The Eagle of the Ninth Legion

Mark Antony (or Marc Antony)
Denarius
Patrae Mint(?)
Obv: ANT AVG III VIR RPC
Galley right with rowers, mast with banners at prow
Rev: LEG VIIII
Aquila (legionary eagle) between two legionary standards
Crawford 544

Legio Nona Hispana (Ninth Spanish Legion) was a Roman legion which operated from the 1st century BC until mid-2nd century AD.

The legion was raised, along with the 6th, 7th and 8th, by Pompey in Hispania in 65 BC.

Caesar's Ninth Legion fought in the battles of Dyrrhachium and Pharsalus (48 BC) and in the African campaign of 46 BC. After his final victory, Caesar disbanded the legion and settled the veterans in the area of Picenum.

Following Caesar's assassination, Octavian recalled the veterans of the Ninth to fight against the rebellion of Sextus Pompeius in Sicily. After defeating Sextus, they were sent to the province of Macedonia. The Ninth remained with Octavian in his war of 31 BC against Mark Antony and fought by his side in the battle of Actium. With Octavian as sole ruler of the Roman world, the legion was sent to Hispania to take part in the large-scale campaign against the Cantabrians (25–13 BC). The nickname Hispana ("stationed in Hispania") is first found during the reign of Augustus and probably originated at this time.

The legion's fate is unknown but has been the subject of considerable interest and research. It was based in York in 108. The theory that it was destroyed in action north of Hadrian's Wall around 117 was popularized by a 1954 novel, The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff, but was somewhat discredited when tile stamps later found in Nijmegen show that the legion was still based there between 121 and 130. Dio Cassius records that a legion was destroyed in Armenia by the Parthians in 161; it was possibly the Ninth Legion. In any event, the Ninth does not appear in a list of legions compiled in 165.

The above coin is for sale and can be purchased by following the link to Mauseus on Ebay HERE.

New site - Architectura Numismatica

 

TYRE in PHOENICIA- Temple of Astarte

Elagabalus, AE 29mm, BMC 393, Rouvier 2363 

Using this blogger software I've started to construct some pages about buildings and monuments on ancient coins, something that interests me (as you might have gathered from some of my previous posts here). I've added the link to the list of blogs on this site.

A coin of two Trajans, son and father

Trajan was the successor of the emperor Nerva and pre-decessor of Hadrian. The coin above shows the emperor Trajan on one side and his natural father, Marcus Ulpius Traianus senior, seated on the other.

Trajan senior was born in Hispania into a Roman family of Italian stock. His paternal ancestors moved from Italy and settled in Italica (near modern Seville, Spain) in the Roman Province of Hispania Baetica.

He was the first member of his family to enter the Roman Senate. Some time before 67, Trajan Sr. may have commanded a legion under the Roman General Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo. Under the future emperor Vespasian (who was at the time the Roman Governor of Judea), he commanded the tenth legion, Legio X Fretensis, during the First Jewish–Roman War between 67-68. During this time, he came into favour with the future emperor.

Due to his successes, Vespasian awarded Trajan Sr. the governorship of a province, although which one is unknown, and a consulship in 70. In later years, he served as a Roman Governor of Hispania Baetica, Syria, in 79 or 80 governed an unknown African province and then western Anatolia. During his time in Syria, he prevented a Parthian invasion.

Coins depicting Trajan’s natural father are difficult to find. The most cost effective way of acquiring a coin of this Roman personality is to get one which shows him seated on a curule chair on the reverse honouring him post mortem with the legend DIVVS PATER TRAIAN. The above coin is for sale and can be purchased by following the link to Mauseus on vCoins HERE.

A coin of Valerian from Anemurion

Valerian I, AE 27mm Anemurion (Anemurium) in Cilicia

 A bronze coin of Valerian I (253-60 AD), made in the third year of his reign. The unlucky Roman emperor Valerian reigned for seven years before he was captured by the Sasanian ruler Shapur I and spent the rest of his life in captivity.

The above coin itself is not a product from a Roman mint as such but rather one that was made in a provincial mint that made coins for local circulation and for local commerce in the eastern provinces. The main part of the reverse is the mint name, ANEMOVPIѠN in Greek script.

 The ruins at Anemurion

Anemurion (Anemurium in Latin), located in what is now Turkey but in Roman times was Cilicia. It was situated in on a high bluff knob (Cape Anamur) that marks the southernmost point of Asia Minor, opposite Cyprus.

The theatre

The ruins of its theatres, tombs and walls are still visible and were first mentioned by Francis Beaufort, an English naval captain who explored the south coast of Turkey in 1811-12 and who published his discoveries in Karamania. Excavations have revealed extensive traces of the city's buildings, tombs and history from the 1st century after Christ until the city's abandonment around 650 when Arab attacks made the coast unsafe.

Teams have uncovered a large theatre, a small covered theater or odeon, several public baths decorated with mosaic floors (some converted to industrial use in late antiquity), four early Christian churches (also with mosaic floors and donors' inscriptions), a possible civil basilica (law court), sections of the city walls and aqueducts, and a number of minor structures. Work in the city's extensive necropolis of several hundred tombs built above ground has revealed and conserved wall paintings (including the four seasons) and more mosaic floors.

 Ruins on the shore

The last coins minted in Anemorion were in the mid third century before its capture by the Sasanians in 260.

The coin at the top of this note is for sale and can be purchased by following the link to Mauseus on vCoins HERE.

The capture of Perseus

The officials named on Roman republican coins sometimes took the opportunity to publicise their relative’s acts from times past. An example of this is on the following coin.

Struck in 62 BC by Paullus Lepidus the obverse features a veiled head of Concordia, surrounded by the moneyer’s name. The moneyer was a supporter of Cicero who had the concordia ordinum as a central feature of his policies.

The reverse, however, is rather interesting (to me at least). It depicts a tophy of arms with a large figure and two small ones to the left and another large figure on the right.

The legend TER(tius) above and PAVLLVS below and commemorates the third imperatorial titles (or victories) of L Aemilius Paullus, the large figure on the right, an ancestor of Paullus Lepidus.  His last and greatest claimed victory was in 168 BC over Perseus, the last King of Macedon and his half brother, Philippus, and also his son Alexander at the battle of Pydna. It is these figures that we see on the left of the trophy. Alexander was kept in custody at Alba Fucens, together with his father. He became a skillful toreutes, learned the Latin language, and became a public notary.

The coin at the top of this note is for sale and can be purchased by following the link to Mauseus on vCoins HERE.

The triumph of Aemilius Paullus - Carle Vernet (1789)

In the footsteps of the legionaries

Having just got back from a rather damp expedition to the Lake District to walk in the footsteps of the legionaries I was reminded of an expedition earlier this summer in better weather to trek another Roman road. We were on holiday and took a day to visit the Roman road on Wheeldale Moor on the North York Moors.

After some initial exploratory clearing in the 1890’s, the currently extant section was uncovered by archaeologists between 1912 and 1920 and runs for approximately 1.2 miles (just under 2km).

There is no clear consensus on the route of any portion of the structure extending beyond that already excavated. It is most commonly conjectured that the structure originally linked the Roman practice forts at Cawthorne Camps with the Roman garrison fort at Lease Rigg, south west of Sleights. However, there is little if any archaeological evidence for this since it has not been excavated. Even more uncertainly, it is conjectured that the original length of the road may have stretched all the way from Derventio Brigantum (possibly modern-day Amotherby near Malton) to Roman coastal fortifications and signal stations near Whitby, possibly passing northward from Malton via Stape and crossing the River Esk at Grosmont.


The extant secition of the structure appears to show a continuous surface metalled with closely fitted slabs of dolomitic limestone with flat upper surfaces, sitting on top of cut turf over black peat. The use of dressed stone rather than gravel as a surface dressing is held to be either a sign against its Roman construction (it being instead either very late Roman when standards of construction were slipping, or else pre-Roman), or alternatively a fact that can be explained by the original gravel surface having washed away through weathering and the stones that remain representing what was originally underlying support rather than the original surface dressing.

Due to the boggy nature of the ground, the structure is crossed by numerous drainage culverts with small becks and water runoff trickling through them.

The Sacellum Genii Senatus

The shrine of the Genius of the Roman Senate is a coin type from the reign of Antoninus Pius known from coins dated 158-9 AD.

The depiction is of a cult statue of the “Genius” or spirit of the Senate on a pedestal, togate and holding a branch and wand. All this is framed by columns and a domed ceiling.

The actual location of the shrine in Rome is not known, although it could have been part of the palatine complex. Nor is the reason for the type being used only in 158-9 known.

The scarce dupondius (RIC 1014) at the top of this note is for sale and can be purchased by following the link to Mauseus on vCoins HERE.