Comparison of Greek and Roman coins
Coin one is from the Greek Sicily, the obverse side shows the head of Arethusa, who was a nymph that left her home of Arcadia and traveled beneath the sea to came up as a fresh spring in Syracuse. The creator of this coin used Arethusa to symbolize their city of Syracuse instead of using a real life leader like the obverse side of the second coin which is Roman. Coin two has a depiction of Tiberius, who was an emperor of Rome, to be a real life symbol of the Roman Republic. On the reverse side of Tiberius' coin is an image of Livia, who was the mother of Tiberius. She is shown sitting on a throne with a scepter in hand like a goddess. On the reverse of coin one the goddess Nike is depicted guiding a charioteer. There is a difference between coin one and two, in that the Greek coin uses two figures from their mythology to symbolize the city of Syracuse and victory in battle they had through the goddess Nike, and the Roman coin has two real life figures on their coin. There is also a similarity between the two as they both show some sort of female power which is a minority in both Greek and Roman coins.
Coin one is a Greek coin that depicts Alexander the Great wearing the horns of Zeus on the obverse and the goddess Athena with her armor accompanied by the goddess Nike on the reverse. Coin two is from the Roman Republic, on the obverse side is a galley, which was a ship used for war, along with Marc Antony’s name and the reverse shows three Roman military standards and the word LEG IV, the IV legion is known to have fought for Marc Antony during his rule. A clear difference between these two coins is that coin one has people or goddesses on both sides of the coin and coin two uses symbols and words on either side. However, both of these coins show military prowess through the use of mythological symbols like Athena, the goddess of war, and Nike, the goddess of victory and Alexander being depicted with an attribute of Zeus, as well as through the battleship and direct reference to a legion that famously fought and won battles for Marc Antony. Though the creators for these Greek and Roman coins used different methods both show the importance of military success in their communities.
On the obverse of the Greek drachm is a bust of Zeus-Ammon – a pairing of the Greek god Zeus and the Egyptian god Ammon, both of whom were seen as the “king of the gods” in their own respective mythological traditions. This conjoining of these two cultures was an attempt to legitimize the belief that since the rule of Alexander the Great in Macedonia from 336 BCE to 323 BCE, Egypt had been ruled by the Greeks because of Alexander’s claim that he had descended from Ammon himself. Moreover, the reverse of this coin depicts an image of an eagle to both further symbolize and add emphasis to the Greek god Zeus. When looking to the Roman denarius, its obverse depicts an eagle standing on a thunderbolt – similar to that seen on the reverse of the Greek drachm – which represents the Roman god Jupiter who was the chief deity of the Roman Republic. On the reverse of this coin is a classic Greco-Roman temple decorated with armed deities as well as a quadriga, or a chariot of the gods drawn by four horses. Altogether, both of these coins display the gods that held the most importance within these various cultures, and acted as a way to hold them in reverence.
On the obverse of the Greek stater is the god Apollo who leans against a laurel tree with a libation bowl in his hand, symbolizing both victory and religious devotion. Subsequently, on the reverse of the coin is the demigod Herakles who holds a lion’s skin, a club, and a bow which represent both the ideals of bravery and masculinity in the ancient world. These images of Greek gods on a coin from Issus – which today is located in southern Turkey, east of modern-day Greece – reveals the extent to which Greek culture influenced other cultures around it, even before Alexander the Great had overtaken it in 333 BCE. The obverse of the Roman sesterius, on the other hand, depicts the bust of Emperor Nero while the reverse of the coin has an image of the god Virtus who personifies idealized masculine strengths such as valor and excellence. Similar to the Greek stater, then, the Roman sesterius also places an emphasis upon the importance of masculinity in both cultures, though the Greek coin chooses to solely depict gods whereas the Roman coin chooses to depict an actual ruler. This is a typical differentiation found between Greek and Roman coins.