'Woe's me. Methinks I'm turning into a god ... eventually'

My latest coin arrived not without a little drama! I got a notification that it had been delivered while I was out running errands, however, when I got home and checked my mailbox it wasn't in there! (Normally I have my coins delivered to my PO box instead of my home address for this very reason, but had forgotten to change the shipping address this time around.) I made a trip downtown to the local PO and the Post Master contacted my carrier and said he would meet me back at my Apartment Mail box units. I then drove back to my apartment waited for the carrier who showed up a bit sheepishly. He opened all the unit boxes, and lo and behold, the coin mailer was in someone else's box. Good thing we caught it before the owner did! At any rate, now I am able to share this wonderful coin.



Divus Vespasian
Æ Sestertius, 27.35g
Rome mint, 80-81 AD (Titus)
RIC 260 (R2). BMC 224.
Obv: DIVVS AVGVSTVS VESP; Deified Vespasian std. l., with branch and sceptre
Rev: IMP T CAES DIVI VESP F AVG P M TR P P P COS VIII; S C, large, in centre
Ex eBay, 21 February 2019. Ex Tom Cederlind, 1996.

The funeral Titus held for his father Vespasian in the early summer of 79 was a lavish affair. Suetonius says it reportedly cost 10 million sestertii! The procession was closely modelled on the one held for Divus Augustus by Tiberius. Vespasian's body was borne by leading senators on a funerary couch of ivory and gold with the body hidden from view, instead onlookers saw a wax image of Vespasian in triumphal gear. A cult statue of the dead emperor was also displayed in a triumphal chariot - the same statue of Vespasian that is likely commemorated on the obverse of this rare sestertius struck by Titus for the deified Vespasian. Two variants of the obverse legend occur: one with 'VESPASIAN' (seated on a curule chair) and this coin's 'VESP' - which seems to be slightly rarer. Only one obverse die has been recorded for this variant.
The seated emperor with branch and sceptre was also struck for Divus Augustus in a restoration issue by Titus. Minting the same type for both Divus Augustus and Divus Vespasian was a way to stress a parallel between the two emperors, a parallel that Vespasian had earlier emphasised with his own coinage. The date with Titus as COS VIII places the coin between 80-81, at least a full six months after Vespasian's death on 24 June 79 (assuming the coins were produced contemporaneously with Vespasian's deification). Epigraphic evidence shows Vespasian had been deified sometime before 29 May 80. Why they were struck so late remains a mystery. Perhaps the delay for deification was an attempt on Titus' part to avoid his father becoming a court joke as Claudius had become, or so B. Levick asserted in her biography of Vespasian. She believes the famous 'Woe's me ...' quip attributed to Vespasian is likely a later cruel jest parodying Claudius' last line 'Woe's me, I think I've messed myself'. Regardless, the political expediency of having a deified father likely overruled any such qualms.

Please share your Divus coins!

NB: Special thanks to @Jay GT4 for photographic assistance.

 

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Nice capture @David Atherton ! Great looking Sestertius...

I have very few DIVVS / DIVO coins... but, I am going to post them all as I have never posted them in one spot, (kind of a posterity thing.)

OMG, I did not realize I had so many dead people!


RI Constantius I Chlorus 293-306 CE DIVO AE Quinarius Thesalonika 317-318 Seated RIC VII 25 R5 RARE


RI Julia Flavia Titi Diva 90-91 CE d-Titus concubine-uncleDomitian AE Sestert 33mm 20.4g - Carpentum mules SPQR - SC rare



RI Faustina Sr 138-140 CE after 146 CE DIVA AR Denarius m Antoninus Pius 17.4mm 3.2g Ceres torch fold RIC 362 RSC 104



RI Augustus DIVUS under Tiberius 22-23 CE Radiate Alter



RImp Octavian 32-31 BCE AR Den Rome mint Bare CAESAR DIVI F Mercury lyre RIC 257 Sear 1550



RI Romulus 310-311 CE AE25 DIVO Rome Domed Shrine doors ajar with sm Eagle R E Q



RI Paulina w Maximinus I D before CE 235 DIVA AE sestertius 30.77mm 19.66g 2nd emiss of Maximinus I CE 236 Peacock RIC IV 3 RARE



RI Mariniana AR Ant 253-254 CE DIVA Crescent - On Peacock flying 21.2mm 3.1g RIC VII 6 Rome

 

Lovely coin, @David Atherton ! Glad you were able to intercept the mail carrier and get it!

I guess ol' Vespasian didn't issue enough of these denarii honoring SALVS!




I won't bore you with a lot of DIVA FAVSTINA issues of the Antonine Dynasty, but I will share a few that are particularly related to their apotheoses:

Faustina I:


Faustina Senior, AD 138-141.
Roman orichalcum dupondius, 16.19 g, 26.1 mm, 10 h.
Rome, AD 140-141.
Obv: DIVA AVGVSTA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: CONSECRATIO S C, Funeral pyre in three stories, set on base, ornamented and garlanded, surmounted by Faustina in biga right.
Refs: RIC 1189; BMCRE p. 236 *; Cohen 187; RCV --.

Faustina II:


Diva Faustina II (Died 175/6).
Roman orichalcum sestertius, 26.31 g, 33 mm
Rome, struck under Marcus Aurelius, AD 176 or later
Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA PIA, bare-headed and draped bust right
Rev: CONSECRATIO S - C, Faustina, holding scepter, seated left on back of peacock flying upward to right
Refs: RIC 1702; BMCRE 1570; Cohen 69; RCV 5227; MIR 56.

~~~

And here's one of Claudius II, veiled in death and wishing him "well-deserved rest":


Divus Claudius II Gothicus. Died AD 270.
Roman billon half follis, 1.31 g, 15.3 mm, 8 h.
Siscia mint. Struck under Constantine I, AD 317-318.
Obv: DIVO CLAVDIO OPTIMO IMP, laureate and veiled head right.
Rev: REQVIES OPTIMO-RVM MERITORVM, Divus Claudius seated left on curule chair, raising right hand and holding scepter in left; SIS in exergue.
Refs: RIC VII 43; Cohen 245; RCV 16398.

 

Great OP coin @David Atherton and quite a scare! Glad that you managed to ferret out the coin. Also, I have never seen a divo claudius II and didn't know they existed. Pretty cool!

 

Lovely example!

It's interesting how deification works on these early coins. Augustus and Vespasian were honored for years or even decades; others like Claudius barely at all. I feel like the practice of honoring dead emperors or empresses extensively didn't start until the death of Faustina, then it continued strong until Constantine kicked the bucket.

I have a few

Faustina I


Mariniana


Claudius II muled with a Quintillus reverse


Numerian (probably my rarest)


Romulus


And of course Constantine


Some I no longer own:

 

Very nice David. Congrats on adding this beauty.

Here is a DIVI F AVGVSTVS coin of Tiberius.




Here is one of Julius Caesar


And one of Claudius under the rule of Nero

 

I am surprised no one yet has shown the common silver Vespasian.

 

The deification coins for Claudius II are a special case. Other than the large series by Trajan Decius honoring all the deified emperors he recognized, most were honored immediately on their death by the ruler who succeeded them. Constantine claimed Claudius II as a distant relative (Claudius was claimed to have had a brother Crispus whose daughter Claudia was the mother of Constantine's father). Constantine issued commemorative coins for his father Constantius, his father in law Maximianus and his distant uncle Claudius.

My best commemorative is the sestertius of Caracalla. It is a bronze disease survivor.

 

kool!...two of my latest additions are honoring the dead ..(and i have many,too numerous too mention ^^)..here's a worn sestertius of Marcus Aurelius (minted by Commodus) who was emperor when the denarius of Antonius Pius was minted.

 

ANTONIUS PIUS
AE Sestertius
OBVERSE: IDIVVS ANTONINVS, bare head right
REVERSE: CONSECRATIO, four tiered funeral pyre surmounted by Antoninus in a quadriga, SC in ex.
Struck at Rome 161 AD
25g, 31mm
RIC 1266 (Marcus Aurelius), BMC 880 (Marcus Aurelius), C 354

 

Here are several divi issues. I believe the Galba denarius DIVA AVGVSTA refers to Lvia , with whom Galba had been friendly as a ypung man.

 

And a wonderful coin it is Congrats !

I have quite a few divvs coins, but I think this one fits best.
I love those quadriga coins, and especially this one is quite fascinating.
The coin, minted by Titus in honor of his deceased father, is a 10th anniversary commemorative of the triumph held in Rome after the reconquest of Judaea.

The quadriga on the reverse is a tensa, a chariot shaped like a temple in which the attributes of the divine Vespasian were borne to the Circus in the procession before games, an honor to the deceased Vespasian voted to him by the Senate, EX S C (source: Curtis L. Clay).



RIC II 361 (Titus), RSC 146.
Divus Vespasian, struck under Titus, denarius.
Rome mint, 80-81 AD.
Obv. DIVVS AVGVSTVS VESPASIANVS, laureate head right.
Rev. EX S C in exergue, slow quadriga left, car ornamented with swag across front, two figures brandishing spears, Victories flanking quadriga above.

 

one of my favorite coins!

 

It is purdy cool!

 

And the less common variant with large shield and crossed capricorns.

Divus Vespasian
AR Denarius, 3.26g
Rome mint, 79-80 AD (Titus)
RIC 357 (C2). BMC 129. RSC 497.
Obv: DIVVS AVGVSTVS VESPASIANVS; Head of Vespasian, laureate, r.
Rev: Capricorns, l. and r., crossed, supporting round shield inscribed S C : below, globe

 

This type was also struck with the tensa facing the other direction.

Divus Vespasian
AR Denarius, 3.08g
Rome mint, 79-80 AD (Titus)
RIC 362 (R2). BMC 117. RSC 147a.
Obv: DIVVS VESPASIANVS AVGVSTVS; Head of Vespasian, laureate, r.
Rev: EX SC in exergue; Tensa r., surmounted by two Victories

 

Great coin David. I'm happy to have had my virtual "fingers" on it!

 

I'm sure most all the coins in this thread have seen some drama in their travels - I wish they could tell the stories of their past. Lovely Vespasian Sestertius!
--

NUMERIAN, 283-284 AD. Æ Antoninanus (3.32 gm) of Rome, posthumous commemorative.
Obv: DIVO NVMERIANO - Radiate head r.
Rev: CONSECRATIO - Eagle standing facing, head left, with wings spread; KA(• on crescent)A in exergue.
RIC V Carus 424

 

Congrats on a fine coin- Good thing you were on top of the post! That could
have turned out so different!

I will add a few of my favorite:
Faustina I


and Faustina II