NOTES ON TWO COINS.
Obv.AVGVSTVS TR POT Augustus, laureate, on horse-back to r.
Rev.P. STOLO Helmet (apex) between two shields.
IIIVIR
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The forms of the helmet and shields are very archaic and interesting, appearing to point to a very early period. The helmet bears a marked likeness to that worn on Egyptian monuments by the Shardana, one of the races that invaded Egypt about the thirteenth centuryB.C.The shield seems to consist of two small round bosses connected by an oval boss. It is strikingly like the Mycenaean shield as shown on a number of monuments, and far earlier than the so-called Boeotian shield which was common in Greece from the sixth century onwards. The Roman writers themselves seem to have been puzzled by this shape (Marindin, article ‘Salii’ in Smith’sDict. Antiq.), and there can be little doubt that it came down from a time when the ‘Mycenaean’ civilization was common to Greece and Italy.
The figure on the coins of M. Sanquinius (Babelon,Mon. de la Répub. Rom.ii. 417), who wears a horned helmet and long tunic and carries a herald’s staff and round shield, has been identified by several authorities as one of the Salii. This, however, is certainly wrong. Both on this coin, and later coins of Domitian, the personage is closely connected with the Ludi Saeculares. Dr. Dressel, in theEphem. Epigr.viii. 314, maintains him to be a herald proclaiming the festival. This would admirably suit the caduceus; but the decorations of the helmet seem to me to be not plumes, as Dr. Dressel thinks, but horns, like those on the headpiece of Juno Lanuvina. In any case the person is no Salius.
Obv.Youthful bust l., hair disordered, striking with thunderbolt. Behind, a monogram.
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Rev.L. CAESI Two young male figures seated to r. Each has drapery wrapped round waist, and grasps a spear. Between them, a dog, which one of them caresses. In field, in monograms, LARE Above, head of Vulcan and pinchers (moneyer’s mark). The monogram of the obverse was read by Mommsen AP for Apollo; but the closed P was not at that time in use: the interpretation of Montagu (Numismatic Chronicle, 1895, p. 162) as Roma is therefore to be preferred. The head appears to be that of Vedius or Vejovis, whose statue at Rome carried in the hand a sheaf of arrows, which would naturally be confused with the Greek thunderbolt. Other heads of Vejovis on Roman coins, as those of the Gens Fonteia, are more Apolline in type, with long curls and laurel-wreath.
The two seated figures of the reverse are identified by the inscription as Lares. They are clearly assimilated to the Greek Dioscuri, early adopted at Rome. The dog, however, whichsits between them is an attribute properly belonging to them. Dr. Wissowa in Roscher’sLexicon(p. 1872) says that they are clad in dogs’ skins; this, however, is certainly not the case, an ordinary cloak or chlamys falls over their knees.
This representation of the Lares stands by itself, the deities are frequently represented in later art, especially wall-paintings and bronze statuettes, but their type is that of boys who hold cornucopiae or drinking vessel, and are fully clad.
P. G.