ancient newsmismatics: minting a myth

8/13/2019 Ancient NEWSmismatics: Minting a Myth

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Ancient NEWSmismatics: Minting a Myth by L.A. Hambly

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This month's pick, the pentassarion of Moesia Inferior,

Nicopolis ad Istrum minted by its governor Aurelius Gallus

sometime in his term between the years of A.D. 201 and 204,

depicts the laureate Emperor Septimius Severus on the obverseand the Seventh Labor of Hercules- wrestling the marauding

bull of Crete originally sent by Poseidon to punish King Minos

of Crete for some earlier transgression-on the reverse. TheHerakles/Hercules-Cretan Bull motif on the reverse as symbolic

representation of (the character and career of) Septimius Severus on the obverse, is a

golden nugget of historical, political and mythological implications, neatly

conceptualized by a brilliant, unknown artist, and packaged in this provincial bronzecoin.

The Herakles/Hercules reverse type is well-represented for

both imperial and provincial coinage, appearing in

variations in both the Severan dynasty and the later

"Herculian" dynasty of the early 4th century AD, a themethat strongly suggests the patronage of the mythological

hero over the Imperial family. In the case of the Severan

dynasty, the mythological hero was one of the principaldeities of his birth city Leptis Magna; however, the

representation had darker connotations: in the preceding

reign of Emperor Commodus, the Emperor's apparentmegalomania led to his illusion of being the reincarnate

Hercules and the production of images of him even on the obverses of certain coins.

The mythological bull is the Cretan bull that King Eurytheus of the Mycenaean city ofTiryns demanded that Herakles capture and bring to him, one of the twelve labors

imposed upon him as punishment for killing his family in a fit of madness. The historical

Hercules and the Cretan Bull

MOESIA INFERIOR. Nicopolis ad Istrum. Septimius Severus (AD 193-211). pentassarion (28mm, 14.07 gm, 6h). Labor of Hercules type. Aurelius

Gallus, legatus consularis. AVT CET CEVHP EP, laureate head

of Severus right / VP AVP AOV NIKOPOITN, Hercules standing left,

grasping head of Cretan Bull rearing left behind, club on ground behind

Hercules' right foot; PPOC ICTP and bow in exergue. AMNG I 1309.

Varbanov 2134. Voegtli type 4m. Stoll, Herakles 39 (same dies). Very rare! A

dramatic scene depicted by a master


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bull is one of the traditional symbols of the Roman legions. In A.D. 197, Septimius

Severus levied three legions -- I, II and III Parthica -- which he would use in hiscampaign against the Parthians, a military victory for the Emperor in A.D. 198 which

culminated in the complete sack of the Parthian capital at Ctesiphon. The III Parthica,

based at Raesena in Syria, led the campaign and had as its symbol, the bull.

Herakles/Hercules wrestling the bull might also be seen as the symbolic representation ofSeptimius Severus successfully wresting control of the Roman Empire during the Year of

the Five Emperors from claimants Pertinax, Didius Julianus, Pescennius Niger and

Clodius Albinus.

The Severan dynasty, as well as that of the earlier Flavian dynasty, were both duly

enamored with the Nilotic cults. Roman writer Aelius Spartianus, remarked that theemperor "enjoyed his trip to Alexandria all the more because of the religion of Sarapis"-

the god who was both the protector of the city of Alexandria and the conservator imperii.

The worship of Sarapis was not deserted by his successors Caracalla and Alexander

either. The Sarapis of Septimius Severus was a Greco-Egyptian deity, an offspring of

Ptolemy Soter's fusion of Hellenistic culture and Egyptian religion, a reconciliation of theanthropomorphic statuary of the Greeks with the cult of the Apis bull.

The portrait of Septimius Severus on the obverse appears as if to suggest the physical

likeness between the Emperor and Sarapis; the Arch of Severus at Leptis Magna shows

an image of the seated Severus, most probably patterned on the cult statue of Sarapis inthe Alexandrian Sarapeum. The portrait on the obverse depicts a corkscrew-curled

Septimius that bears an uncanny likeness to that at the Sarapeum.

It is interesting to note that there are no known coins issued with a obvious Septimius-

Sarapis motif; although Septimius Severus most certainly thought of himself as acosmocrator by the image on the Arch, a bit of propaganda politically enforced by the

political and ideological system of divi filius created by Augustus, the coin artist grantedhim more: a pedigree with a 'classica'l patina that emphasizes his relation to the mythicalhero Herakles/Hercules.

Unlike the major mythological figures of Greco-Roman religion, such as Jupiter andHercules, no ancient source preserves the mythology of the god Mithras, a cult

symbolized by the bull because of the religion's tauroctonic character. The Cult of

Mithras was popularized and practiced by Roman legionaries as a result of their contactwith the Cult whilst in the East. During the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, the archaeological

record includes an impressive number of Mithraea. There is a powerful connection

between the Danubian provinces, where the Mithras cult was widespread and the military

movements of Septimius Severus; soldiers moved in legions, the legions moved on theorder of their commanders and religions like the Cult of Mithras moved with the army.

The Moesian governor Aurelius Gallus was undoubtedly aware of this pattern. Thereexists an inscription from the island of Andros that suggests how military service led to

initiation; during the occupation of this island in A.D. 197 by troops of Septimius Severus

preparing for transport to the East for the Parthian Campaign, one Praetorian AureliusRufinus dedicated a cave to Mithras. In this context, the Mithraic connection to the bull

might reflect the religious ideology popular in the province of the governor who minted


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the coin as well as a belief system highly popular amongst the Roman army at the time of

Septimius Severus.

Whilst many Roman political figures minted coins that newsmismatically recount or

record a particular familial trait, military success or some other biographical bonus, little

is known aside from the coinage and scant few inscriptions about Aurelius Gallus; it canbe said that his tenure is prosopographic rather than biographic. Historically, a three-year

stint in a Danubian province in the years between Trajan's success in the Second Dacian

War-A.D. 106 and Aurelian's abandonment of Roman Dacia in the mid 3rd century AD,might well have yielded a huge political crop of nothing to write home about. Tucked

away in such a province, military successes like the Parthian Campaign were almost

mythical and the men who achieved them, of heroic proportion. Like the character of thedark Danubian provinces, this small denomination coin is an invaluable reference to

myth, men and monsters.

ancient newsmismatics: minting a myth

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