THE INFLUENCE OF ANCIENT COIN DESIGNS

 

Roman Republic Anonymous moneyer. AR Didrachm (270-265 BCE) Rome mint OBV: Diademed head young Hercules with lion skin and club over shoulder. REV: She-wolf standing right, suckling Romulus and Remus. REF: Sear 24; RSC Pre-Denarius 8; Cr. 20/1; Syd. 6

History is a continuum and time moves linearly. Generally, as time progresses, artistic and cultural trends evolve and build upon each other. One perfect example is the Hellenistic influence seen in Buddhist artwork from the Gandharan province in the first century BCE. The Bactrian and other Greek kings who ruled segments of Alexander the Great's empire after his death brought significant Western artistic conventions along with their armies. These pieces of Greco-Buddhist art are proof of an East-West exchange of ideas that has existed for almost all of recorded history.

Coins are no different.

As discussed in previous articles, coins have always been vehicles of cultural and political messaging for the minting authority. Consequently, coins are as much a barometer for cultural merging and influences as any other type of artwork.

Egyptian and Greek Influences on Roman Coins
As reported by the ancient (but not coeval) historians Livy and Dio Cassius, Ptolemy II Philadelphus initiated official contact between Rome and Egypt when he sent an embassy in 273 BCE to Rome in response to their earlier defeat of Pyrrhus of Epirus. This alliance between Republican Rome and the aggressive Hellenistic ruler of Egypt marked the start of centuries of cultural exchange and dominance. More immediate, however, was the monetary convention agreed between the newly minted allies. Of interest was how the agreement stated that the two powers would issue parallel coins for fifty years.

Harold Mattingly, a noted numismatist at the British Museum, discusses the significant design similarities between early Roman Republican silver and contemporary Egyptian coinage. One of the main common artistic design traits of Ptolemaic coins is the deep shadowing of the eyes. The obverse design of a youthful Hercules on this early Roman didrachm minted between 270-265 BCE, shortly after the Roman-Egyptian diplomatic agreement, is very similar to a tetradrachm struck by Ptolemy II Philadelphus only a few years earlier circa 285-270. Not only are the deep-set eyes and facial shadowing similar, but the busts of young Hercules and Ptolemy I have very similar prominent chins and noses, and their hairstyles are remarkably similar.

The early Roman and Ptolemaic silver coinages were so similar that Eleanor Huzar even suggested that Rome may have contracted an Alexandrian moneyer to carve their initial dies.

 

Roman Imperial Hadrian (r. 117-138 AD) Æ Sestertius Rome mint (134-138 AD) 25.50 gr OBV: Laureate head of emperor right REV: Britannia seated slightly left, head facing and resting on right hand; spear over left arm; foot on rocks; round shield to right; SC in ex REF: RIC 845; BMCRE 1723; Banti 115.

 

England – House of Stuart (Charles II (1660-1685) – AE Farthing 1673 OBV: Laureate head of king left REV: Britannia sitting with shield and spear –

To read the complete article, see:
The Influence of Historic and Ancient Coin Designs (https://coinweek.com/education/numismatic-history/the-influence-of-historic-and-ancient-coin-designs/)

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