Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XX 29-30 Oct 2020
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Maximian AV Aureus. Rome, AD 293-294. MAXIMIANVS P F AVG, bust of Maximian to right, wearing lion skin headdress / HERCVLI DEBELLAT, Hercules standing to right battling the Lernaean Hydra, holding club in his upraised right hand and preparing to strike the Hydra, one of whose heads he grasps with his left hand, its body wrapped about his leg; PROM in exergue. RIC -; C. -, cf. 254 (Hercules left); Calicó 4661a (same dies); Beaurains 166 (same obv. die); cf. Depeyrot 9/6 (obverse) and 9/7 (reverse, misdescribed). 5.57g, 19mm, 12h.
Near Mint State. An extremely rare variant of an already very rare type; the finer of only two examples offered at auction in the past 20 years, the other being the Vaudecrane (Perfectionist) example.
From the Long Valley River Collection;
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 84, 20 May 2015, lot 1169.
This coin was struck as a donative on the occasion of the first consulates of the new Caesars Constantius and Galerius; Diocletian well understood the necessity of sharing power and dividing responsibility for the empire among capable leaders who could defend it from the multitude of enemies, both internal and external, that it faced. Maximian's Caesar, Constantius, was immediately tasked with the recovery of the lands ruled over by the rebel Carausius who had revolted in late 286 or early 287. By the end of 293 all of the usurper's continental possessions had been captured, and Britannia was finally retaken in 296.
The reverse type of this coin may be seen as an allegorical reference to the emperors' constant struggle against the many enemies of Rome, symbolised by the Hydra - and most especially Carausius, who had proven to be such an embarrassment for Maximian after the failed campaign of 289. The particular manner in which Hercules and the hydra are here depicted is extremely similar to the imagery found on the late 4th century BC coinage of Phaistos in Crete. It has been repeatedly suggested that those later designs of Phaistos copy a now lost masterpiece of sculpture or painting, perhaps even a statue group by the great sculptor Lysippos (see Lehmann, 'Statues on Coins', New York 1946; see also Lacroix, 'Les Reproductions de Statues sur les Monnaies Grecques', Liege 1949; see also S. Lattimore, 'Lysippian Sculpture on Greek Coins', California Studies in Classical Antiquity Vol. 5 1972).
Lattimore makes a plausible and convincing argument for the Herakles-Hydra confrontation as depicted on that coinage (and seemingly reproduced on this aureus of Maximian) being copied from a sculpture; in particular he notes that a sculptural prototype is strongly suggested by 'a feature that is rare, possibly unique, in Greek numismatic design: the group of combatants is shown from both sides, not in mirror reversal, but as two profile views of a three-dimensional group' (cf. Svoronos pl. XXIV, 17 and 22, and Wroth pl. XV, 6).
Near Mint State. An extremely rare variant of an already very rare type; the finer of only two examples offered at auction in the past 20 years, the other being the Vaudecrane (Perfectionist) example.
From the Long Valley River Collection;
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 84, 20 May 2015, lot 1169.
This coin was struck as a donative on the occasion of the first consulates of the new Caesars Constantius and Galerius; Diocletian well understood the necessity of sharing power and dividing responsibility for the empire among capable leaders who could defend it from the multitude of enemies, both internal and external, that it faced. Maximian's Caesar, Constantius, was immediately tasked with the recovery of the lands ruled over by the rebel Carausius who had revolted in late 286 or early 287. By the end of 293 all of the usurper's continental possessions had been captured, and Britannia was finally retaken in 296.
The reverse type of this coin may be seen as an allegorical reference to the emperors' constant struggle against the many enemies of Rome, symbolised by the Hydra - and most especially Carausius, who had proven to be such an embarrassment for Maximian after the failed campaign of 289. The particular manner in which Hercules and the hydra are here depicted is extremely similar to the imagery found on the late 4th century BC coinage of Phaistos in Crete. It has been repeatedly suggested that those later designs of Phaistos copy a now lost masterpiece of sculpture or painting, perhaps even a statue group by the great sculptor Lysippos (see Lehmann, 'Statues on Coins', New York 1946; see also Lacroix, 'Les Reproductions de Statues sur les Monnaies Grecques', Liege 1949; see also S. Lattimore, 'Lysippian Sculpture on Greek Coins', California Studies in Classical Antiquity Vol. 5 1972).
Lattimore makes a plausible and convincing argument for the Herakles-Hydra confrontation as depicted on that coinage (and seemingly reproduced on this aureus of Maximian) being copied from a sculpture; in particular he notes that a sculptural prototype is strongly suggested by 'a feature that is rare, possibly unique, in Greek numismatic design: the group of combatants is shown from both sides, not in mirror reversal, but as two profile views of a three-dimensional group' (cf. Svoronos pl. XXIV, 17 and 22, and Wroth pl. XV, 6).