Archaeology Magazine - June 1952 - 19

had a whole host of familiar ancient associations of
which
governments
could make use, going
back to the Republic
which had portrayed her
on its own important
Often,
too,
coinage.
there was an indirect, but
none the less definite,
reference to current policy. LIBERTAS on a coin
of Claudius (Figure 8)
not only conveys the general associations evoked
by the Statue of Liberty,
but it refers to the actual
suppression by the emperor of his tyrannical
predecessor Caligula.
A great many references lose none of their
Fig. 7. A judicious generalization
point from possessing
this indirect character.
This coin issued by Tiberius (a.D. 14-37) represents
invoked
a
or
Such are allusions to anSALVS,Well-Being Health, personification
by
Romans for centuries. But here the government calls her
niversaries, often obscure
'Augusta,' indicating that she is linked with the imperial
to us but understandable
world order which alone can guarantee peaceand prosperity.
to contemporaries. Not
we
find
the
the
(Sometimes
genitiveAVGVSTI, attributing
a few critics agree that a
quality to the emperoras a personalvirtue.) Did the moneyers of Tiberius intend her features to represent the greatest
good deal of play was
lady of the land, Livia? This has often been assumed. But
made with this theme the coin does not say so; like Tiberius himself it is cryptic.
did the ruljubilees of accessions to
It is left open for citizens to read into the type whatever
the
throne (here there
ers
of
the
world
wish.
and
Nor
personalities
blessingsthey
fail to notice that a coin
are many explicit exhas two sides. Their cliamples), or of antique
ents were not generally aesthetic enough to appreciate temples, or anniversaries of the deaths of distinguished
a great deal of artistic trouble about the reverse type. forerunners (Figure 9).
But what they lacked in this way they made up for in
Sometimes, too, allusions are quite straightforward.
to
this
find
and
could
We
find references to selected landmarks of the current
where
news,
susceptibility
they
news better than on the coins? So it is with news that reign (or an earlier one), such as important reforms,
their reverses are crammed. And of course this news or popular building programs (Figure 2, Severus),
is edifying : it points an imperial moral.
or real or pretended victories (Figure 6). Here we
in
form
was
of
this
the
Sometimes
presented
person- are lucky, for we can see such references as easily as
im- could contemporaries.
of
or
of
the
claimed
by
places
qualities
ifications
perial rule. In the former category are representations
is most surprising to us today is the
of provinces, such as BRITANNIA, the ancestor of the
type on modern British pennies. Nowadays personifica- What enormous variety of these reverse designs. Posttions like this may not convey to us any very direct or age stamps change quite often today in America,
vivid message. But in their impact on Roman psychol- though not in Britain. But how surprised both our
ogy they appealed directly to strong religious traditions
peoples would be if dollars and pennies began to anvery alien to our experience. For instance, the personi- nounce the themes of successive new governments with
fication of Well-Being or Health, SALVS ( Figure 7 ) , great promptitude and then changed their types from

war lord, priest, far gazing
pretentiously bare-headed
Italian magistrate.
And sometimes his
actual features are drastically idealized and rejuvenated. Augustus particularly went in for this,
Figure 5 shows some results. Figure 6 shows
two attempts to deal with
Nero's heavy features.
So for hundreds of
years the mint poured out
a remarkable series of
versions of successive imperial faces. This was
done with a purpose to impress the personalities and glories of the
rulers on their peoples.
The latter were more susceptible to this medium
than we are to-day, and
their governments took
advantage of it. A fraction of the vast evidence
for this assertion has
been illustrated here.

Summer 1952

semidivine potentate, un-

Archaeology Magazine - June 1952

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - June 1952