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The Evolution of Roman Portraits on Coins

Classical Numismatics 18 views

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I've always been fascinated by Roman coin portraiture from the lifelike naturalism of the early-high empire to the abstract stylization of the late empire (at least during the 4th century)! It's like going from taking a photograph to drawing a Disney cartoon (Hercules would be the most appropriate here I'd say) I'm not really bemoaning a "fall from grace" so much as I'm captivated by how the Romans portrayed their rulers through time I'm still just as amazed with the stylized images of emperors like Constantius II and Valens as I am the naturalistic images of emperors like Augustus and Hadrian That being said I feel like non-gold Roman coins start to lose their appeal for me after the death of Theodosius when the empire is really circling the drain and the coins are reduced to tiny little slugs with kindergarten doodles (I have a minuscule monogram of Zeno and the artistry on it is even worse than coins minted during the darkest days of the Third Century under Gallienus), at least until Anastasius reforms the monetary system for the Eastern/Byzantine Empire
Comment from : @colbystearns5066

Hadrian and Aelius portrairs are the best in my opinion So detailed and so refined Hus big bronze sestertik are true works of art
Comment from : @isabelcrb

Could you show what a Silver Denarius looks like, also weight and diameter
Comment from : @maureenhurt9174

12:35 Just looks like one of those Roman loafs of bread to me
Comment from : @stevendv8487

The forward facing portraits of Postumus are my absolute favorite Ridiculous they were still putting out that quality in the Crisis of the 3rd Century; let alone from the "break away" Gallic Empire
Comment from : @JonAScholt

Nero may not have been a handsome man in person, but he made sure his portraits showed the most graceful, dignified obese man of antiquity Imagine if Apollo was a glutton that's Nero's portraiture
Comment from : @neptunesmarsh

"Ahah, you fool I have won this senatorial debate, as I have depicted myself as the chad Emperor, and you as the Soyjak Senator"
Comment from : @JohnDaker35p

First coins, almost prue silver and shining, last coins, almost black and almost no silver
Comment from : @kirgan1000

I think that Nero might not have minded looking fatter Many people forget that being fat use to show to others that you had wealth I'm sure many senators and rich people who weren't in the military may have had some what of the same build
Comment from : @christopherevans2445

Very well presented and illustrated, avoiding both overgeneralization and pretensiousness Bravo!
Comment from : @jedkrantz7003

Great channel! Very informative! Thank you for your job!
Comment from : @tadevustadevus6136

I’m really fond for the spear over shoulder solidii, amazing design
Comment from : @SDArgo_FoC

3:45 amazing portrait
Comment from : @6663000

It slowly begins to look rushed the more the empire goes downhill
Comment from : @SpaltonTAG

I have a theory that Nero just couldn't see what his coins looked like(He had terrible eyesight)
Comment from : @histguy101

Fantastic video matey 😃
Comment from : @TheHammeredCorner

Have a good day! Great!
Comment from : @andreicoins1971

Portraits were good up until the 2nd century AD imo I especially love the portraits in Denarius during the Five Good Emporers Era
Comment from : @BopWalk

Love your content, keep up the good work 👍🏻
Comment from : @romanancientcoins8200

Please teach me your camera brI love it! ( clean recording)
Comment from : @yesman870

I've been watching your videos for several months now and they influenced me to start my own collection last month I was looking at your merch page and I thought it could be cool to have the obverse shrunk down over the pec and the obverse on the back of the shirt as it is currently I'd post a link to illustrate what I am saying, but I don't think Youtube will allow me I think the Caesar elephant denarius and Augustus victory denarius would both be really cool in that fashion
Comment from : @jwbaz1gaming

Coins from the hyperinflation of the 3rd century are the easiest to obtain A site had a coin of Valentinian I for about $60, but after him the coins become much scarcer and more expensive A good coin of Nepos or Romulusgood luck
Comment from : @dsm2240

Video well done and very interesting Thanks for the effort involved
Comment from : @davemarks7322

So happy to have found your channel I’ve collected ancient coins for over 30 years, mostly republican denarius ThanksbrPs found you through the Told in Stone channel
Comment from : @keithlightizer156

Love all your content!! Great job!!
Comment from : @isabelcrb

Fascinating video! It would be great to have another video continuing with Eastern Roman/Byzantine coins
Comment from : @oliet9947

This is coming at a particularly fascinating time, as I'm currently reading "Twelve Caesars" by Mary Beard, pretty much talking about this very thing Great to see another backing all this up
Comment from : @AKatz17

I would love to see some of the coins of the last decades of the western Roman empire
Comment from : @abraxas2

Is that a penis countermark on the Lepidus coin?
Comment from : @markp44288

You are good at explaining the cultural reasons the coins changed with each emperor Fascinating
Comment from : @acertainshape

I absolutely love that you pick broad themes like this for your videos, it's so interesting
Comment from : @Sasseverk

Excellent! The julio claudian busts are unbeatable for me
Comment from : @isabelcrb

The portraits are definitely interesting I would say that the late Julio Claudian coinage and Flavian coinage have the best portraits Also, some provincial coins also have nice portraits The cistophorus or tetradrachms sometimes even have better style than the imperial coinage Another intriguing aspect of the coinage may be the fonts In the republican era, the text on the legends were somewhat rounded and had dots on the ends of the letter, this definitely shows some influence from greek coinage Later the font evolved to be more refined and sharp As the second estuary passes the style of coinage during the third century now have a distinct style of font, sharp but also quite thick and bold, finally, int the fourth and fifth century, the everyday coinage starts to really degrade, by the end of that, the coin legends can even appear to be illegible
Comment from : @hridgreximp6194

Fascinating to see the evolution of portraiture of the centuries I'm currently adding to my early Byzantine collection, and it is interesting to see how each emperor chooses to present himself Thanks for another great video!!
Comment from : @donklaser217