Late Roman Coins

On the obverse is the laureate head of Nero and on the reverse are the goddesses Annona and Ceres. The obverse side reads IMP NERO CAESAR AVG PONT MAX TRP OTP P, which gives us the name of the ruler at the time. The reverse writing reads AVOVS VERES SC ANNONA, the names of the goddesses pictured. This placement and naming of the emperor show the start of emperors placing themselves on the same level as the gods themselves. Meanwhile, the placement of the two goddesses still shows praise, but with an underlying message of being less important. Annona was the Roman personification of their cereal grain supply, and when placed with Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, it shows that they still have power but not the importance with it.

The trend of placing themselves as equal to the gods while praying for their aid continues with Marcus Aurelius, who is depicted in cuirass on the obverse along with the inscription MANTONINVS AVGTRPXXIX. The reverse depicts Victoria reclining with a spear in hand. She holds aloft a shield with the inscription VIC AVG. Across from her seat is a war trophy, made up of the armor and banner of a defeated foe. This coin was minted during the Marcomannic Wars, a series of battles where the Roman Empire fought against the Germanic Marcomanni, the Quadi, and the Sarmatian lazyges.

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Instead of Roman or Greek gods, this coin is inspired by the Christian God. In Christian teachings God is the almighty, so placing the emperor on the front is less about being equals with God and more about declaring the emperor. This coin is of the Roman Ruler Constans II, also called Constantine the Bearded. He is depicted with long beard and moustache, wearing crown and chlamys, a short, fine woolen mantle worn by men in ancient Greece, and holding globus cruciger, a cross-bearing orb and a symbol of authority. The reverse is of a cross potent, also known as a crutch cross, is a form of the heraldic cross with crossbars at the four ends, on top of three steps. CONOB on the back of the coin means, Constantinopoli obryzum, or in other words, “Byzantine Coinage”. The religious symbols on the obverse and reverse continue to praise God instead of placing him on a lower pedestal.

Gone are the days where deities and monsters reign supreme, in the Common Era (CE) the emperors were put on the same level as the gods were by having their faces on the obverse and putting the gods on the reverse. We can see this with the AE Sestertius of Nero, minted from 54-68 CE, which has the name and bust of Nero on the obverse while the goddesses Annona and Ceres were on the reverse. The Romans showed their praise for the gods in this way but began to put themselves on the same level as the gods they worshipped. This trend is continued over 100 years later with the AE Sestertius of Marcus Aurelius, minted in 175 CE, which again features the bust and name of Marcus Aurelius on the obverse with the goddess Victoria pictured on the reverse. While continuing to place themselves as equals, they still thanked the gods for their help in battles and with crops. The final coin, one from the Byzantine Empire, differs from this layout with the addition of religious symbolism on the reverse instead of another god/goddess. This coin includes Christian symbolism, as seen with the crosses featured on both sides.