As well as depicting the actual places and things of cult religion, Roman coinage illustrated a range of more allusive symbols with a general religious content. These usually referred to a presumed state of good fortune, peace, plenty, order, and prosperity, all of which were believed to flow as much from divine favor elicited by Roman piety as from the secular success of Roman arms. This category includes symbols such as the caduceus, cornucopia, rudder, and corn-ears, all of which appear both as symbols in their own right, often combined with one another, and as attributes of various appropriate divinities. In contrast to the very specific reference of the
Figure 11.24 Denarius of Julius Caesar, 44 bc, with sacrificial implements combined with symbols of prosperity. 19 mm.
Figure 11.25 Base-metal coin of Constantine I, ad 321, showing a globe resting on an altar. 19 mm.
Cultic imagery discussed above, this group of images is general in its meaning. They all refer in a non-specific fashion to a desired condition of material abundance and serene tranquility for the empire and its inhabitants. These two sets of motifs could be combined as, for instance, on a denarius issue of 44 bc showing Caesar on the obverse and, on the reverse, a caduceus crossed with fasces, with a globe, clasped hands and a sacrificial axe in the corners (fig. 11.24); or again four centuries later in the 320s ad on an issue with the reverse legend BEATA TRANQVILLITAS (“blissful tranquility”) with the type of a globe resting on an altar (fig. 11.25). The implicit meaning of both designs is that there is an intimate connection between sacrifice, as represented by the axe and the altar on these types, and the longed-for state of universal harmony signified by the caduceus, the clasped hands, and the globes; and that the liberal performance of the former is a prerequisite for achieving the latter. A similar meaning must lie behind the puzzling scenes of sacrificing gods mentioned above, which make the same point by paradoxically ascribing the human act of sacrifice to its divine benefactors, who are in fact its recipients.
World History
