The Lion of Chaeronea

Denarius of the Roman emperor Hadrian (r. 117-138 CE), minted between 119 and 122. On the obverse, the bust of Hadrian. On the reverse, the personified goddess Roma, seated. Roma holds a spear in her left hand and a small, winged Victoria (Victory) in her right; beneath her is a cuirass, and behind her a shield. The inscription around her reads P(ONTIFEX) M(AXIMUS) TR(IBUNICIA) P(OTESTATE) COS III. This coin was found in North Yorkshire, England, UK, and is now in the British Museum.

Photo credit: Amy Downes on behalf of the West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service/The Portable Antiquities Scheme/The Trustees of the British Museum.

Gold solidus of the Roman emperor Constantius II (r. 337-361 CE), minted at Thessalonica between 351 and 355. On the obverse is the bust of Constantius, wearing a pearl diadem and a cuirass with drapery atop it. On the reverse is the inscription GLORIA REI PUBLICAE above the enthroned personifications of Rome and Constantinople. Following his elimination of his last remaining rivals in 355, Constantius would greatly expand the senate of Constantinople and elevate the city to an administrative status equal to Rome's, including the appointment of an urban prefect (praefectus urbi) to govern it.

Photo credit: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com

Denarius, minted between 88 and 96 CE by the Roman emperor Domitian (r. 81-96 CE), marking the deification of his infant son. On the obverse, the laureate head of Domitian himself. On the reverse, Domitian's son, hailed as DIVUS CAESAR IMPERATOR DOMITIANI F(ILIUS), is depicted as a young Jupiter. sitting on a globe and reaching out toward the seven stars that make up Ursa Major. Photo credit: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com

Sestertius of the Roman emperor Gaius, better known as Caligula (r. 37-41 CE). This coin highlights the exceptional honors Gaius bestowed upon his three sisters. While the obverse features the traditional laureate bust of the emperor, the reverse features his sisters together, each identified with the personification of a Roman virtue: Agrippina as Securitas, Drusilla as Concordia, and Julia as Fortuna. Each sister holds a cornucopia to demonstrate abundance, while Drusilla also holds a patera (flat serving dish used in Roman religious rites) and Julia holds a rudder (to symbolize safe guidance of the ship of state). Photo credit: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com

Gold solidus of Priscus Attalus, minted in 409-10 CE. A senator from a long-standing aristocratic family who eventually became praefectus urbi (city prefect) of Rome, Attalus converted to Arian Christianity in 409 and was proclaimed emperor by the similarly Arian Visigoths, in opposition to the Catholic ruler Honorius. He would spend two brief periods in power before Honorius finally defeated and captured him in 416, leading to the last triumphal procession in the Western Roman Empire. (Two of Attalus' fingers were cut off, but he was allowed to live and banished to the Lipari Islands north of Sicily.)

On the obverse, the bust of Attalus, wearing a pearl diadem and a cuirass. On the reverse, the seated figure of Roma, holding a globe atop which Victory perches, surrounded by the inscription INVICTA ROMA AETERNA--a somewhat hollow boast, as Rome itself would be sacked by the Visigoths in 410. Photo credit: Numismatica Ars Classica NAC AG

Dupondius of the Roman emperor Tiberius (r. 14-37 CE), minted in 34-35. On the obverse, the bust of Tiberius, crowned with laurel; Tiberius here styles himself DIVI AUG(USTI) F(ILIUS)="Son of the deified Augustus". On the reverse, a male portrait bust within a shield-ring, surrounded by the inscription CLEMENTIAE S(ENATUS) C(ONSULTO). This may be a reference to the shield voted to Augustus by the Senate in 27 BCE, which bore the inscribed virtues of virtus, clementia, iustitia, and pietas. Following the lead of Julius Caesar, Augustus and his successors stressed clementia as a characteristic trait of the emperor, who had it in his power to extend mercy to defeated enemies. In this case, there is a certain irony to the imagery, as Tiberius' last years were marked by many trials and condemnations for offenses against the imperial maiestas at the behest of informers.

Lucius Aelius Caesar, intended heir to Hadrian. Born Lucius Ceionius Commodus on 13 January 101 CE, he was abruptly adopted by Hadrian in 136, after a near-fatal hemorrhage convinced the emperor that a designated successor was needed. (The move angered two men who had thought themselves in line for the position, Hadrian's brother-in-law Servianus and his grandson Fuscus Salinator. Claims of a planned coup circulated, and Hadrian had both men executed, which cast a dark cloud over the last years of his reign.) Lucius Aelius himself was in poor health and predeceased Hadrian on 1 January 138. In his stead, Hadrian adopted the future Antoninus Pius and compelled Antoninus in turn to adopt two heirs: the future Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Aelius' son, the future Lucius Verus.

Portrait bust by an unknown artist, 2nd century CE. Now in the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. Photo credit: Carole Raddato.

Coin minted ca. 280 CE by the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Probus (r. 276-282). Probus is shown in the company of Sol Invictus ("Unconquered Sun"), a late form of the solar deity whose worship had been promoted by Probus' predecessor Aurelian. The birthday of Sol Invictus (Dies Natalis Solis Invicti) was traditionally celebrated on Dec. 25. On this coin, Probus, who was constantly on campaign during his brief reign, is shown prepared for battle with shield and spear, alongside Sol Invictus, who wears his characteristic radiant crown. Now in the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen. Photo credit: ChrisO/Wikimedia Commons.

Didrachm of the Roman emperor Claudius (r. 41-54 CE), found at Caesarea in Cappadocia (modern Türkiye). This coin was struck to commemorate Claudius' invasion and (partial) conquest of Britain in 43. On the obverse, the bust of Claudius, crowned with laurel. On the reverse, the emperor drives a triumphal quadriga (four-horse chariot), with the inscription DE BRITANNIS (From the Britons) below. Photo credit: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com

Bronze head from a life-size statue of the Roman emperor Trajan (r. 98-117 CE), from the settlement of Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum = present-day Nijmegen, Netherlands. Now in the Museum het Valkhof, Nijmegen. Photo credit: Carole Raddato.

Bronze as minted by the Roman emperor Hadrian (r. 117-138 CE) between 134 and 138, to mark his visit in 130 to the province of Egypt. On the obverse, the bust of Hadrian, showing the Greek-style beard for which he was known; he is identified here as P(ATER) P(ATRIAE). On the reverse, an allegory of Egypt. The personified province reclines, her right hand holding a sistrum, the rattle often borne by the goddess Isis. Her left elbow rests on a basket of grain, representing the vital role of Egypt in supplying grain to Rome. At her feet, an ibis, symbol of the god Thoth, sits atop a column. Photo credit: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com

Aureus (diameter=20 mm; weight=7.02 g) minted by the Roman emperor Septimius Severus (r. 193-211 CE) in 204. The coin celebrates Septimius' previous campaign in 198 against the Parthian Empire (which had supported Pescennius Niger, a rival claimant to the Roman throne), culminating in the sack of the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon and the annexation of northern Mesopotamia. (This campaign was to have dire consequences for Rome later on: the weakened Parthians were succeeded by the far stronger Sassanian dynasty, which would threaten the Roman/Byzantine East until the Arab conquests of the seventh century.) The obverse depicts the bust of Septimius, who stresses his piety with the cognomen PIUS and the title P(ONTIFEX) M(AXIMUS). On the reverse is the figure of Victory, holding a laurel wreath and palm frond and surrounded by the legend VICTORIA PARTHICA MAXIMA. This aureus is the only one of its kind known to exist and may have been part of a limited issue, perhaps connected to the Ludi Saeculares (Secular Games) that Septimius held in 204 to celebrate the anniversary of Rome's founding. Photo credit: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com

Marble portrait head of Chrysippus of Soli (ca. 279-206 BCE), the prominent Stoic thinker and writer sometimes credited as the "second founder" of the Stoa. The biographer/doxographer Diogenes Laertius lists over 700 works by Chrysippus, all of which have perished save for fragments. This portrait head dates to the 2nd century CE and is modeled after a lost Hellenistic original, perhaps by the sculptor Euboulides; it is now located in the Louvre. Photo credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons.

Gold solidus of Flavius Romulus Augustus, aka Romulus Augustulus, last ruler of the Western Roman Empire (r. 475-476 CE). Augustulus ("Little Augustus"), who was roughly ten years old at the time of his accession, served as a puppet of his father Orestes, magister militum ("master of the soldiers") and a former courtier of Attila the Hun. Less than a year into Romulus' reign, the Germanic chieftain Odoacer (who had been denied permission to settle his people in the Italian peninsula) defeated and killed Orestes, becoming the first King of Italy. Romulus was allowed to live and spent the remainder of his life in peaceful seclusion at a fortress in Campania; the date of his death is unknown. While his deposition marked the formal end of the Empire in the West, its institutions and ideology would continue to exert profound influence over future European political entities, and the Eastern half of the Empire would remain in existence for nearly a thousand years more.

This solidus was minted at Mediolanum (Milan). The obverse bears a bust of Augustulus in military garb, while the reverse (not shown) bears the image of Victoria, who carries a scepter topped with a cross. Photo credit: American Numismatic Society.

Denarius minted in 17 BCE by Marcus Sanquinius, one of the IIIviri monetales, to mark Augustus' holding of the Ludi Saeculares (Secular Games). On the obverse, the bust of the deified Julius Caesar; above his head is the comet seen after his assassination that was thought to mark his ascent to the gods. On the reverse, the herald of the Secular Games, in a costume evocative of the divine herald Mercury, including the caduceus.

Sestertius of the notorious Roman emperor Commodus, minted at Rome in 192 CE, the last year of his reign. On the obverse, the bust of Commodus; on the reverse, the personification of Africa greets Hercules. Africa holds a sheaf of wheat (representing the grain the province produced) and a sistrum (the rattle associated with the goddess Isis), while Hercules stands on a ship's prow and holds his club.

Egyptian mummy portrait (encaustic on wood) of a Roman soldier wearing a gold wreath. Artist unknown; ca. 130 CE (reign of the emperor Hadrian). Found at er-Rubayat in the Fayum; acquired in 1927 and now in the collection of the Altes Museum, Berlin. Photo credit: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP/Wikimedia Commons.