On well-preserved examples of Roman “Barbarians, Captives, and Enemies” coinage one can often see details of the different clothing and hair styles worn by various of the enemies caricatured and, indeed, thereby gain a glimpse into the Roman imagination regarding the Empire’s outsiders. The “fallen horseman” series alone (circa 348-361), for instance, illustrates dozens of variations in “barbarian” beards, hairstyles, weaponry, and armor, depicting Persian, Germanic, and other “enemies” across the different Imperial mints (see Caza 2019; Failmezger 1992, 2002; see also Dane Kurth’s collection and her description of headwear). (A separate topic in its own right, the details also reveal various historical practices and technologies of binding and restraining captives, as illustrated below.)
Given their practically interminable state of struggle, it is probably not surprising that Rome’s neighbors to the East – Persians, Parthians, Sassanids – were among the most consistent “enemies” portrayed.
In fact, one of the most dramatic chapters in Roman captives coinage had just taken place between 17 and 10 years earlier. In 257, Valerian issued a silver Antoninianus depicting Victory looming over a Parthian captive (another example). Three years later, in 260, Valerian was captured by the Persian – Sassanid King Shapur.
It is unknown for how long Valerian survived – perhaps as late as 264. Shapur considered it such a triumph that he commissioned a monumental rock sculpture to commemorate the capture [Oriental Inst., U. Chi.] (ironically, borrowing heavily from Roman-style depictions of captives). No doubt the wound was still fresh for Romans in Aurelian’s reign, informing the sentiments that inspired his Persian captives issues. (See my other post on Valerian’s “VICT PART” coins.)
Valerian’s Ironic Silver Antoninianus. 257 CE. Reverse legend, VICT PART (Parthian Victory), image of Roman deity Victory over a tiny Parthian captive. In 260 Valerian would become the first Roman Emperor taken captive – by a Persian King.
The Phrygian Cap
Aurelian’s series of Billon Antoninianus shows captives of an Eastern ethnicity (also indicated by the legend, explained below), presumably Persian/Parthian, based on both the iconography and military-political struggles of the period. The captives are shown with Phrygian Caps [wiki], worn throughout the barbarian lands of Eastern Europe (perhaps one of the similar variants of Scythian, Persian, or Parthian headwear). Given the impracticality of the scene (wearing such a cap with hands bound, seated while being spurned), it is clearly included in the design for the specific purpose of identifying the captives’ ethnic or regional origin.
Aurelian Billon Antoninianus (3.53g, 22mm, 6h). Ticinum, 274 CE. Obv: IMP C AVRELIANVS AVG. Radiate, cuirassed bust r. Rev: ORIENS AVG / * / PXXI. Sol holding globe, two bound captives seated, wearing Phrygian caps. Ref: RIC Online Temp 1521. See: G&M 200, 2788; Naum. 33, 584. Cf. RIC 151 (var, P/Q/S/TXXT). Scarce var. (PXXI). Provenance: Ex-Savoca 28th Blue (Munich, 25 Jan 2020), 1428.
The pointed Phrygian Cap first became a frequent identifying symbol on Roman coins during the rule of Lucius Verus (161-169) and continued through that of Constantius II (337-361), allowing viewers to immediately recognize the captive as a Parthian or other Easterner (we have a low-grade Lucius Verus AR Denarius in our BCE Collection; see here for a much better example from the British Museum; a related series of coins, struck by Lucius Verus at about the same time, uses a slightly different, more conical cap to depict the “personification” or neighboring Armenia, over whom Rome and Parthia went to war).
Aurelian Billon Antoninianus (23mm, 3.56g, 5h). Serdica, 274 CE. Obv: IMP AVRELIANVS AVG. Radiate, cuirassed bust r. Rev: ORIENS AVG / P. Sol holding globe, bound captive wearing Phrygian cap. Ref: RIC 276; Cohen 140; RIC online 2634.
Pedigree: Ex-Leu WA 14 (Online [Zurich], 13 Dec 2020), 1446, “European collection, formed before 2005.”
Oriens Augusti
The reverse legend, ORIENS AVG – short for Oriens Augusti – has a double meaning within late 3rd century political and cultural context. As Stevenson (1889, p. 588) explains in his Dictionary of Roman Coins, the word Oriens “was used by the Romans to designate either that part of the world where the sun appears to rise, or some province of the empire situate[d] towards the East; or the Sun itself.” Note that the figure on the coin is Sol – the Roman deity personifying the sun.
The earliest use of ORIENS as a legend may have been by Trajan (or Hadrian), referencing the recently conquered kingdoms of Armenia and Mesopotamia (Stevenson 1889, citing Vaillant 1700). On an ironic side note, the reverse legend ORIENS AVG(VSTI) was first used by Valerian I (who, it was noted above, was captured by Persian emperor Shapur I), about 17 years before the present coin was struck.
The double-meaning, then, is first, that the Romans are rising supreme over their Eastern enemies, as embodied by Sol standing over Eastern barbarian captives, and second, that the sun is rising over the empire, heralding “a new day” after their recent frontier conflicts in the east.
“Morning again!”
One might even say – I thank Roman Collector’s 2018 Cointalk thread for pointing out the connection to modern political speech – “It’s morning again in Rome.”
What I find most engaging about the “Barbarians, Captives, and Enemies” coinage are the parallels between ancient and modern political propaganda. Just as the FEL TEMP REPARATIO legend prefigured the Franklin Roosevelt-era (1932) American presidential campaign jingle, “Happy Days are Here Again,” the ORIENS AVG legend makes one think of modern political speech, such as Ronald Reagan’s (1984) “Morning in America” presidential campaign commercial.
Likewise, in these coins, we can recognize the enduring value political figures seek to find by caricaturing foreigners, dramatizing conflicts with them, and cultivating a posture of brutality and dominance toward “enemies.”