Are You Well Centaured?

[Phil Anthos]

Centaurs were common themes in both mythology and coining, so I thought we should bring them out of their groves and grottos and display the randy old goats here...

Macedonian Kingdom, Reign of Antigonos II Gonatas

277-239 BC AE16 (16mm, 3.85g) O: Helmeted head of Athena right. R: Pan standing right, erecting trophy; B - Φ downward to left. HGC 3, 1049; SNG Cop 1206-09; Sear 6786v

[expat]

Got a Gallienus with centaur reverse.

 

[kirispupis]

Kings of Bithynia. Prusias II
AE Unit 20.5mm 6.41g 12h
c. 180-150 BCE
Laffaille430 var. - Cop.- - Aulock6886 var. - RG.26 - BMC.- - HGCS. 7/629
0avers : Buste imberbe, juvénile et drapé de Dionysos (Bacchus) à droite, couronné de feuilles de vigne.
0revers : Le Centaure Chiron à droite, la tête de face, jouant de la lyre, sa tunique flottant derrière.

 

 

[Qcumbor]

51 minutes ago, expat said:

 

My own Gallienus/Centaur looks in the opposite direction !

 

Q

[Phil Anthos]

This is the only other centaur I have,  also Pan...

Pantikapaion, Thrace

304-250 BC AE 20 (20mm, 5.81g) O: Head of Pan left, wreathed in ivy. R: Bow and arrow, ΠAN below. MacDonald 116.1; SNG Poland II; NM Warsaw 178-79 ex Forvm Auctions (Bartosz Awianowicz)

[Deinomenid]

I didn't know that about Pan being sometimes seen as a centaur. He's one of the oddest, scariest of gods  for me, ever since I read The Great God Pan. Thankfully he died in about 20AD.

Here's one of his symbols, a hare, introduced to Sicily (Messana) mostly likely with Arcadians/Messenians who moved there in the early 5th century.

 

MESSANA. Ca, 475-471 BC, tetradrachm, Randazzo Hoard. Obv. Charioteer in biga of mules right, laurel leaf in exergue. Rev. MESSENION, hare springing right.

 

 

 

[Bailathacl]

Any room for a medieval female centaur?  I won this at CNG Triton XXVI. Any other lady centaur designs out there of note?

Auction photo and description below:

[Phil Anthos]

24 minutes ago, Deinomenid said:

I didn't know that about Pan being sometimes seen as a centaur. He's one of the oddest, scariest of gods  for me, ever since I read The Great God Pan. Thankfully he died in about 20AD.

Here's one of his symbols, a hare, introduced to Sicily (Messana) mostly likely with Arcadians/Messenians who moved there in the early 5th century.

 

MESSANA. Ca, 475-471 BC, tetradrachm, Randazzo Hoard. Obv. Charioteer in biga of mules right, laurel leaf in exergue. Rev. MESSENION, hare springing right.

 

 

 

Have you ever read Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins?

[Deinomenid]

5 minutes ago, Phil Anthos said:

Have you ever read Jitterbug Perfume

Beets me.

[Phil Anthos]

Nice.

[Edessa]

39 minutes ago, Deinomenid said:

I didn't know that about Pan being sometimes seen as a centaur. He's one of the oddest, scariest of gods  for me, ever since I read The Great God Pan. Thankfully he died in about 20AD.

Here's one of his symbols, a hare, introduced to Sicily (Messana) mostly likely with Arcadians/Messenians who moved there in the early 5th century.

 

MESSANA. Ca, 475-471 BC, tetradrachm, Randazzo Hoard. Obv. Charioteer in biga of mules right, laurel leaf in exergue. Rev. MESSENION, hare springing right.

Rabbits can be scary too!

 

[Alegandron]

Frentani - Larinum

AE 18mm Quadrans

210-175 BCE

Herakles -

Centaur

SNG COP 272

[Alegandron]

I thought Pan was half man/goat.  A centaur is half man/horse.

Thrace Pantikapaion

4th C BCE,

AE 20

Pan head -

Griffin forepart

BMC 869

[Sulla80]

🙂

Here's a centaur from Prusias II with Notes: https://www.sullacoins.com/post/prusias-ii-and-the-roman-republic

and as long as we are dealing with interesting combinations - here's Chimera from Sikyonia: a lion with a snake for tail and a goat's head and neck sticking out of its side.

 

[akeady]

Here's a Republican centaur.

Moneyer:	M. Aurelius Cotta
Coin:	Silver Denarius X / COTA - Helmeted head of Roma right M. AVRELI - Hercules in biga of centaurs right
Exergue:	ROMA
Mint:	Rome (139 BC)
Wt./Size/Axis:	3.41g / - / 9h
References:	RSC 16 (Aurelia) Sydenham 429 Crawford 229/1
Acquisition:	Aureo y Calico Online Auction #1009 4-Jul-2018

ATB,
Aidan.

[idesofmarch01]

Interesting timing of this thread.  I just received this coin months after winning it at auction:

 

Gaul - Celtic Venetes 2nd - 1st Century B.C.
Av. Small head on right, hair in thick locks, boar on right in crest. From the nape of the neck and the forehead, two beaded scrolling cords link four small human heads in profile.
Rv. Androcephalic horse on right, with a charioteer above the tail holding the reins and a stimulus connected to a vexillum, a fringed standard hanging.

This stater comes from an old American collection dispersed at auction in Rennes on March 24, 2013, and a copper galvano of it is preserved in the British Museum and was previously dated 1901.

[TIF]

17 hours ago, Phil Anthos said:

Have you ever read Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins?

I love that book.  It's why I avidly seek out coins of Pan :).

[Prieure de Sion]

19 hours ago, Bailathacl said:

Any room for a medieval female centaur?  I won this at CNG Triton XXVI. Any other lady centaur designs out there of note?

Auction photo and description below:

Fantastic style! 

[MrMonkeySwag96]

My coin depicting Pan, or at least a “mask” of Pan:

 

 

Moneyer issues of Imperatorial Rome. C. Vibius C.f. C.n. Pansa Caetronianus. 48 BC. AR Denarius (16mm, 3.98 g, 9h). Rome mint. Mask of Pan right; pedum behind / Jupiter Axurus seated left, holding patera and scepter. Crawford 449/1b; CRI 20a; Sydenham 948; Vibia 19; RBW 1572. Lightly toned, a few light scratches and marks, thin obverse die breaks. Good VF. Struck on a thick, compact flan.

 

 

[MrMonkeySwag96]

On 7/16/2024 at 7:50 PM, Sulla80 said:

🙂

Here's a centaur from Prusias II with Notes: https://www.sullacoins.com/post/prusias-ii-and-the-roman-republic

and as long as we are dealing with interesting combinations - here's Chimera from Sikyonia: a lion with a snake for tail and a goat's head and neck sticking out of its side.

 

 

SIKYONIA, Sikyon. Circa 330/20-280 BC. AR Triobol – Hemidrachm (15.5mm, 2.76 g, 5h). Chimaera standing left; ΣΙ below / Dove flying left. BCD Peloponnesos 283; HGC 5, 213. VF, iridescent tone. From the Johnson Family Collection, purchased from “J.H.,” 27 November 1968.

[TIF]

I am moderately well centaured 😁.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Domitian
RY 14 (CE 94/5)
Æ drachm, 36 mm, 25.42 gm
Obv: Laureate head right
Rev: The Emperor driving biga of centaurs right., raising hand and holding scepter and reins; in exergue, L IΔ
Ref: Dattari-Savio Pl. 17, 453 (this coin); Geissen 406 (this coin cited); RPC 2704 (this coin cited)
ex Dattari collection (Giovanni Dattari, 1858-1923)

 

ROMAN REPUBLIC, M. Aurelius Cotta
139 BCE
AR Denarius, 20 mm, ? gm (can't find my scale right at the moment )
Obv: helmeted head of Roma right; X (mark of value) behind; COTA before; dotted border
Rev: Hercules carrying a club, driving biga of centaurs right; centaurs each carrying a branch; M·AVRELI (AVR is ligate); in exergue, ROMA; line border
Ref: Crawford 229/1b; Sydenham 429; Aurelia 16
formerly slabbed, NGC bulk submission holder, "VF"

I'm very well Panned.  Pan is not a centaur though, he's half goat rather than horse.  His goat legs are nicely rendered in this coin, something I hadn't shown before and only photographed it today, more than two years after purchase 😶.

PAMPHYLLIA, Sillyum (Sillyon).  Philip II (Augustus)
AE 24 mm, 8.70 gm
Obv: ΑΥ Κ Μ ΙΟΥ ϹƐΟΥ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟϹ Ϲ; laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right
Rev:  Pan with goat's legs seated l. on rocks, playing syrinx and holding pedum
Ref:  RPC-unassigned; ID 21103; 9 spec

Edited July 21 by TIF

[TIF]

Apparently I like centaurs in pairs.  Not sure I have any singles!



Egypt, Alexandria. Trajan
AE drachm, 34.73 mm, 21.18 gm
Regnal year 12 (108/9 CE)
Obv: [AVT TRAIAN] CEB ΓE[PM ΔA]KIK, laureate and draped bust of Trajan right, seen from behind
Rev: Trajan, raising hand and holding scepter, driving biga of centaurs right; above, L IB
Ref: Emmett 464.12 (R4).
Ex Tom Buggey Collection
Ex Jean Elsen

 

 

[DonnaML]

I have only four ancient coins depicting centaurs: one Roman Republican coin, and three coins issued by Gallienus, two of them from the Zoo Series and the other from the Legionary Series.

First, one of my earlier Roman Republican coins, accompanied by a nice pedigree -- even if the coin itself isn't quite as nice as the one @TIF posted above, since one can barely see Hercules on the reverse:

Roman Republic, M. Aurelius Cota [Cotta], AR Denarius 139 BCE. Obv. Head of Roma right, wearing winged helmet ornamented with stylized representation of gryphon’s head, earring with three pellets, and necklace of pendants; hair arranged in three symmetrical locks; to right below chin, COTA; behind, mark of value X [after re-tariffing, so = 16 asses] / Rev. Hercules in biga of centaurs right, holding reins in left hand and club in right hand; centaurs each carry branch in left hand; below, M•AVRELI (AVR ligate); in exergue, ROMA. 19 mm., 3.78 g. “Removed from a ring mount; otherwise very fine.” Crawford 229/1b; BMCRR I 916-917 (& Vol. III Pl. xxvi. 2); RBW Collection 959 (ill. p. 201); RSC I Aurelia 16; Sear RCV 1 106. Purchased from Dix Noonan Webb Auction 253, 13 April 2022, Lot 1240; ex Spink Numismatic Circular May 1984, No. 2625 at p. 125 (ill. p. 137).*

 

*According to Crawford (Vol. I p. 263), the moneyer “is perhaps M. Aurelius Cotta, father of C. Aurelius Cotta, M. Aurelius Cotta and L. Aurelius Cotta, Co[nsuls] 75, 74 and 65; he may also be a younger son of L. Aurelius Cotta, Cos. 144 . . . , born therefore c. 160 or later.”  If that is the case, than he would also have probably been the father of Aurelia Cotta, the mother of Julius Caesar, and, therefore, Caesar’s maternal grandfather.

 Mattingly agrees with Crawford’s date for this issue: “M. Cotta. . . should go in 139. He was the father of three consuls of the 70s and 60s, and as the younger brother of the consul of 119 [another L. Aurelius Cotta], he must have been born ca. 160. Like C. Scribonius, he would have been moneyer at an unusually young age.” See the chapter entitled “Roman Republican Coinage ca. 150-90 B.C.” in Harold B. Mattingly, From Coins to History: Selected Numismatic Studies (2004) pp. 199-226 at p. 216.

Grueber notes (BMCRR I  p. 128 n. 1) that the L. Aurelius Cotta who, according to Crawford, may have been the moneyer’s father and was consul in 144, was also tribune of the plebs c. 154. He states (id.) that the moneyer may also have been descended from the M. Aurelius Cotta who was legate of L. Cornelius Scipio, B.C. 189, during the war against Antiochus the Great.

Insofar as the reverse design (Hercules in a biga of centaurs) is concerned, Grueber stated in 1904 that it “has not been satisfactorily explained” (BMCRR I p. 128 n. 3). 70 years later, Crawford characterized it as still “extraordinarily obscure” (Vol. I p. 263). See also John Melville Jones, A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins (Seaby, London, 1990), entry for Centaur at pp. 50-51: "A denarius of 139 BC (M. Aurelius Cot(t)a) has the unusual reverse type of Hercules driving a biga drawn by centaurs. If this is anything more than a variant on the regular scene of Hercules driving a chariot as a symbol of victory, the reference is not now understood." [TLDR: "We have no idea what this is all about."]

Perhaps surprisingly given the rather prominent place held by centaurs in Greco-Roman mythology -- including more than one battle or other encounter between Hercules and various centaurs such as Chiron and Nessus (see http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Ca-Cr/Centaurs.html ; https://www.greeklegendsandmyths.com/centaurs.html; https://stefanosskarmintzos.wordpress.com/2017/06/04/centaurs-and-centauromachy-in-the-greek-world/ ) -- this coin is the second and last of only two occasions on which a centaur or centaurs appeared on a Roman Republican coin. (The first was Crawford 39/1, a bronze triens issued ca. 217-215 BCE with a reverse depicting Hercules fighting a centaur.) Crawford rejects Babelon’s theory that the reverse refers to family history, namely the victories of M. Aurelius Cotta, Scipio’s legate, over Antiochus at Thermopolyae in 191 BCE, by means of an allusion to the mythical battles of Hercules with the Centaurs in the same geographical area: “It is not recorded that the Legate played any major part in the victory nor is it likely that he was senior enough to do so.” Id. Instead, Crawford cites parallel examples of Hercules drawn by centaurs as an artistic motif, and suggests that the coin type “should be regarded as an artistic variation of a normal Hercules in a biga type, perhaps chosen to highlight Hercules as a conqueror.” At BMCRR I p. 128 n. 3, Grueber cites Babelon as noting “a certain resemblance” between this reverse and the reverse type of Juno in a biga of goats issued by C. Renius at around the same time (see Crawford 231/1, minted in 138 BCE), and suggesting that the two moneyers could have been colleagues at the mint. Or, perhaps they merely shared the sense of the absurd – and/or connectedness to myth -- that appears throughout the history of Roman Republican coinage, in depicting bigas drawn by a wide variety of animals and mythical creatures other than horses.

Now for Gallienus, starting with what is clearly a centaur getting ready to swing a baseball bat:

Gallienus (son of Valerian I), Billon Antoninianus, 260-261 AD [Sear], 260 AD [Reinhardt], 258 AD [RIC], Mediolanum [Milan] Mint, 2nd emission (Göbl and Reinhardt), Legionary Issue. Obv. Radiate and cuirassed bust right, two ribbons behind, GALLIENVS AVG / Rev. Centaur with beard galloping right, raising his right hand in salute and holding club in left hand, LEG II PART VI P VI F ( = Legio II Parthica, VI Pia, VI Fidelis [see fn.]). RIC V-1 336j [joint reign], RSC IV 483, Sear RCV III 10262 (ill. p. 294), Göbl MIR [Moneta Imperii Romani] Band 36, No. 997r [ill. with other legionary series coins at http://www258.pair.com/denarius/cgi-bin/erfind.pl?sstring=legio+milan (Ed Flinn’s site Coinage of Gallienus and Family), and at Reinhardt p. 187, no. 6 (Frank Reinhardt, José de Sousa, & Heidemarie Bieker, Gallienvs Antoninianii, The Antoninianii Collection of Gallienus by Frank Reinhardt (Eng. trans. 2022), available at https://www.academia.edu/77282280/GALLIENUS_ANTONINIANII_English_version_PDF )]. 22 mm., 2.8 g, 12 h.  Purchased from Leu Numismatik AG, Winterthur, Switzerland, Web Auction 21, 19 Jul 2022, Lot 4872; ex Collection of Dipl.-Ing. [ = Engineering Master’s Degree] Adrian Lang, b. Germany 1956 [see https://leunumismatik.com/source/images/auction/36/pdf/b2acb9be-1e8d-4395-a863-6c5c7c37ed4b.pdf for biography]. 

* A centaur was the emblem of Leg. II Parthica -- just as the animals or other figures shown on the reverses of the other coins of the Gallienus legionary series served as the emblems or badges of those legions. See Jones, John Melville, A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins (London, Seaby, 1999) at p. 166 [entry for Legio]); RIC V-1 at p. 34. See also the list of the legions and their emblems depicted in the Gallienus legionary series at http://www258.pair.com/denarius/cgi-bin/erfind.pl?sstring=legio+milan (Ed Flinn’s site). Note that if this theory is correct, then several animals served as the emblem of more than one legion -- e.g., the bull for three legions [VII, VIII, and X].

Leg. II Parthica was primarily based, during the third century AD, on the Alban mountain near Rome. (See the article at https://www.livius.org/articles/legion/legio-ii-parthica/, a website on ancient history written and maintained by the Dutch historian Jona Lendering. For an index to articles about other legions, see https://www.livius.org/articles/legion .)

The general consensus is that the P and F stood for Pia Fidelis.

See Jones, John Melville, A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins (London, Seaby, 1999) at p. 166 [entry for Legio] (“the correct explanation seems to be that the legions were being commended for the virtues of piety and fidelity”). Note that “P F” can also stand for Pius Felix (see RIC V-1 at p. 32), but that term is usually associated with the emperor himself, and “faithfulness” seems a more appropriate appellation for the legions than “happiness.” 

There is also controversy about the year(s) of issue of the legionary series, relating to the meaning of the Roman numeral VI preceding both the P and the F in the reverse legend (as well as concerning the meaning, in various other examples of the legionary series, of the numerals V or VII instead of VI preceding P and F).  In RIC V-1 at p. 34 (published in 1927), the editor Harold Mattingly cited the work of Sir Charles Oman supporting the theory that the Roman numerals refer to the regnal years of Gallienus’s joint reign with his father in which the coins were issued -- i.e., years V-VII, or 157-159 AD -- despite the fact that “the obverse inscription is usually GALLIENVS AVG, a form of legend which does not generally appear until 260.”  According to Mattingly, Oman “conclusively points out that Gallienus would, at no date after 259, have celebrated the piety and loyalty of the Rhine legions [several of which, such as Leg VIII Augusta, are included in the legionary series], which had assisted the rebel Postumus to overthrow his authority in Gaul and to slay his son” (Saloninus). Jones agrees, stating in his Dictionary at p. 166 that “the numbers indicated the years of the emperor’s reign.”

However, the more modern authorities all seem to disagree with this interpretation, and place the legionary series near the beginning of Gallienus’s sole reign. See Sear RCV III at p. 293, where David Sear states in a note to No. 10252 (the Legio I Adiutrix capricorn coin) that the legionary series of Gallienus “was issued early in his sole reign [i.e., after Valerian I’s capture by the Persians in 260] at Milan [Mediolanum], the base of the recently established field army commanded by Aureolus. The units honoured were the Praetorian Cohort and the seventeen legions which had furnished detachments for the field army. The numerals ‘VI’ and ‘VII’ appearing in the reverse legends [VI for my example] may refer to the victories achieved by Aureolus over the usurpers Ingenuus and Regalian.”  See also Zach Beasley’s article on this subject at  http://beastcoins.com/RomanImperial/V-I/Gallienus/Gallienus.htm  (“In 260, following the defeats of the revolts, Gallienus produced Antoniniani at Milan, honoring his different legions.  Each legion or cohort is featured through the legionary badge on the reverse, along with the victory number and P F for Pia Fidelis.  One coin type was issued for each of the three battles in which the unit participated.  Victory V was against the Alemanni, VI was against Ingenuus and VII was against Regalianus”).  Neither Sear nor Beasley provides any source for the theory that the three Roman numerals can be tied to specific victories.  Nor do they address Mattingly’s argument (derived from Charles Oman) that Gallienus would not have honored and praised the Rhine legions after the usurpation of Postumus in the summer of 260. 

The historian Jona Lendering offers a different interpretation. At https://www.livius.org/articles/legion/legio-ii-parthica/, in the article on Legio II Parthica, named on my “centaur with club” coin (as well as in other articles about other legions), the author implicitly rejects both the view that the Roman numerals V, VI, and VII represent regnal years, and the view that they refer to specific victories, asserting instead that legends such as “VI Pia VI Fidelis” simply honor a given legion for having been faithful and loyal on the specified number of occasions: “it is certain that in the conflict between the emperor Gallienus and his rival Postumus (260-268), the Second Parthian legion supported the first-mentioned, for which it was rewarded with surnames like Pia V Fidelis V (‘five times faithful and loyal’), Pia VI Fidelis VI, and finally Pia VII Fidelis VII.”

In short, even assuming that the modern authorities are correct that the legionary series was issued after the commencement of Gallienus’s sole reign, there is no generally-agreed answer to the questions of precisely what the V, VI, or VII on these coins signify – i.e., whether they refer to specific victories (numbered in an unknown fashion), or simply to the number of times a given legion proved itself to be faithful and loyal.

Gallienus, Billon Antoninianus, 267-268 AD, Rome Mint (7th Officina). Obv. Radiate head right, GALLIENVS AVG / Rev. Centaur walking right, holding bow with right hand and drawing arrow and bowstring with left hand, left front leg lifted, APOLLINI CONS AVG; Z [Zeta = 7th Officina] in exergue.  RIC V-1 163, RSC IV 72, Sear RCV III 10177, Wolkow 2a7 (ill. p. 41), Göbl MIR Band 36, No. 735b [ill. at http://www258.pair.com/denarius/coinage.htm (Ed Flinn's site) & in Reinhardt at p. 131, no. 4].  20 mm., 2.96 g. Purchased Jan. 2022 from Ingemar Wallin Utveckling AB, Uppsala, Sweden. 

Gallienus, Billon Antoninianus, 267-268 AD, Rome Mint, 8th Officina, 10th emission (Göbl and Reinhardt). Obv. Radiate head right, GALLIENVS AVG / Rev. Centaur walking left holding a globe in extended right hand and a reversed rudder in left hand, with right front leg lifted, APOLLINI CONS AVG; H [Eta = 8th Officina] in exergue.  RIC V-1 164, RSC IV 73 (ill.), Sear RCV III 10178, Wolkow 1a8, Göbl MIR  Band 36, No. 738b [ill. at http://www258.pair.com/denarius/coinage.htm (Ed Flinn's site) & in Reinhardt at p. 133, no. 2]. 20 mm., 3.42 g., 12 h. 

Edited July 21 by DonnaML