, Epigram, and Poetry: Contrib. towards and Anthology and an Iconography of the Subject. Illustr. Especially by Medals, Engraved Gems, Jewels, Ivories, Antique Pottery, Etc. With 146 Illustr.</i> Paul Hoeber, 1918, p. 590.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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