Notes on Dining and Numismatic Imagery under the Roman Empire

Sebastian Heath

Draft of 1-May-2008

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Introduction

This note provides a preliminary survey of the use of numismatic imagery in the decoration of objects related to dining during the Roman empire. Such use includes the actual incorporation of coins into the material culture of dining and also the clear copying of numismatic imagery into different media. In form, the following text is essentially a list of objects that are examples of such incorporation and copying.

Dining is defined very broadly and the objects listed below may well have been used in religious activities, communal festivals and the like as opposed to daily meals. There is no need, however, to draw a very strong line between religion and daily life so that the objects collected below do all bear upon the issue of commensal behavior when the group is taken as whole. The importance of empire extends beyond merely the definition of the chronological bounds of the study, which at the current time focusses on the first through third centuries AD. Roman imperial coins, as well as most provincial issues, usually bore images of the current emperor and/or his family so that they are inherently "imperial" objects. Coins also have reverses whose legends and imagery can be understood to communicate themes of imperial propaganda, though the efficacy of this communication is a hotly debated topic in the field of ancient numismatics. When possible therefore, the list below will make clear which image, imperial portrait or reverse message, is displayed or reproduced. Doing so can make a small contribution to the problem of the extent to which numismatic imagery was actively examined and responded to by ancient viewers. Preliminary conclusions along these lines are made during the course of presenting the gathered objects.

Italian and Gaulish Sigillata Vessels

An article by Marabini Moevs (AJA 84 [1980]:322) makes reference in its text and notes to Italian and Gaulish Sigillata vessels whose decoration includes direct copies of coins. These are made by pressing the face of a coin into the molds in which such vessels were produced.

Partial list:

An Arretine chalice with the obverse of a coin of Augustus repeated 8 times. The legend "AVGVSTVS CAESAR" is legible. (Funghini 1889:22;Stenico, ArchCl 1955:66-74).
Stenico provides the following description of the vase, "nella decorazione a rilievo del vaso sono inserite ripetutamente le impronte de una moneta di Ottaviano, non ben identificata numismaticamente, ma non anteriore al 27 a. Ch." The legend is provided by Funghini. The eight impressions sit on the lower portion of the bowl. While this means they are not prominently placed, they may have been more visible when the chalice was lifted by a diner.
Impressions of a coin of a "Julio-Claudian prince" appear on a Southern Gallic bowl.(Knorr 1919:87)
A single sherd of a late Italian Sigillata bowl partially preserves an obverse portrait of the empress Sabina (Marabini Moeves 1984)
Arretine or Gallic bowl with impression of a coin with eagle. (ArchCl 7 [1955])

Even in the absence of a complete list of published pieces, it should be stressed that the direct reproduction of numismatic imagery on sigillata vessels is a sporadic phenomenon. Nonetheless, when such reproduction does occur it certainly illustrates an avenue for the incorporation of the imperial image into the visual setting of the meals at which such vessels were used.

Annum Novum Lamps

During the late Republican and imperial periods, the Kalends of January was an occasion for the exchange of small gifts, or strenae, in anticipation of the new year. Mould-made lamps bearing an inscribed shield with legends similar to "annum novum faustum et felicem", or "[for] a happy and prosperous new year", are well-known from the first and early second centuries AD. [Unfortunately, I have not found any digital images of this lamp type to which I can directly link. The best I can do for now is refer to Hammonds' (1957) article on the occurrence of such lamps at Petra in Jordan, an indication of the widespread adoption of this Roman custom. Page 11 has an excellent illustration of the type. I apologize to those who don't have access to JSTOR. See also Zanker 1988:274.] Although there is considerable variation, the type is recognized by a Victory holding an inscribed shield around which are arrayed depictions of by-then old coins - often including a Janus-head of Republican type, a Victory and a perhaps a coin showing clasping hands - as well as the traditional fruits - figs and dates - sometimes clearly wrapped in a band of gold leaf. These lamps represent a reification of a social practice that is also well attested in literary and documentary sources. The most explicit description and explanation of this custom is found in book 1 of Ovid's fasti. This poem follows the traditional Roman calendar and so begins with the Kalends of January. Early in Book One the poet is visited by the god Janus and takes this opportunity to inquire as to the meaning of the customs of the holiday. Because the exchange overlaps so well with the lamps under consideration, I quote it extensively:

I followed his final words with my own:
‘What do the gifts of dates and dried figs mean’,
I said, ‘And the honey glistening in a snow-white jar?’
‘For the omen,’ he said, ‘so that events match the savour,
So the course of the year might be sweet as its start.’
‘I see why sweet things are given. Explain the reason
For gifts of money, so I mistake no part of your festival.’
He laughed and said: ‘How little you know of your age,
If you think that honey’s sweeter to it than gold!
I’ve hardly seen anyone, even in Saturn’s reign,
Who in his heart didn’t find money sweet.
Love of it grew with time, and is now at its height,
Since it would be hard put to increase much further.
Wealth is valued more highly now, than in those times
When people were poor, and Rome was new,
When a small hut held Romulus, son of Mars,
And reeds from the river made a scanty bed.
Jupiter complete could barely stand in his low shrine,
And the lightning bolt in his right hand was of clay.
They decorated the Capitol with leaves, not gems,
And the senators grazed their sheep themselves.
There was no shame in taking one’s rest on straw,
And pillowing one’s head on the cut hay.
Cincinnatus left the plough to judge the people,
And the slightest use of silver plate was forbidden.
But ever since Fortune, here, has raised her head,
And Rome has brushed the heavens with her brow,
Wealth has increased, and the frantic lust for riches,
So that those who possess the most seek for more.
They seek to spend, compete to acquire what’s spent,
And so their alternating vices are nourished.
Like one whose belly is swollen with dropsy
The more they drink, they thirstier they become.
Wealth is the value now: riches bring honours,
Friendship too: everywhere the poor are hidden.
And you still ask me if gold’s useful in augury,
And why old money’s a delight in our hands?
Once men gave bronze, now gold grants better omens,
Old money, conquered, gives way to the new.
We too delight in golden temples, however much
We approve the antique: such splendour suits a god.
We praise the past, but experience our own times:
Yet both are ways worthy of being cultivated.’

[184-226;translation by A. S. Kline; latin text available here.]

Absent Ovid's moralizing, the passage seems to be a reliable guide to much of the iconography of these lamps. The last two quoted lines, "laudamus veteres, sed nostris utimur annis:/mos tamen est aeque dignus uterque coli" are certainly a plausible reading of the presence of the Janus coin and its role in expressing Roman understanding of the passage from one year to another, itself symbolic of a more substantive appreciation of the importance of tradition and the reality of time moving forward.

Ovid writes of the gifting of actual fruits and actual coins. In this regard, chronology is important. Ovid was banished to Tomis on the Black Sea in 8 AD and died there in 17. This exile interrupted his work on the Fasti but regardless of specifics, Ovid is describing early first century AD behaviors. While overlap is possible, the lamps are generally dated later than this. It may well be then that annum novum lamps represent a transitional stage from the availability of actual Republican coins to one in which substitutes must suffice. As an imperfect replacement of relatively low value, the lamps remained fashionable only into the second century at the latest.

As it developed during the imperial period, the New Year became an opportunity for gifting between the emperor and his people. The holiday's place in the political calendar was assured by the fact that imperial consuls started their term in office by viewing the auspices for the upcoming year on this day. Further customs developed as shown when Suetonius writes of Augustus that:

It may readily be imagined how much he was beloved because of this admirable conduct. I say nothing of decrees of the senate, which might seem to have been dictated by necessity or by awe. The Roman knights celebrated his birthday of their own accord by common consent, and always for two successive days. All sorts and conditions of men, in fulfillment of a vow for his welfare, each year threw a small coin into the Lacus Curtius, and also brought a New Year's gift to the Capitol on the Kalends of January, even when he was away from Rome. With this sum he bought and dedicated in each of the city wards costly statues of the gods, such as Apollo Sandalarius, Jupiter Tragoedus, and others. To rebuild his house on the Palatine, which had been destroyed by fire, the veterans, the guilds, the tribes, and even individuals of other conditions gladly contributed money, each according to his means; but he merely took a little from each pile as a matter of form, not more than a denarius from any of them. On his return from a province they received him not only with prayers and good wishes, but with songs. It was the rule, too, that whenever he entered the city, no one should suffer punishment.[57, translation]

The same author ascribes to Caligula the transformation of this custom into a demand:

But when his daughter was born, complaining of his narrow means, and no longer merely of the burdens of a ruler but of those of a father as well, he took up contributions for the girl's maintenance and dowry. He also made proclamation that he would receive New Year's gifts, and on the Kalends of January took his place in the entrance to the Palace, to clutch the coins which a throng of people of all classes showered on him by handfuls and lapfuls. Finally, seized with a mania for feeling the touch of money, he would often pour out huge piles of gold pieces in some open place, walk over them barefooted, and wallow in them for a long time with his whole body.[42, translation]

It seems that some of the innovations of the tyrannical Caligula, which built upon existing social practice, were not completely undone by his successors. Beyond that, the moral progression from Augustus to Caligula is clear. Augustus makes modest use of spontaneous expressions of good will, Caligula hoards to himself the excessive results of his novel demands.

Both these passages are a long way from specific consideration of the annum novum lamps. They do, however, show that the role of coins in the celebration of the holiday holds the potential for moral hazard. I suspect that the lamps are a comforting materialization of respect for tradition and that most Romans might, if asked, see in them a reminder to resist Caligulan excess, though there is no reason to think they would use that term or have in mind this particular passage.

Generosity is also a duty of the ruler so that Emperors themselves made gifts on the New Year. An early precedent for this practice is Augustus' distribution of old coins during the Saturnalia and on other occasions as took his fancy (Suetonius, Augustus 75). Later emperors distributed medallions to mark the new year. I illustrate only one example struck for Commodus due to its allusive recall of the role of Janus in the transition from one year to the next.

Appliqué Medallions on Claire-B Vessels from the southern Rhone valley

Claire-B is the name given to a well-slipped tableware manufactured in the Rhone valley around Lyon and further south. Table jugs with appliqué medallions are a regular part of this series and were meant for pouring wine and other beverages. Though they are larger than coins, the circular shape of these medallions means that they share some of the formal constraints and appearance of numismatic imagery. The following example drawn from Déchelette's 1904 survey of decorated vases from Gaul has obvious similarities with both coin and medallion reverses also showing scenes of imperial interaction with an assembled populace.

A medallion celebrating the defeat of Armenia shows a personification similar to those appearing on Antonine coinage:

It is probably not useful to say that either the ceramic or numismatic version of this image is the "original" that influenced the copy. Rather, they are both small-scale versions of visual motifs that appeared in larger media. To put this another way, provincial reproduction of imperial propaganda does not prove that numismatic reverses were the route by which such propaganda reached the provinces. It does suggest that coins existed in a milieu of images and that the numismatic versions may not have been ignored. Indeed, motifs that appear on coins were actually brought into people's homes in the form of ceramic vessels. This domestic acceptance of imperial imagery is a reminder of Greg Woolf's observation that the material correlates of "Romanization" are often the work of provincial craft industries. The combination of coin and vessel indicates that there was frequent interaction between imperial and provincial agency during the reception of images.

A bronze vessel now in Boston (mfa.org:63.2644)

In 1963, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston acquired a bronze vessel from the well-known numismatic collector H. von Aulock, with the purchase being made in Istanbul and the object being understood to have come from western Asia Minor. In form it is a deep pot with rounded-walls and a flat handle extending from the rim. In these aspects it is unremarkable. More distinctive are the five coins attached to the exterior surface, with all showing their reverse side. As listed on the MFA's website, the coins are:

Cyzicus. Dionysos seated on pantheress, holding thyrsos. (Commodus)
Hierocaesarea. Artemis with a quiver or bowcase on shoulder facing Apollo (?) with lyre and cloak. (Commodus)
Hierocaesarea. Artemis standing to right discharging arrow. Stag running at left, beside her. (Marcus Aurelius)
Smyrna. Bull standing right. (Antinous)
Smyrna. Bull standing right. (Antinous)

[These coins are sufficiently well-known and distinct so that the chronology can be deduced.]

In addition to these pieces, two coins were purchased later but are believed to have been attached to the vessel as well:

Troy. Marcus Aurelius/Aeneas right bearing on left arm Anchises and looking left at Ascanius
Koinon of Bithynia. Hadrian/Distyle temple with star in pediment; Hadrian stands between Bithynia and Roma, who crowns him.

Assuming that the two detached coins are part of the original ensemble and also had their reverses visible, this collected group of images contains an eclectic mix of local gods and sacred animals, along side a hint of Roman sympathy/loyalty in the form of a reference to Aeneas and to the image of the emperor accompanied by Roma and a loyal province. In this provincial context, it is the reverse images that are chosen to achieve the transformation of this vessel from functional object into a bearer of meaning.

The Rennes Patera

Now in the collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Rennes Patera was discovered in that French city in 1774 along with 43 aureii, the latest of which was issued during the reign of Aurelian (d. 275). The object is a shallow, gold plate, 1.315 kilos in weight - or aproximately 4 Roman pounds - with a central medallion showing a drunken Hercules next to a seated Bacchus, the two being engaged in a contest that pits strength against wine. The latter prevails, as shown by the surrounding motif of Bacchus' triumphal march, in which the victor rides in panther-drawn chariot, with the loser languishing bareback a few ranks behind him. While there is perhaps some humor to be found in this arrangement of images - though this much gold makes the joke expensive - there is also an explicit imperial context. The outermost band of decoration consists of 16 aureii depicting emperors ranging from Hadrian to Septimius Severus, alternated with junior and female members of the imperial families, including Severus' sons Caracalla and Geta as Caesars. In all cases the obverse is showing, though descriptions of both sides of each coin can be given following their removal and resetting, notes on which were published in 1858. The list of coins (Obverse/Reverse), starting from the top as indicated by the orientation of the central medallion and moving clock-wise, is:

Hadrian/Hispania Reclining/HISPANIA
Caracalla/Geta r.
Marcus Aurelius/Victory advancing
Faustina, Jr./Laetitia stg.,LAETITIA
Antoninus Pius/Liberalitas stg.
Geta/Severus btw. std. sons.
Commodus/Liberty, LIBERT
Diva Faustina/Ceres stg.
Septimius Severus/Caracalla and Geta,AETERNIT IMPERI
Caracalla/Severus and Julia Domna, CONCORDIAE AETERNAE
Antoninus Pius/Jupiter std.
Diva Faustina/Ceres
Antoninus Pius/Liberalitas stg.
Commodus/Hilaritas, HILARITAS
Septimius Severus/Julia Domna btw. Caracalla and Geta
Julia Domna/Laetitia stg., LAETITIA

(Based on Chabouillet1858]:360-363)

Although the accompanying hoard dates the deposition of this object to the reign of Aurelian or later, it is presumably Severan in composition. The combination of this date with the objects Bacchic/Dionysiac, Herculean and Imperial associations makes several categories of evidence useful as context for understanding this object. The first category is epigraphic and relies on the overlap between Severus' manufactured ancestry as implied by the patera and as advertised in public inscriptions. Taking just one example, CIL VIII.9317, from Caesaria in Mauretania, begins with the following dedication:

To Imperator Caesar, son of the divine Marcus Antoninus Pius Sarmaticus Germanicus, brother of the divine Commodus, grandson of the divine Antoninus Pius, great-grandson of the divine Hadrian, descendant of the divine Trajan Parthicus, descendant of the divine Nerva, Lucius Septimius Severus Pius Pertinax Augustus…

While the patera does not stretch back so far as Nerva, the emperors Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius and Commodus do appear. This suggests considerable awareness of, and sensitivity to, Severan dynastic concerns on the part of the designer/patron of this object. That Pertinax is not represented among the depicted emperors is not a surprise given Septimius' emphasis of his manufactured Antonine descent. [On a practical note, the gold of Pertinax may not have so readily available.] The alternated family portraits, culminating to some extent in the then current heirs Caracalla and Geta, only add to the dynastic context.

Further Severan links are found in the Bacchic and Herculean imagery. Both gods are depicted on the reverse of a coin of Severus issued in 194 (RIC IV.25).

Courtesy of CNG Coins, via Wildwinds

The pairing of Bacchus and Hercules is also found in the Basilica at Severus' hometown of Leptis Magna. Here the pilasters to the left and right of the apse are decorated with scenes from the lives of each divinity. (flicker, flickr [both with cc licenses]).

The coin is an official issue and the architectural sculpture is part of an imperially sponsored program of public display. Both Bacchus and Hercules were popular gods at this time as well (ANRW II.17.2:684-702; LIMC V:158) so that the motif of their contest also appears in private domestic contexts. It is found in the second-century mosaic decoration of the so-called Atrium House at Antioch (Illustrated at Ling 1998: fig. 33) and in an early third-century version from nearby Seleucia (Ling 1998:fig. 36).

These comparanda, not all of which would have been known to any single ancient viewer, reveal the Rennes Patera to be an extremely sophisticated object. It brings together a set of ideas that were current at the highest levels of both society and government. It belongs in this study because numismatic imagery is an essential component of the "program" of its visual composition, which highlights the role of coins in providing imperial portraits that could be re-used in non-commercial contexts. Of course, one cannot say that the patera was used during dining. It is plausibly a ritual object - perhaps a part of the imperial cult - and almost certainly used during extra-ordinary circumstances, and not during the repetitive occurrence of everyday meals. Nonetheless, authors such as Athenaeus create a place for Bacchus, Hercules and the Emperor at the Roman meal so that the Rennes Patera may give a window into the thoughts of drunk and loyal Roman aristocrats as they conversed merrily with each other during evening gatherings.

A final note is necessary when discussing this object. There are rumors that the patera is an 18th century fake; without having found such an opinion in writing, I find this unlikely.

Jewelry

It was noted above that the Rennes Patera need not have been used in the setting of a meal. The same can be said of jewelry which incorporates coins. Bruhn's study of coins and costume is an excellent introduction to the topic (8-16,30-32). Her fig. 6, showing a necklace (metmuseum.org:36.9.1) with aurei of Lucius Verus, Julia Domna and Alexander Severus in pendant settings, is a good example of the prevalence of such pieces in the third century. Bruhn (32) also cites a 2nd century Egyptian funerary portrait, now in Detroit (dia.org:25.2). Zooming in on the deceased's necklace shows that the pendant holds a coin. It may also be reasonable to suggest that the obverse is showing.

It is possible to get a sense of how such display was perceived by both the wearers of such jewelry and their observers from this passage in the Historia Augusta, which also demonstrates the potential for consistent messages across many media:

It does not seem to me, in telling of the family of the Macriani (which is still flourishing to‑day), that I should fail to speak of a peculiar custom which they have always observed. For an embossed head of Alexander the Great of Macedonia was always used by the men on their rings and their silver plate, and by the women on their head-dresses, their bracelets, their rings and ornaments of every kind, so that even to‑day there are still in that family tunics and fillets and women's cloaks which show the likeness of Alexander in threads of divers colours. We, ourselves, recently saw Cornelius Macer, a man of that same family, while giving a dinner in the Temple of Hercules,48 drink the health of a pontiff from a bowl made of electrum, which had in the centre the face of Alexander and contained on the circumference his whole history in small and minute figures, and this he caused to be passed around to all the most ardent admirers of that great hero. All this I have included because it is said that those who wear the likeness of Alexander carved in either gold or silver are aided in all that they do. [Tyranni 14, Loeb via Lacus Curtius]

A Late Antique Coda

The focus of this note is the pagan empire. A late Roman silver plate in Munich in which the central medallion is modelled on a quinquennalia issue of Licinius II is relevant (cf. Leader-Newby 2004:20).

A later example of a similar phenomenon is a silver plate, now lost, incorporating a gold solidus of Theodosius II.

(After Baratte 1993:fig. 20) An ARS lamp type (cf. Hayes 1980:313) which has the alternated impressions of the obverse and reverse of a gold coin (tremisses?) of Theodosius II impressed on its shoulder. At a time when the emperor stressed the religious unity of the state, it is fitting that these lamps' manufacturer would choose to show both the obverse and reverse of an imperial coin.

(After le Blant 1886:plate ii, for additional examples see Bejaui 1997:283)

A. Kindler (IEJ 8 [1958]) publishes a seventh century lamp with impressions of six or seven coins partially extant. All are from early 7th century coins, either Byzantine or Arab-Byzantine issues.

Appendix on Primary Texts

[Needs more passages and to be integrated into main text]With the objects described above in mind, it is appropriate to consider some of the textual evidence for Roman attitudes towards coins. Suetonius relates that Augustus gave foreign coins as gifts during the Saturnalia.(Aug. 73) Philostratus in his early third century life of Apollonius of Tyana relates a story set during the reign of Tiberius, in which a slave-owner was convicted of impiety because the slave he struck was carrying a coin with the image of the emperor on it. Cassius Dio, also writing in the early third century, refers to coinage on numerous occasions. He relates that "...Brutus stamped upon the coins which were being minted his own likeness and a cap and two daggers, indicating by this and by the inscription that he and Cassius had liberated the fatherland." (LXVII.25) He also writes of a young equestrian was sentenced to death for taking a coin into a brothel and that a senator was similarly punished for wearing a coin of Augustus set in a necklace when he went to the toilet. Finally, he relates that under Elagabalus a certain “Valerianus Paetus was executed because he had because he had stamped some likenesses of himself and plated them with gold to serve as ornaments for his mistresses.”(LXXIX.4) This was seen as a precursor to rebellion. Although hardly unanimous, these and similar passages tend to confirm that it was the imperial likeness on coins that often drew particular attention.