Britannia' on Roman coins of the second century A.D. / by Jocelyn Toynbee

8/9/2019 'Britannia' on Roman coins of the second century A.D. / by Jocelyn Toynbee

1/19

THE

JO U R N L

ROM N

VOLUI\

STUDIES

I

XIV

PUBLISHED

BY

THE

SOCIETY

FOR

THE

PRO-

MOTION

OF

ROMAN

STUDIES

AT

THE

OFFICE

OF THE

SOCIETY

50o

BEDFORD

SQUARE

W.C.i.

LONDON

1924

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2/19


3/19

BRITANIN4 ON

ROMAN

COINS

OF

THE

SECOND CENTURY A.D.

By JOCELYN TOYNBEE,

NI.A.

Lecturer in

Classics, University College, Reading.

(Pla

te

xxiv.)

The

history of art in the Roman period is the history of the

interplay of two opposite

tendencies.

On the one hand

there is the

Roman taste

for

realism

and

accurate representation,

combining

with

the

Italian love of

naturalism; on the other,

the fostering of

the

Greek

tradition

of idealism

in art

both

by

the

Greek

artists

who

worked

at Rome and

by

the Greek enthusiasts among

their Roman

employers. After

the culmination of

Roman historical

art under

the Flavians

and

Trajan,

the second century, as

is well known,

was

marked by a great

reaction in favour of things

Hellenic,

and it is with

one small part of the Greek revival under Hadrian and the Antonines,

when

Greek

art

blossomed afresh

for the

last

time during the

history

of the ancient world,

that

I

propose

to deal

in

this

paper.

Of

all

departments

of

art

it

is

the

personification

of

countries

and

cities which illustrates most clearly

the

triumph of Greek

traditions at

this

time.

It

has

already

been

shown1

that

the

idea

of

representing

a

locality by

an allegorical figure was

a familiar

one

throughout the

history of Greek art and

flourished

especially in the

Hellenistic

age.

When

we

reach the Roman period,

we find that

the

idea

was no

less

popular,

but that it

is

possible to distinguish

two

contrasting principles upon which the artists who produced the

personifications

worked,

corresponding exactly

with the two opposing

tendencies

which

characterise

the art of the Roman

age as a whole.

The

'

Roman

'

method

was

to

personify a country

in

the guise

of

an

actual inhabitant realistically portrayed

2;

numerous

examples

of

this

principle

are provided

by coin-types, statues and

other

monu-

ments

continuously from Republican

days to the

death of Trajan.

But

in

Greek

art

the

traditional method

of personifying a city

or

country

was

to

represent it,

not by the figure

of an

actual

inhabitant,

but

by

an

abstraction,

an

'

ideal

'

female figure,

intended to symbolise

by her attitude, dress and attributes the essential significance of

I

P.

Gardner,

).Hi.S.

ix, I888,

p.

47

ff.

2

e.g.

the famous so-called

'

Thusnelda

'

in the

Loggia dei

Lanzi

at Florence, most probably

a

personification of

Germania (Strong, Roman

Sculpture, pl. lxviii); Armnenia

ersonified as

a

male

Armenian

captive on coins

of Augustus

with the

legend CAESAR

DIVI

F. ARMENIA CAPTA

(Mattingly,

Coins

of

the

Romian

Empite

in

the British

Museum,

vol.

Ix,

pl.

24)

Ctc.


4/19

'BRITANNIA'

ON ROMAN

COINS

OF SECOND

CENTURY

A.D.

143

that for which she

stood. This principle, to the

complete

exclusion of the ' Roman' principle, with which it had previously

co-existed, underlies the great array of

'geographical' personifica-

tions

which forms one of the most typical

features of Hadrianic

art, and

of which the

famous series of coin-types struck

by

Hadrian in I34-5 A.D. as

a record of his journeys through

the

provincesaffordsby far the finest examples

that have come down

to

us; and this, as I hope to

show, was the

principle on which were

produced the types of

the particularpersonificationwith

which

we

arehere concerned, he

HadrianicBritannia and, with one excep-

tion, her

Antonine successors.

I. HADRIAN.

Of the

twenty-five

countries or cities

represented

n

Hadrian's

great coin-series

ixteen

belong to the southernor easternareasof

the

Mediterranean

world,

and

had alreadyplayed a

part

in

the history of

ancient civilisation before the Roman

Empire and

Roman

Imperial

coinage had come

into existence. In

all

such cases

the

Hadrianic

artist, when

creating

the

type

of

his

personification,

found

himself

heir

to

a

store of

traditional

acts

and ideas,

often of

actualprototypes

from earlierart. But in the taskof personifyingBritanniathe coin-

designer was faced

with the problem

of

embodying

in

allegorical

form a

country situated

on

the north-western

extremity

of

the

Empire,

into

which

the

traditions

of

Mediterranean

civilisation

had

only just begun to

penetrate,

and

of

which

the Hellenic

world

had

taken

no

cognisance. By

instinct

and

training

Greek

artists

working

at

Rome

were

accustomed o turn to Greek

models

for

their

inspiration,

but

in

this case the nature

of

the

subject

demanded

originality.

It

is

the

manner

in

which

the creator

of

the

Hadrianic Britannia

has succeeded

in

combining

faithfulness to

Greek

artistic traditions

with an effective expressionof contemporaryevents of the first

importance

n

Roman

politics that

forms one of

the

chief

points

of

interest in the

type.

Of

the

history

of Britain

under

Hadrian

only vague

and

meagre

recordsare to be found

in

the ancient writers.

Spartianus

mentions

troubles in

the

island at the

beginning

of

the

reign,

1

and dismisses

the

Emperor's

activities

in

the

province-the building

of

the Wall

and the

important

work of

pacification

and

organisation-in

two

brief notices,

2

while a short allusion

s made

by

Fronto to

the losses

sustained

by

the

Roman

troops

at the

hands of

the rebellious

Britons

about the time of Hadrian'saccession. Poor indeedand inadequate

1

Vita 5,

2.

'

Britanni teneri sub Romana ditione

non poterant.'

2

ibid.

ii,

2,

'

Britanniam

petit, in qua multa

correxit murumque per octoginta

milia passuum

primus duxit, qui barbaros

Romanosque divideret'

I2,

I.

'

Compositis in

Britannia

rebus

transgressus

in

Galliam

. . .'

3

The Correspondence

f Marcus

Cornelius

Fronto,

Loeb. edit. vol. 2, p. 22.

'Quid? avo vestro

Hadriano imperium obtinente quantum militum

ab Britannis caesum.'


5/19

144 'BRITANNIA'

ON ROMAN COINS

OF

SECOND CENTURY A.D.

must these literary records appear in the presence

of the enduring

monument of imperial frontier defence left by Hadrian in our

country, and it is to the coins that we must turn for evidence cor-

roborating the fact to which the Wall bears witness,

namely that the

visit

of the

Emperor

to

Britain

in

I2I

A.D. and

the events which

led

up to it, were of peculiar importance and created

an impression

at Rome of which the ancient writers do not give the least suggestion.

The Britannia

is

indeed unique as being the only

'

province

'

type

of which there were two

issues

; one belongs to the main series of

I34-I35 A.D.,

and the

other,

the

coins of which correspond

n

style

and legends with those of II9 A.D.,1 iS contemporary with affairs

in Britain immediately preceding the imperial visit. Another

'geographical' type of an earlier date than the series proper, the

Restitutori

Orbis

Terrarum,

was

issued

by

Hadrian at the end of I20

A.D.

or early

in

I2I

as a programme of the journeys throughout the

length and breadth

of

the Empire,

which

he

had in view.2 So in

1I9 A.D. coins were

struck with the

type

of

the personified Britain,

as having the distinction

of

being

the

first province to which the

Emperor gave

close attention.

British

politics

must soon indeed

have claimed both

his

own personal interest and the interest of the

Roman government

and

of

the

capital

in

general,

if historians are

right in connecting the allusions made by Spartianus and Fronto

to disturbances

in

the island

on

Hadrian's

accession

with a serious

military disaster

in

which the Ninth Legion was

cut to

pieces.4

The

type may

thus

commemorate the

inauguration

in

I

19 A.D.,

as a

result

of this

defeat,

of

the

new frontier

policy,

the

building

of the

Wall,

the

importance

of

which not

only

caused Hadrian

two

years

later

to cross

to Britain

and

watch the

progress

of the work

himself,

but

also claimed

immediate

recognition

on

the

coin-types

of the current

year.

The

early

Britannia coins have

then,

in

common

with the

coins

of the

Restitutori Orbis Terrarum

type,

the interest

of

being

the

forerunners,

struck

before Hadrian set

out

upon

his

first tour,

of

the

great

Hadrianic

series

of

'

geographical

'

personifications.

After

the appearance

of

these two

types

the mint was

inactive,

as far as

coins

of

this class

are

concerned, throughout

the whole

period

of the

Emperor's

travels until

the issue of the I

34-5

series as a

retrospect

of

what had

been

accomplished.

Then

the Britannia

type appears

once more

in its

place among

the

types

of the

other provinces

and

cities

of

the

Empire,

with

the

normal

legends

and

portrait style

1

Mr.

Mattingly

of the

British Museum

has now

established the following chronological sequence

for the

earliest group

of

'

cos. iii

'

coins,

namely

those

on which the Emperor

is given

the title

of

Pontifex

Maximus:-

PONT. MAX. on

rev:

I

I9

A.D.

P.

M.

,

obv: Izo-early

121

A.D.

P.

M.

,

rev: 121-122

A.D.

Our Britannia

type,

which in its

earlier

issue

bears

the legend PONT. MAX. on the reverse, thus belongs

to the year

119

A.D.

2

Cohen, Les

monnaies

de l'empire romain2,

ii,

p.

213,

no.

1285

i1.

(1

Obv.: IMP CAESAR

TRAIANVS

HADRIANVS

AVG.

Rev.:

BRITANNIA (exergue) PONT.

MAX. TR.

POT.

COS.

III.

S.C.

Cohen p.

cit.2ii, p.

12I,

no.

197

1 2

(Plate xxiv, r).

4

G.

Macdonald,

Roman

Wall

in

Scotland, p. 6.


6/19

'BRITANNIA ON

ROMAN COINS OF

SECOND CENTURY A.D. 145

of the year.

1

The Restitutori

Orbis Terrarum type was not re-issued,

but it is possible to imagine that these two early types together

met with a success and popularity which may

have contributed

towards the formation

of Hadrian's scheme for using the reverse-

designs of a great coin

series as a medium for propaganda, for

disseminating that idea

of the Empire which it had been the chief

purpose of his journeys

to

foster, the conception

of a great fellow-

ship united by a common Graeco-Roman civilisation.

Apart

from

the

difference

in

the obverse

portrait, a certain

inferiority

in

the style

of the reverse design is to

be noticed in the

Restitutori Orbis Terrarum

coins as compared with the coins of

134-5

A.D.

Perhaps the fact that the type of the personified Britain

was designed during the same period (II9-I22 A.D.),

apparently by

an

artist

less skilful

than

the coin-designers of the latter part of

Hadrian's

principate,

and was, by reason

of

its popularity,

used over

again without alteration

in

the issue of the

great

series, may account

for a certain obvious

defect

in

the

Britannia

figure. It is by

no

means easy to decide whether Britannia is intended

to be in a seated

or

in

a standing posture,

and

Cohen, indeed, has

gone so far as to

distinguish two varieties

of

the

type, one seated and the other

standing. But between

the

various

specimens

of the type there

is

no difference marked enough to warrant any such distinction; and

although

it is difficult to

describe

Britannia as

seated,

since in

no

case is there the slightest

indication of what

she is

seated on, it

is

still more difficult to see

how she could keep her balance were she

standing. It seems more

reasonable

to interpret

her consistently as

a

seated figure, supported

by

some

object

which has not been allowed

to appear

in

the

design,

and

to

attribute

this

somewhat

serious

omission

to

lack of

skill

or

judgment

on the

part

of

the

artist.

Though somewhat

inferior

in

certain

points

of

execution,

the

Restitutori Orbis

Terrarum

type

is

no less

Greek

in

method

and

con-

ception than the types of

I34-I35,

and the same is true of the

Britannia of

I

I9.

This first

issue

of

Britannia coins is

very probably,

as

we

have

seen,

to be

associated

with a

military

disaster

followed

by

an

important development

in

the

history

of the

military occupa-

tion

of the

province.

Yet it

is

not

as

the

conquered

barbarian of

the

'

Roman

'

type, merely recording

the immediate

military

consequences

of

a

British

rising,

but as

an

essentially

'

ideal

'

figure,

embodying,

in

the

traditional Greek

manner,

a more universal

aspect

of

the

country,

that Britain is

personified

on Hadrian's coins. The

type

has

indeed been described as that of ' Britain

subdued.'2

But

the

attitude

with the elbow

resting

on the

right

knee and the

right

hand

supporting

the head is not one of

dejection.

Britannia does

1

I

Obv.HADRIANVS

AVG. COS.

111. P.P.

Rev.BRITANNIA

(or BRITTANNIA) S.C.

Cohen, op. cit.2 ii, p.

IZI,

nos. 194-196,

198, 199.

,El

2.

G.

Macdonald, p. Cit.

pl.

i, A.

2.

Haverfield,

RomanOccupation

of Britain, fig.

4, z (Plate

xxiv, Z).

2

G.

Macdonald,

op.

cit.

p.

7.


7/19

I46

'BRITANNIA'

ON ROMAN COINS OF

SECOND CENTURY

A.D.

not

look

down,

but straight

out

before

her; the figure

suggests,

not sorrow, but vigilance. 1 She is Britannia Graeco-Romanised

rather

than

Britannia

capta, an

outpost of

the Roman

Empire,

armed,

as

is

the

case with

the

personifications

of other

frontier

provinces,

because

she

is

taking

her share

in the defence

of

the

Empire's

boundaries.

We

might

almost

describe

the

type

as

symbolic

of the watch

on the

Great Wall,

the

construction

of

which

was

now

being planned,

if not already begun,

'

qui

barbaros

Romanosque

divideret.'

Britannia

is

characterised

by

native

dress and

arms.

She wears

a short tunic,

braccae,

short

boots

and an

ample

cloak

ornamented

round the bottom with a fringe,2 fastened on the right shoulder,

covering

the

breast,

left shoulder

and upper

arm and

hanging

down

behlind,

while

it

is

brought

round

again

in front

across

the knees.

She

holds

in her

left

hand a

spear,

sometimes

reversed,3

and at

her

left side,

resting

on the ground,

is a

large

shield,

on which

her left

hiand rests,

with

a

decorated rim and a

great

spike in

the centre.

4

The rocks

on which

her

right

foot

is

placed

are, perhaps,

intended

to

suggest the

bleak

and

rugged character

of the

scenery

of northern

Britain.

5

In

one

detail

the Britannia differs quite

markedly

from

the other personifications

of the

Hadrianic series, that

is

in

the treat-

ment of the hair. Britannia's hair is not worn with a fillet in a roll

round

the

head and

knotted

behind,

the usual Greek coiffure,

which

occurs even

in

the

case of the figures

personifying

such outlying

provinces

as

Dacia,

Thracia

and

Noricum,

but it

is

turned

back

from the

face

in thick,

waving

locks, somewhat

resembling

the

hair

of

one of

the Provinces

from the

Hadrianeum.6

Possibly

the

difference

of

treatment

may

be

accounted

for

by

supposing

that

a

less

skilled hand

found

the

hair easier

to indicate

by

this

method

when

dealing

with

a full-face instead

of a

profile

;

or it

may

be

a

deliberate

touch

of

realism on

the

part

of

the

artist,

who

in

designing

a

tvpe

as a

contemporary,

rather

-than as a

retrospective,

record

of events

in Britain in

i19,

might

more

naturally

tend

to

suggest

the

physical

characteristics

of

the

people

on

whom

attention

was

at

the

moment

focussed.

I

Mr.

Mattingly

has

pointed

out to

me that

Britannia's

attitude

bears

a distinct

resemblance

to

that

of

Securitas.

2

Cf.

the

cloak with

a

fringed

border worn by

the

captive

woman

on the so-called

'

Trophy

of

Marius'

(Biesikowski,

De simulacris

barbararum

gentium

apud

Romanos,

p. 39,

fig. I9).

3

Never a sceptre, as Cohen sometimes describes it.

4

This remarkable

type

of shield,

for

which

I can

find

no parallel,

seems

to have been peculiarly

British,

though

neither

Caesar nor

Tacitus

nor any

other

of

our ancient

authorities

mention

it.

The

popular

notion

that the

British chariot

wheels

were

equipped

with

spikes

or

scythes

appears

to rest

on

very doubtful

authority

(Daremberg

et

Saglio,

s.v.

Essedum,

p. 8I5,

and

Dechelette

Manuel

d'arche-

ologie,

i i i I 83).

5

Mr. Mattingly

has made

the

interesting

suggestion

that

these

are not

rocks

but the

actual

Wall

itself.

The regularity

with

which they

are

arranged

certainly

favours

the idea that

they

represent courses of stone, but at the same time it

should

be

noticed that

in

Hadrian's

Dacia

type,

where

there

is no

question

of a wall, the

rocks

on

which

the

province

is seated are

even

more sym-

metrical.

6

Biefikowski

op.

cit.

p.

79,

fig. 75;

Lucas,

jabr-

buch

des

kaiserlichen

deutschen

archdologischen

Instituts,

Band

xv, .1900,

fig. 13.


8/19

'BRITANNIA'

ON ROMAN COINS OF SECOND CENTURY A.D.

I47

The

military

side of Hadrian'sactivity

in Britain

is also com-

memorated by coins of the ' Exercitus ' type with the legend

EXERC.

BRITAN.

or

EXERC. BRITANNICVS. 1 Of the fact that there

was another

side to

the Emperor's

work in the province

we should,had we

only

the

literary

records

to

rely upon,

be entirely without

evidence;

but

here

again

the coin-typessupplement

our

knowledge. The

type

Adventui

Aug. Britanniae

struck

in

I34-5

A.D. gives

us a different

conception

of the personified Britain.2

Britannia

stands in

the

usual

attitude

of the provinceon an

'

adventus coin,

looking to

the

left

towards

the

Emperor

who greets her from

the other side of

an

altar,

and

holding

a

patera

n her

right

hand.

Not a trace

of anything

militaryis to be found in this figure. She wears the regular Greek

dress,

the

long

chiton

reaching

o the

feet

and

the himation

draped

in the usual way,

hanging

down the back

and brought round

in

front

across

the lower

part

of the

body

with one corner thrown

over

the left

arm.

The upper

edge

of the garment is apparently

drawn

over the head

to

form

a hood

or veil. Obviously

t is the civil

area

of

Britain

that

is here

personified.

Britannia

is welcoming

Hadrian

as the

patron

of her civil life,

whose interests the Emperor,

while

chiefly,

no

doubt,

concerned with the

strengthening

of

the

militaryfrontier,

did

not

ignore nor neglect.

The evidenceafforded

by this AdventuiAug. Britanniaecoin-type for the prosperityof the

civilian

population

of

Britain

during

the

Hadrianic

age

and

its

gratitude

for

the

imperial

favour

has

been

confirmed

by

recent

excavations

on

the site of the Roman

city

of

Viroconium Wroxeter).

Here

in

I30

A.D.

the tribal

community (civitas)

of the Cornovii

erected

a

large public

building

and

set

up

over the entrance

an

inscription

recording

ts

dedication

to the

reigning

Emperor.3

After

the first

few decades

of the

Roman

occupation

Viroconium

ceased

to be

a

militarystation

and

settled down

to

a

peaceful

existence as

a

Romano-British ountry

town,

4

and

the new Wroxeter

nscription

is

unique

as being at present the only inscription of Hadrianicdate

from

the

civil

area

of Britain. Its

importance

for our

purpose

lies

in

the fact

that,

with the

'

adventus

coin,

it shows us

Britain

in the

north-west

oining

with

the

provinces

of

the

south

and east

in

bearing

witness

to

Hadrian as

the

promoter

of

that

peaceful,

prosperous

city-life

which the citizens

of the Roman

Empire

had

inherited

from

the

Hellenistic

world.

II. THE ANTONINES.

In the Antonine

period

we meet

again

with that contrast

between

the Greek and Roman points of view in art which the uniformly

1

Cohen,

op.

cit.2 ii,

p.

I53, nos.

555,

556.

Mac-

donald,

op

cit.

pl.

i,

A.

x;

Haverfield,

op.

cit.

fig.

4,

1.

2 |

Obv.

IIADRIANVS

AVG. COS.

III

P.

P

.

Rev. ADVENTVI

AVG.

BRITANNIAE

S.C.

Cohen, op.

cit.

2ii

p.

0og,

no. zS. .1EI Plate

XXIV,

).

3

Birmingham

Post,

Tuesday, July

15,

1924,

p.

7;

Antiquaries

Journal, October, 1924

. rear's

Work,

1923-4,

p.

8z;

Classical Review,

vol.

xxxviii,

Nov.-Dec.,

1924~

p.

146.

4l-Iaverfield,

Victoria

County

History of

Shrop-

shire, i,

pp.

216,

244, 245.


9/19

I48

'BRITANNIA

O.N

ROMAN COINS OF SECOND CENTURY

A.D.

Greek character of Hadrianic work had for the

time being obliterated.

On the one hand the Hellenic renaissance of the Hadrianic age still

exercised a powerful influence; we find work

of Antonine artists

which preserves, both in method and

in

idea, the

traditions of Greek

art. On the other hand

there is distinct evidence

of a tendency,

which

began to show itself during the reign

of Hadrian's successor,

to break away from the

Greek tradition, to subordinate the 'ideal'

in favour of the more definitely Roman preference

for the actual and

the real. As far as the personification of countries

and cities is

concerned, the Hellenic

element is, as would

be expected, still

predominant. The coin-series

issued by Antoninus Pius in the first

year of his principate, to commemorate the offer of the aurum

coronarium,bears so close

a resemblance to Hadrian's series of I 34-5

that it seems not unlikely that both series were

the product of the

same school. Apart from

this series of I39 the personifications of

only

two

countries

are to be found

on

the coins

of Pius, Italia and

Britannia.

The

Italia type,' issued

first

in

I39

and

again

in

I40-3,

exhibits all the

characteristics of Hadrianic

art,

and

is identical on

the coins of both dates.

Of the coins with the personified Britain as

their reverse design

there were also

two

issues,

but

here the

types

are

not identical. Whereas

the

types

of

the

earlier issue are essentially

Greek

in

character,

those of the

later

issue

do,

to

some

extent,

illustrate

the

'

Roman

'

tendency

in

Antonine

art, a

tendency

which is also

illustrated by certain

features

of

another

series of

monuments

of

Pius'

reign which

belong

to this

particular

class

of

personifications,

the Provinces

from the Hadrianeum.

The Britannia coins

of Pius'

first

issue

date from the

Emperor's

third

consulship, I40-3

A.D., and show

three varieties

of

type.

One

of these2

is,

as

regards

the attitude and attributes

of

the

figure,

clearly

reminiscent

of

Hadrian's Britannia.

The

province

is

seated

to the left, again without any indication of what she is sitting on,3

her right

foot

resting

on

a

rock. She

holds a

spear

in

her

right hand,

while

her left rests

upon

a

large shield,

on

which

is an

ornamental

pattern radiating

from a

great spike

in the centre.

In

certain

points,

indeed,

there

is

divergence

from

the

Hadrianic

type.

Pius' Britannia

does

not

support

her head

with her left

hand,

but

grasps

in

the

latter

her

spear;

her

face

is

shown,

not

in

full,

but

in

profile;

she

wears

a

long chiton,

and

her

himation,

which

is fastened

by

a

clasp

in

front,

has no

fringed

border.

Also,

this Britannia

is

unique

among

all

other

personifications

of the

province

in the fact that she

wears, apparently, a helmet.4 But the influence of the Hadrianic

I

Cohen,

op.

cit.

2ii,

pp. 314-315,

nos. 463-472.

2

Obv.

ANTONINVS AVG.

PIVS. P.P.

TR. P. COS

III.

Rev.

BRITAN

(in

field)

IMPERATOR

I

S.C.

(circumference).

,Cohen,

op. Cit.

2ii,

p.

28i,

no.

11

5.

I"' (Plate

xxIv,

4).

3

Here, however,

it is just possible

to suppose

that the

seat

is

concealed behind

the

shield, whereas

the design on Hadrian's coin

does not admit of

this supposition.

4

The British Museum

does not possess

a

specimen

of

this

coin, and

the

bronze cast

in the

Ashmolean

Museum

is taken from a

poorly preserved specimen,


10/19

'BRITANNIA ON

ROMAN COINS OF SECOND CENTURY A.D.

I49

type, not

only upon the composition

of the

design, but also upon the

whole idea of the figure, is perfectly obvious. Pius' type displays

the same

attitude of vigilance,

the same conception of Britain, not

as the home

of a conquered

people, but

as a unit of the Empire in

her capacity

as a frontier

province, an outpost

of Roman civilisation

in the north-west.

The same idea underlies

the other

two types of

this issue which, while

showing

greater divergence in

detail from the

Hadrianic Britannia,

reproduce its spirit

with no

less fidelity. Of

these

one,1

of which the British

Museum possesses

a fairly

good

specimen,

is not

mentioned by Cohen.

It shows Britannia

'

ruling

the waves,' for the

globe on which

she is seated to the

left, in a some-

what precarious manner, floats upon the sea, an obvious allusion to

the fact that Britain

is an island. She

wears short boots, braccae,

a short chiton and a cloak fastened

on the right shoulder.

Her left

elbow

rests upon

a round shield with an

ornamental rim, and

she

holds

in

her left

hand a spear

and in her right a legionary

standard.

2

The face

is seen in profile and

the hair

is worn in a roll round

the

head and fastened

into a knot

behind. The significance

of the globe

is by no

means clear.

A globe is the attribute

held in the left

hand

by

Hadrian's Orbis Terrarum3

and by Trajan's

Italia, 4while

a

large

globe

forms the throne of Pius'

fine seated

Italia.

In

the case

of

both these personifications the appropriateness of the attribute is

too

obvious to require comment.

But it

is

not easy

to

see

why

Britannia should

be given this symbol

of sovereignty.

The only

other

monument on which

a globe is

in

any way

associated with

Britain

is the reverse of a

coin of Pius of the same

period,

showing

a

winged Victory

standing

to the

left on a

globe

with the

legend

BRITAN across the field.

6

Figures

of Victory on

a

globe

are,

of

course,

common,

7

but

in this

instance

it is

just

conceivable that if the coins

with

the

Victory

were

struck

before

those with

the

Britannia,

the

globe

on

which

Victory

is

poised

may

have

suggested

to the

designer

of

the

Britannia

type

the idea of

seating

her

upon

one. Or

possibly

the

globe may

refer to

the remote situation of

Britain-'

et

penitus

toto

divisos orbe

Britannos.'

8

But

these are

mere

conjectures,

and

beyond conjecture

it

does not seem

possible

to

go.

Not

a

and

is

therefore not very reliable

as

evidence for

details.

But

after

examining the latter, I am

inclined to decide

in favour of Britannia being here

represented with a helmet. Possibly the

combina-

tion of long chiton

and himation indicates an

attempt to assimilate

the Britannia to

the

Roma

type. It is not

possible

to come to any definite

conclusion about the treatment of the hair of this

Britannia

from the Ashmolean

cast.

I(

Obv.

ANTONINVS

AVG.

PIVS

P.P. TR.P. COS III.

Rev.

MPERATOR 1I

(circumference)

BRITAN

(exergue)

s.c. (Plate

xxiv,

j).

2

I cannot discover anything to account for the

use of the legionary standard in

this

and

in

the third

type of

Pius

140-143

Britannia issue. In all

Hadrianic types and

in

all

the

other types

of Pius

where a standard is an attribute of a personified

province it is the vexillum

which is represented.

The introduction

of

the legionary standard

in

these

two types

seems

to have

been

an

experiment

which

was tried and then abandoned,

for the vexillum

reappears in the Britannia type

of

Pius'

155

issue.

"

Cohen, op. cit.

2

ii, p. 213, no.

i285.

Cohen,

op. cit.5

ii,

p.

37, no. 179, pp.

51-52,.

nos.

326,

327-

6

Cohen, Op.

cit.5

ii, pp.

314-315,

nos. 463-472.

6

Cohen, op. cit.5 ii, p. z8i, no. 113.

7

e.g. Roscher, Lexic(n, Band

iii, p. 335, Abb.14-

Daremberg et Saglio, figs. 7466

and

7467.

8

Vergil, Ecl. i, 66.


11/19

I50

BRITANNIA ON

ROMAN COINS

OF SECOND CENTURY A.D.

vestige

of

the idea

of

Britannia Capta is to be traced either in this

type or in the remaining type of

I40-3.

In the latter1 Britannia

is seated to the left on a rock, not, as Cohen describes her,

'

dans

l'attitude de la tristesse,'

2

but in a posture indicating serenity and

vigilance. She looks straight out in front of her, her left arm resting

on the rim of a large oval shield with an ornamental border and

central spike, supported on a helmet. Her coiffure, dress

and

attributes are identical with those of the type with the globe-neatly

dressed hair, short chiton, cloak, braccae and boots, with the spear in

the left hand3 and the legionary standard in the right.

The occasion for the first issue of Britannia types by Pius can be

easilydetermined. From about

I39-I44A.D.

the Roman governor of

Britain was Lollius Urbicus,

4

under whose auspices, so Pius'

biographer, Julius Capitolinus, tells us, the Britons were defeated,

and a turf wall-the wall between the Forth and Clyde-was

erected

in the north of the island.5 The acclamation of Pius as Imperator

for the

second time has been connected with Lollius' victories, and,

as

this

acclamation

is

known from epigraphic evidence to have taken

place

at

the

end of

I42

or

beginning of

I43,6

we may venture

to fix

the date

of

the Britannia types which bear the legend

IMPERATOR II

with more

precision than Cohen has done, assigning them to

the

early part of the year

I43.

But it was, doubtless, to commemorate

not

so

much

the victories

I

as the new line of frontier defence that

the

Antonine artists created the three types of the vigilant Britannia.

In so

doing, they adopted the very device used by the Hadrianic

coin-designer

for

symbolising the watch

on

Hadrian's Wall, and,

while

they

introduced

new details and new variations, they adhered through-

out

to the

same underlying principle of personifying the country,

in accordance with Greek tradition, in its

'

ideal

'

and

'

universal'

aspects.

8

1

Obv.ANTONINVS AVC. PIVS. P.P.

TR.P.

COS III.

Rev.

BRITANNIA

(exergue)

IMPERATOR

II

(cir-

cumference) s.c.

Cohen,

op.

Cit.2

ii,

p.

282,

no. I

9.

{

bv.

Same legend.

Rev. B3RITANNIA S.C.

Cohen, Op. cit.2

ii, p.

28I,

no.

II6; G. Macdonald,

op.

cit.

pl. ii,

I

(Plate xxiv, 6).

2

Cohen makes this

remark

only in connexion

with

his

no. I

I6,

but

presumably

he

intended it

also

to apply

to his no.

I

I9,

the

types

of

both coins

being

identical. Jatta (Le rappresentanze figutrate delle

provincie romane, p.

I5),

following Cohen,

makes

the

mistake of

placing

this

coin

under

the

heading

'T'ipo della provincia capta.'

3

In the British Museum specimen the spear and

the

spike

on the

shield

are

practically obliterated.

It is, however, just possible to distinguish their

traces.

4

D. Atkinson, The Governors of Britain fromn

Claudius o Diocletian,

.R.S.

xii,

I922,

p.

66.

5

luli Capitolini Antoninus Pius

5,

4.

'

Britannos

per Lollium Urbicum

vicit legatum alio muro

cespiticio summotis barbaris ducto.

6

G. Macdonald, op. cit. p. 8.

7

It must have been

for this purpose that the

coins with Victory and the legend BRITAN

were

struck, cf.

supra

p.

149,

note 6, and G. Macdonald

op. cit. Plate i, A 3; Haverfield,

op.

cit. fig. 4,

3.

It is natural to suppose

that

these

were issued

imme-

diately

after

the

successes of Lollius and

probably

before the Britannia types.

8

I suggest the following chronology for

the

cos.

iiI Britannia types.

The activities of Lollius

occasioned three experiments

in

'

Britannias

'

early in 143 A.D.-(i) Britannia

in

quasi-seated

attitude with helmet (?), long chiton and spear=

Cohen

i i

5;

(ii) Britannia seated on globe *

(iii)

Britannia seated to

1. on rock=Cohen II9.

All

these coins have

the

legend

IMPERATOR II.

(i),

from

its close resemblance to

the Hadrianic type, I should

place first in date-(iii) would certainly seem

to

come

last.

It

is decidedly

the best design of

the

three, and

was

evidently

popular, since Commodus'


12/19

'BRITANNIA

ON

ROMAN

COINS

OF

SECOND

CENTURY

A.D.

I5I

Pius' second

issue of

coins with Britannia

types was some

twelve

years later than his first issue and dates from his fourth consulship

in the year

155 A.D. We

have seen

that the events

associated with

Lollius'

activities in Britain

can be

assigned to a

definite date, which

tallies exactly with

the date of the

earlier Britannia

coins.

But it

is

not

quite so easy to place

the other

literary record that has

come

down

to us

of affairs in

Britain during

this reign,

namely the

statement

of Pausanias that

the

Emperor annexed the

larger part of

the

territory of

the Brigantes

because they had

made an

attack

upon the

Genounian 'moira' (a

district otherwise

unknown),

which

was

subject to

Rome.1 The problem

of dating has,

however, recently

been solved for us by two modern historians of Roman

Britain.2

As it

is

clearly impossible to

identify Pausanias'

account of

a campaign

against the

Brigantes with

Capitolinus'

account of

Lollius'

operations

in

Scotland, it seems not

unreasonable to equate

the former with

events in

Britain

which

occasioned

the issue

of Britannia

types

in

I55.

That

events of

importance did

take place in Britain in

I54

or

I55

is

the natural

conclusion to be drawn from

the existence

of

such coins

at this date, and

the

combined evidence of

two inscriptions

found in

Roman

Britain

makes this

conclusion a practical

certainty.

An

inscription

from

Birrens,

in

the region of

the Brigantes,

tells

us

that the Roman governor of Britain in

I58

was Julius

Verus,3

while

from

another

inscription found in

the

Tyne, we

learn that this

Verus

had been

sent to

Britain with

a special draft of

troops

from

Germany.

The earliest

date

by

which

Verus could have reached

Britain

is

I575

so

he

cannot

be credited

with having himself

crushed

the British

rising,

probably

Pausanias' Brigantian

rising,

which

the

coins

of

I55 commemorate. But it would

seem

that this

rebellion, though quelled for

the

time being, had been a

very

serious

one and

had

perhaps

threatened to break out

again,

and that

it

opened

the

eyes

of

the Roman

government

to

the

necessity

of

reinforcing the garrison of the province with

troops

drawn from

elsewhere,

when

the new

governor

was

appointed.

A serious

rising,

possibly accompanied

by

a

massacre

of

Roman

troops

and

put

down with

considerable

severity,

is

just

what the

Britannia

type

of

I55

A.D.

suggests.

6

Here

we

have

no

pure

abstrac-

medallion

(vide

infra)

is an

almost exact copy of it.

(ii) may

be dated between (i) and (iii); as far as

style and

composition go, it holds an intermediate

position

between the other two. I would also

suggest that the

c

)s.

III

coins

with the same type as

(iii) but

without IMPERATOR

II,

(=Cohen

II6)

were

struck later in

I43

when the interest in the

'

salutatio

'

had died down, to commemorate the

progressof the work

on

the wall,

the latest and most

successful

of

the

three IMPERATOR

II

types being

repeated for this

purpose.

'Pausanias viii, 43, 4.

'Awer4Te7ro

U

Kai

TWv &V

BpeTTaaLOa

BptyavrWv

T1v

roXX5v,

6'Tt

e7reoBavLLe

Ksal

oirot

oui'v

67rXots

1pati eri

I'evouvcLav

,a

oLpaO,

7r-qK6ouvs

PwicLaw.

2

Haverfield,

Roman Occupation

of

Britain,

pp. I

zo,

I2 I

;

Macdonald, op. cit.

pp.

9,

I

0.

:

Haverfield, op. cit. fig. 6, p. I22.

4Haverfield,

op. cit. fig. 5, p.

I2I

; Macdonald,

op. cit. plate

I, I3,

p.

8.

5

Ritterling,

Wesedeutche Zeitschrift, Korres-

pondenz-blatt, xxii (I903),

p.

217.

6

|

Obv. ANTONINVS AVG. PIVS

P.P. TR. P. XVIII.

Rev.

BRITANNIA,

COS

III, S.C.

Cohen, op.

cit. 2

i

p.

z8z,

nos.

117

II8, iL2.

G.

Macdonald,

op. cit. pl.

ii,

2;

Num.

Chron.

I907,

pl.

xi,

5-8

(Plate

XXlV, 7).


13/19

I52 BRITANNIA

ON ROMAN COINS

OF SECOND

CENTURY A.D.

tion, embodying the

'

universal' aspect of Britain

as a unit of

the

Empire. The type was struckto commemorate a particularoccasion on

which

Roman arms dealt successfully

with rebellious subjects,

and

we

shall not be surprised

to find that it

differs very

markedly in character

both from

the

Hadrianic

and from the earlier

Antonine

Britannia

types.

Britannia,

wearing short chiton,

braccae and

cloak, is seated

to the

left on a rock, on

which her

left hand rests.

Her right knee

is drawn up and supports

her right elbow,

while her

head is bowed

anid her chin rests

upon her right

hand. It

seems to me that

there

can

be little doubt that

we have here a representation

of Britannia

capta.

The whole attitude

of the

figure implies dejection

and defeat.

The downward glance and loose dishevelled hair falling down the

neck recall immediately

the portraits of captives which occur

not

infrequently

as personifications

of countries

in pre-Hadrianic

art,

and the position of the

weapons on the left

of the design-the

large

oval shield, with

central spike,'

and the

vexillum

2-also

indicates

that

we should look upon

our Britannia

in this

light. In the

Hadrianic type and earlier

types of

Pius the shield, spear

and standard

are all closely

connected

with

Britannia

herself; she rests

her

hand

and elbow upon

the shield

and

holds

in

her hands her spear

and

standard, as

though she were

ready to fight at

any moment in defence

of civilisation against the incursions of barbarism. But in the type of

Pius'

second issue

she takes no heed

of the shield

and vexillum

at her

side. She

has been disarmed and deprived

of her military equipment

because

it had

been turned against

the Roman Empire

in mutiny

and

not used in its

service. So clearly

does this

type appear

to

belong

to the

regular

'

provincia

capta'

class

and

so

obvious

is

the

contrast

between it and

all

earlier Britannia coins,

that

it

is

curious

that

Cohen

does not mention

in this case 'l'attitude

de

la

tristesse,'

and

that

Jatta,

while

placing

the

coin

under the

heading 'Tipo

della

provincia capta,'

is

equally

silent

on this

point.

Yet

this

Britannia

would seem to

have

as

clear a

claim to the title

'capta'

as

the Germania

capta

of Domitian's

famous silver

medallion,3

and

Bienikowski

seems

to

be

drawing

an over-subtle

distinction

between

this

and other

'

provinciae captae

'

when

he says (op.

cit. p.

34)

of

our

type-'

Auf der

hier .

..

wiederholten

Miinze ist

der

Ausdruck

des

Trauer

gemildert,

da

die Frau

ihren

Kopf

nur

ganz

leicht

mit

den

Fingern

beriihrt.'

The

last

Britannia

type

dating

from the Antonine

age

is of

special

interest as

showing

how

strong

was the influence,

right

down

to the end of the second century, of the Hellenising tendency in

1

This

is not,

I think, an

utnbo,

as Biesikowski

(op.

cit. p.

34) describes

it.

2

I

am

convinced

by

an

examination

of the coins

that

this object

is

a vexillum and

not

'

a

sceptre

surmounte.d

by

an eagle

'

as it

is

called

by Cohen

(op.

Cit.

2

ii,

p.

z8z) and his follower

Jatta (op. cit.

p.

15).

3

Gnecchi,

I medaglioni romani,

i, pl.

zi

1i

Grueber,

Roman Medallions in the British

Museum,

pI.

i.


14/19

BRITANNIA

ON

ROMAN COINS OF SECOND CENTURY

A.D.

I53

'Roman

'

art. In the year

I85

A.D. Commodus

struck

a fine

bronze

medallion with the figure of Britannia as the reverse design.

1

Our

literary sources

do not supply

us with any dates, but

one

is naturally

inclined to suppose that the events mentioned by Cassius Dio and

iElius Lampridius as taking

place in Britain

under Commodus were

the occasion

for the issue

of the type.

2

Both writers

agree in

recording a serious rising

on the part of the provincials

and a punitive

expedition, conducted

with great severity, on the

part of

Rome.

Thus, speaking

quite broadly, the relations

between

the Roman

government and the inhabitants

of Britain were similar

to those

that

existed

under Pius in 155 A.D., and

we should have expected

that the artist of Commodus' reign, when preferring to revive an earlier

design, instead

of creating one of his own,

would have borrowed

the

type of Pius'

second issue.

But the medallion is an

almost3 exact

replica of the

third type of Britannia

coins issued

by Pius

in

I43,

the

type

of the peaceful, vigilarnt

province, conceived

in the

'idealistic'

Greek manner, gazing before

her, with her hair

neatly

dressed and her arms held

in readiness to protect

her share of

the

Graeco-Roman civilisation

of

the

Empire,

whose tranquillity the

Britanni-even the provinciales,

according to the

Vita,

who are,

perhaps,

to

be distinguished

from the wilder tribes

of the

north,

the &Bp3opotf Dio, and may be the mutinous troops -had actually

disturbed.

In addition

to

the

medallion another and earlier

Britannia type

of Commodus, a coin

struck in the year

I84,

is mentioned

by Cohen.

5

Obv.

M.

COMMODVS

ANTONINVS AVG.

PIVS

BRIT.

Rev.BRITTANIA

(SIC) P.M. TR. P.

X. IMP.

VII.

CoS

IIII, P.P. (Plate

xxxv,

8).

Cohen, op. cit.

2

iii,

p

232,

no.

37;

Gnecchi,

op.

cit. ii,

pl.

782;

Grueber, op.

cit. p .

xxix;

G. Macdonald,

p.

cit.

pl.

ii)

3; Bienikowski,p. cit.

fig.

46; Jatta

(op.

cit. p. 15) makes he curious

mis-

take of assigning Commodus'medallion to the

reignof

Hadrian. The originof

his

error

s probably

to be

found in

his misreadingof the following

sentence

in Biefikowski op.

cot. p.

56),

where the

medallion

is mentioned:

'Noch wilder und

barbarenhafter

ieht

Britannia

(fig.

46) auf den

Miinzen

Hadrians

(Cohen,

n.

I94-9),

Pius

(ebd.

n.

113-II9)

und Commodus' (ebd.

n.

37-38)

aus.'

Fig. 46

is

the

medallion

of Commodus,

but

Jatta,

who seemsto

have taken

over

Bienkowski'sentence

without further verification,

concludes

that it

reproduces

a Hadrianic type,

as

Bienskowski's

wording

which

is

certainly

misleading,might

at

first

sight

suggest.

As a result of

this

confusion,

Jatta

does not include

in

his

collection

the

real

Britannia ype of Hadrian,a seriousomission.

2

Cassius

Dio LXXII,

8.

'E,7&vero

de

Kal

7r6Xeol

7-tves

aCTWl

.

...

/yLsrTO7

de

o

BpeTrPPtK6e

.

TiV

yap

ev

r--

Vros eOYs

vrep-

PeC3oK67eV

T6

TElXOS

TO

&iOpitOv avTo)s

rE

Kai

7-a

-cWY

'Pwsacwtv

arpar67reaa, mat

o0\X&

KaKOVp-

yO6vTwv,

o-TpaTlrqlyoP

i

e

rtva 1eraTiS

o-WTfSpa0LiTWPY

o0s

etXe

KaL-cKOq/dvTc'7i,

fo/?siOeles

o

K6,u,uo3os,

MdPKsXXOV

06XtOV e7r' aLUTObS

9e

eV

....

MdpKeXXOe [LeV

6'

700otO70os

bv

TO7S

5re f3ap/3dpovs

To0s ev

Bperavst'i

6eP4r3 KdKiKWE.

lii Lampridii

Commodus Antoninus

13,

'in

Britannia .

. .

im-

perium

eius recusantibus provincialibuis,

quae

omnia

ista

per duces sedata

sunt.'

Cf. 8,

'

appellatus

est

Commodus

etiam Britannicus

ab adulatoribus,

cum

Britanni etiam imperatorem contra eum deligere

voluerint.'

3

The only point

in which Commodus'

medallion

really

differs from

the

sestertius of Pius

is in a detail

of the standard.

The standard

held by

the

Britannia of Commodus

does not

show

the half-

moon decoration

which appears

on the

standard

in

both the second

and third

types

of

I43

A.D.

4

Cf.

Rostovtzeff,

'

Commodus-Hercules

in

Britain,' J.R.S.

xiii,

p.96.

This

revival

of the peace-

ful Britannia

type does,

however,

take on

a new

significance if

we accept Mr.

Collingwood's

theory

(in I.R.S.

xiii,

69

ff.)

that between

i8i,

the

year of

the great catastrophe,

and

I85

Ulpius

Marcellus

carried out extensive repairs on the Wall. The

type

would then

commemorate

the restoration

to

Britain of her

line of frontier

defence-the

Wall

and

the watch thereon.

o

Cohen, op.

cit.

2

iii, p.

231,

no. 35. Obv. M.

COMMODVS

ANTONINVS

AVG. PIvs.

Rev.

BRIrT.

(exergue)

P.M. TR.P. VIIII

IMP.

VII

COS IIII

P.P.

(circumf.)

s.c.

1E1.


15/19

154

BRITANNIA ON ROMAN COINS OF SECOND

CENTURY

A.D.

He

describes

Britannia

as a

female

figure

standing to 1.,

holding a

curved sword and a wreath (?) or a patera (?). This coin I am not

in a

position to

discuss, for

there is no

specimen of it in the

British

Museum

collection, and I

have not

at present been

able to

obtain

either cast

or

reproduction

of it

from elsewher'e.

If it is genuine

and

accurately described

by Cohen, it is of

considerable

interest

as

giving

us a

type of

Britannia with quite

unique attributes.

With

the Britannia

types of

Commodus we may

class two early

third-century

types-the

Africa of Septimius

Severus struck in

(?)20zo 1

and the Italia

types

of

Severus

and Caracalla

issued in

(?) 20I and 203

respectively 2-as

being the last

products of the

Greek revival

of the

second century in this particular group of personifications. After this

time Roman coins

can no longer,

from the

aesthetic point of

view,

claim a

place in the history

of Greek

art. The

Greek conception of

a

geographical unit

personified as an

ideal figure did,

indeed, survive

on

the

Roman coinage.

The orbis

terrarum type appears to

have

enjoyed considerable

popularity, and

was adapted for

such

personifica-

tions as Oriens and

Respublica. But apart

from this the

geographical

types struck

during the period

which

separates the close

of the

second

century

from the

end of

the

western Empire in

476,

are

comparatively few and far

between and are

confined to a very limited

number of

provinces,3

and a comparison between the earliest of these

-the

Dacia

of

Traianus Decius, issued c.

250-

and the

types of

the

second

century shows how

rapid was the

decay of

technical

skill

during the

third century.

The coins

connected with

Britain

afford

a

good illustration

of

the sudden loss of

interest in these

personifica-

tions

which seems to

have

accompanied the decline of

art.

It was

only

twenty-five years after

the

striking of

Commodus' Britannia

types

in

I84

and

I85

that

a large number

of coins were

issued

by

Septimius Severus,

Caracalla

and

Geta in the

years

2i0

and

2II

to

commemorate their British

campaigns. Yet

the

reverses

of the

coins of

this

group

are

nearly

all

occupied

by

conventional

figures

of

Victory.5

Among

the

Severus coins there

is

only

one which contains what is

possibly a personification of

Britain-the

female figure

on the

reverse,

described

by

Cohen as

standing

on

one

side of a

trophy,

while

a

Victory stands

on the other and

a captive is seated below.

6

1

Cohen, op. cit.2 iv, p.

6,

nos.

25-31.

I am

following

Cohen's dating of the silver coins

on

which

Severus is simply

described

as

PIVS

AVG. The

bronze Africa coins with the same types can be dated

as

belonging to the years 194 and

195,

owing to

the

presenceof

IMP.

III

or

IMP.

iv

on the obverse.

2

ibid.

iv, p. 27,

no.

zz8, p. 153,

no.

io2.

3

Africa

(ibid. vi,

pp.

500, 503, 504;

Vii,

pp.

6z,

105,

235); Hispania (ibid.

vi, p. 66); Gallia

(ibid. v,

p.

528;

vi,

Pp.

49-50, 8o); Francia

xibid. vii,

pp.

249,

349);

Alamannia

(ibid. vii, pp.

248, 346,

377);

Pannonia

(ibid.

v,

pp. 193-4)

217

226;

vi, 171, 192);

the

Pannonian city

of Siscia

(ibid.

vi,

p.

3

I

6);

Illyricum

(ibid. vi,

p.

304);

Dacia

(ibid. v, pp.

I87-I88, 269, 36I ;

Vi, p.

136,

I84)

and Sarmatia

(ibid. vii,

p.

377).

Colonial

coins are

not

here

included.

4Cohen,

op.

cit.

iv,

75-77,

209-210,

275-277.

5

G. Macdonald,

op. cit.

pl.

ii,

4-10.

6 Cohen, op. Cit.2 iv,

p. 77, no. 733.

Obv.

L. SEPT. SEVERVS

PIVS

AVG.

Rev. VICTORIAT

BRITANNICAE

S.C.


16/19

BRITANNIA

ON ROMAN COINS OF SECOND CENTURY A.D.

155

FIG. 22.

GOLD

MEDALLION

OF

CONSTANTIUS CHLORUS, FOUND

NEAR ARRAS

IN

1922

(From

Arethuse, I924).

1.

,r.

FIG.

23.

GOLD

MEDALLION

OF

CONSTANTIUS

CHLORUS WITH

THE PERSONIFICATION

OF

LONDON,

FOUND

NEAR

ARRAS

IN

I922 (From

Arethuse,

924).

{1.


17/19

I56

'BRITANNIA' QN

ROMAN COINS OF SECOND

CENTURY A.D.

This type

appears to be really identical with one which is

found on coins of Caracalla and Geta, showing a Victory

erecting a trophy, on the opposite side of which there stands to the

front a female

figure, wearing a long chiton, with her hands bound

behind her

back.1 It seems likely that this figure is intended for

Britannia and not merely for a British captive, as in some cases

she

wears a mural crown and there

is

a captive, on a smaller

scale,

seated at her feet.

But the tying of the hands indicates that we

have

here

a

Britannia

capta, a conception intermediate between

a

purely

'

ideal

'

figure and the representation of a native prisoner.

2

Only

one

other episode during the history of post-second

century

Roman Britain occasioned the striking of Britannia types on Roman

coins-the

usurpation of Britain by Carausius in z86 A.D. and the

recovery of the island by Constantius Chlorus ten years later. The

coins struck by

Carausius with the reverse legend

EXP.

or EXPECTATE

VENI

show the

usurper clasping the hand of the Province who stands

to the r. facing

him, wears a long chiton and has her hair gathered into

a knot behind, and

holds

a

standard.

3

Among

the

gold

medallions

found

near Arras in

I922

are two pieces struck by Constantius

Chlorus which record on their reverse types the defeat of Allectus,

Carausius'

assassin

and successor

(fig. 22).

These show

Constantius

crowned by Victory, standing to the r. and raising up the kneeling

figure of

Britannia, who wears a long

chiton

and holds an oblong

legionary shield

and a spear

in

her

left hand

and

a

palm-branch

in her right. 4 Finally, on the reverse of the largest and most

important

medallion of the Arras treasure is seen the personification

of

Londinium, which

had now replaced

York

as

the centre

of Roman

administration in

Britain, distinguished by

the

legend LON., kneeling

outside the walls

of the city in the year 296 A.D. to welcome her

deliverer (fig.

23).

The

type was,

of

course,

intended

to

com-

memorate Constantius' triumphal entry into London in that year,

and the

fact

that

the

city

itself

is thus

personified

on

so

large

and

striking a piece is indicative of the important position

it

occupied

at

the time.

Londinium wears

a sleeved

chiton,

himation and

shoes,

her hair

is

fastened

up neatly

into

a

knot

at

the back of the

neck,

and

1

Cohen, op. Cit.2 iV,

p.

I95,

no. 495. Obv.

M. AVREL. ANTONINVS

PIVS AVG. Rev.

PoNsrF.

TR.

P. XIIII

COS

III

S.C.;

p.

2io,

no. 639. Obv.M. AVRFL

ANTONINVS

PIVS

AVG.

Rev.

VICTORIAE BRITANNICAE

S.C.; p.

277,

no. 223, Obv. P.

SEPTIMIVS

GETA PIVS

AVG.

BRIT.

Rev.

VICTORIAE BRITANNICAE.

(Plate

XXIV,

9,

IO).

2

It is noteworthy that in this Severus,

Caracalla

and Geta type the

figure of

Britannia,

if Britannia

she

be,

is on a small

scale and is strictly subordinate

to

the

composition

as a

whole, being

no

longer

the

central object of interest as

in

the

second-century

types. For the

mural

crown, cf. the

Britannia

medallion

in

a mosaic at Berlin (Jatta, op. cit. fig. s).

3

Cohen, op. Cit.2

Vii, p.

8, nos.

54-6i.

Num.

Chron.

1907,

pp.

305, 306, pl.

i,

9

(Plate xxiv,

iI).

The caduceus which Cohen suggests as the attribute

of

Britannia

on one coin

(no.

56)

would be an

odd

attribute for

Britain, and

it seems

probable

that it

is a standard

indifferently rendered. Cohen also

describes her as holding a tridentin some

cases;

but

in all the British

Museum specimens, at any rate, the

attribute

is

certainly

a

standard.

4

Arethuse, Jan.

1924,

pl.

viii,

5,

6.

I

am able

to

reproduce

here

these medallions from Aretbuse

through the kindness

of M. Jules Florange.

5

Arethuse, loc. cit. pl. vii; Gordon Home,

Roman rork, p.

79.


18/19

'BRITANNIA ON ROMAN COINS OF SECOND CENTURY A.D.

I57

on her head there

is

an object, rising to a point in the centre, which

seems to be a stephaneof the regular Greek type.- She is in fact,

as are the Britannia types of Carausiusand Constantius, an

'

ideal'

figure carryingon the tradition

of

the second century types; and

thus the last. monument

of our

series shows an interesting juxta-

position

of the

Greekand Romanelements

n'

Roman' art,

the,'

ideal'

personification

of

the

city

side

by

side

with

a

realistic

sketch

of

her

actual walls and

towers. Nor

is it

without

interest

that, just as

the

first type

in

the series, the Britannia

of

Hadrian, symbolises the

recognition of the province as a unit in the Roman world, so the

London medallion

records the

gratitude

of the

people

of

Britain

to

the redditor lucis aeternae, the Emperor who restored them to

Rome and to their membership

of

the Empire.

1

A

similar object appears

to be

worn

by

Constantius'

kneeling

Britannia,

but

it cannot be

distinguished

very clearly

on these

smaller

medallions.

2

The legend round the circumference

of the

reverse reads REDDITOR LVCIS AETERNAE.


19/19

J.R.S.

vol.

xiv

(1924).

PLATE XXIV.

2

4

5

6

7

m~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Gm

10

COINS

SHOWING

THE VARIOUS TYPES

OF

BRITANNIA

I

(see

pp. 142

if.).

Documents

Britannia' on Roman coins of the second century A.D. / by Jocelyn Toynbee