The use of Caesar's own portrait upon coinage set a
precedent; although under Augustus and Tiberius token
denominations occasionally lacked the imperial portrait,
it was thereafter an essential element of virtually every
gold, silver, and bronze coin of the official mints, as
also of nearly all provincial and local coins. Emphasis
on the personality of the emperor (extended sometimes to
empresses, sons, or deceased members of the imperial
house) was a powerful propaganda instrument in a coinage
that circulated throughout a vast empire. The great
series of imperial portraits, from Augustus to Romulus in
AD 476, is artistically outstanding. Many of the finest
appeared on the large brass sesterces down to the 3rd
century and on the even larger bronze medallions produced
for presentation; but particular care was taken over the
portraits for gold, which, being softer, showed a
beautiful and highly sensitive impression. Nothing is
known of the portrait artists, though it is likely that
they were often from the Greek East.
Imperial reverse types, if artistically less
remarkable, are uniquely important for the unparalleled
fullness of the historical commentary that they supply.
The major mints provided annual evidence of imperial
interests: victories in war; frontier defense (e.g., Rex
Parthis datus - "A king is given to the
Parthians" - of
Trajan); a well-earned peace (e.g., the Pace terra
marique parta Ianum clusit - "There being peace on
land and sea, the doors of the Temple of Janus were
closed" - of Nero); the birth of an heir or
alternative provision for the succession; public shows;
acts of social reform or public relief (e.g., Civitatibus
Asiae restitutis - "For the restitution of the
citizenries of Asia"); imperial journeys (e.g.,
Adventus Augusti - "The arrival of the emperor");
and religious or other anniversaries (e.g., the Felix
temporum reparatio - "Happy days are here
again" - on
Rome's 1,100th birthday). Their interpretation demands
care, since, being selected by imperial officials, their
tenor can conflict with the attitude of anti-imperial
historians. But they show the efforts made by emperors,
as the omnipotent semireligious heads of a huge and
heterogeneous empire, to conciliate and inform. They
contributed powerfully to the growing conception of an
eternal Roman empire, seen no less in the special types
of eagle (the soul flown heavenward) or funeral pyre or
temple in honour of "good" emperors consecrated
as divi than in the annual record of military victory,
economic security, and provincial peace and implicit in
the regularity of imperial succession. The normal colour
given to this imperial program was religious, for the
coinage types commonly embraced such characteristically
Roman concepts as Aequitas (Justice), Fides (Faith), and
Concordia (Harmony) - social virtues operating in the
guise of minor deities. |
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