Sol with captive, Rome 312-313 (victory over Maxentius)

[Heliodromus]

This was a recent auction win - a type that was on my wish list for 20+ years! Needless to say I'm quite happy!

Ref: RIC VI Rome 344 R
Obv: IMP MAXIMINVS PF AVG
rev: SOLI INVICTO COMITI (Sol advancing right, with foot on captive)

RIC VI makes quite a mess of these Rome Sol with victory types. This one, RIC 344 is listed correctly, but all the others (RIC 341-343) appear to be errors. Outside of Aquileia, the 312-313 Sol with victory types (Rome, Ostia, Ticinum, Arles) all have Sol advancing (usually left) with foot on captive. RIC 341-343 instead have Sol standing left (not advancing) with seated captive in front. RIC VI Rome 341 is a sloppy error, and actually refers to an ANS coin that is from Aquileia, not Rome!

http://numismatics.org/collection/1942.57.2

RIC VI Rome 342 & 343 appear to be confused with RIC VII Rome 53 & 52 from 316-317 AD (Constantine's 1st civil war with Licinius), which have an identical description, but can be distinguished from coins of 312-313 based on bust style. OCRE also makes this mistake for both types.

There are however a few additional unlisted Rome sol-with-captive variants from 312-313, such as this specimen from the British Museum with two captives, which they list as a RIC 344 variant.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1975-0411-389

Outside of the rarity and the historical significance of the type (Constantine's Italian victory - a critical part of his path to sole rule), there are a couple of interesting things about it.

1) In a civil war the enemy/captives are fellow citizens, which makes it a bit of a sensitive issue to be celebrating victory in too gung-ho of a fashion! What we see on my coin is a "sanitized" victory where the captive is portrayed with a Phyrgian cap - a foreigner! Based on bust style this coin is from the final phase/emission of this issue. Contrast to the BM coin above, from the preceding phase, where the captives are bare headed.

Here's another coin of mine that I've shown before - an unlisted reverse type VIRTVS AVGGG also celebrating Constantine's Italian victory, also issued for Maximinus II. Here the captives are again bare headed, and one even has a rectangular Scutum shield unmistakably identifying him as from the Roman army.

2) While history paints Maximinus II as an anti-Christian villain, and Licinius I a bit more sympathetically, it doesn't seem that Constantine had much of a bone to pick with Maximinus, at least not publicly, and we see Constantine including him on a half dozen Italian victory types where Licinius is excluded (or at least unknown).

 

[expat]

Nice addition and as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait.

 I only have one coin featuring Sol with a captive. An Aurelian and a fully robed Sol.

[Heliodromus]

1 hour ago, expat said:

An Aurelian and a fully robed Sol.

Nice coin, and an appropriate addition to the thread given that he created the cult of Sol Invictus, not to mention also giving us Christmas (aka Natalus Invictus, appropriately celebrated on Winter Solstice when the sun is "reborn").

 

Edited September 21 by Heliodromus

[Orange Julius]

Great coins! It’s interesting that these were minted for Maximinus, the alliances of those few years are somewhat cloudy to me. I only have one SOLI coin with captive, a bit later, it’s a bit bent and hard to photograph… but it was only $5.50.

Constantine I, AE follis of Aquileia, AD 316-317.
IMP CONSTANTINVS PF AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
SOLI INVICTO COMITI, Sol, standing left, chlamys draped over left shoulder and flying out, holding globe and raising right hand, captive with Phrygian cap, turning head, hands tied, at foot left.
Mintmark AQP.
RIC VII Aquileia 1; Sear 16107.
Rated R5

[Homer2]

Very nice! I also have a Aurelian with Sol/Captive facing left.  Actual detail is better in hand than my Samsung photo. 

Aurelian, Antoninianus, 270-275, Period III, Antioch
IMP C AVRELIANVS AVG
Radiate, cuirassed bust right
CONS_E_RVAT AVG
Sol walking left, right hand raised, globe in left, treading on seated captive
B in right field
XXI in exergue
22mm, 4g
RIC V, Part I, ??? 384, 385

 

 

[Sulla80]

Mark Antony minted coins with the head of Sol, he and Octavian were heading from Rome to Macedonia in pursuit of the murderers of Julius Caesar or Liberators of the Roman people, Brutus and Cassius. They would defeat them in two battles in October AD 42 at Philippi with Cassius committing suicide in the first battle and Brutus in the second that ended October 23rd. Sol in the context of this coin was anticipating and/or celebrating victory over the assassins of Julius Caesar at Phillippi.  There is a debate about Sol:

King Tatius, the Sabine King who ruled with Romulus, dedicated altars in Rome to the Sun and Moon - there is debate about whether or not this Sol Indigetes is a different Sol connected to Heliogabalus and Syria, Sol Invictus, that became popular in the 3rd century. 

For the arguments against Sol Invictus (of Syrian origin) being a different god From Sol Indigetes see:

Hijmans, S. E. Sol: The Sun in the Art and Religions of Rome. PhD thesis, University of Groningen, 3 Sept. 2009, [s.n.].

It seems likely that the Roman Sol and other sun gods (and even the cult of the emperor) blended ambiguously over time. Such syncretism was not uncommon  across the Roman Empire as cultures and religions intermingled.

For a Roman Provincial association of Emperor and Sol - see this representation of Domitian as Sol with Luna on the reverse.

Marcus Aurelius, 2nd century Roman emperor,  expresses a philosophy which sounds panentheistic - a belief that the divine permeates everything and is greater than any single god or the sum of all gods. Individual deities are viewed as different expressions or aspects of one ultimate, transcendent reality.

"Everything harmonizes with me, which is harmonious to thee, O Universe. Nothing for me is too early nor too late, which is in due time for thee. Everything is fruit to me which thy seasons bring, O Nature: from thee are all things, in thee are all things, to thee all things return. The poet says, Dear city of Cecrops; and wilt not thou say, Dear city of Zeus?"

- Meditations, 4.23

Edited September 21 by Sulla80

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

Interesting examples all. I do not have any Sol with captives in my collection.

[Heliodromus]

On 9/21/2024 at 5:49 PM, Sulla80 said:

King Tatius, the Sabine King who ruled with Romulus, dedicated altars in Rome to the Sun and Moon - there is debate about whether or not this Sol Indigetes is a different Sol connected to Heliogabalus and Syria, Sol Invictus, that became popular in the 3rd century. 

I think the answer depends at least in part on exactly what one means by the question! Are we really talking about the god(s), or about the associated cult(s) and practices, or does such a question even make sense? Perhaps we could compare to different flavors of Christianity such as Roman Catholicism and the Anglican church - in this case different "cults", but same god I suppose. When we compare the veneration of Sol Indiges with it's own traditions to the Syrian (native) veneration of Elagabalus, clearly these are two very difficult cults, even if both are based around solar deities.

Aurelian's Sol Invictus cult does seem to be of at least somewhat Syrian origin, but to what extent is not obvious. Perhaps the origin of it can be traced, at least numismatically, to Septimius Severus. Julia Domna's father had apparently been a high priest of Elagabalus, and on Severus' coinage we start to see a depiction of a sun god as a standing radiate figure with a characteristic raised right hand/arm, as opposed to earlier depictions of Sol either bust only or driving a quadriga without raised hand. Severus pairs this depiction of what I'd assume to be an eastern/Domna inspired sun god with a "P[ont] M[ax] ..." reverse legend rather than naming the depicted deity.

 

Fast forward 10 years and we have emperor Elagabalus apparently trying to wholesale import the Syrian cult of Elagablaus into Rome, stone and all, and continuiing Severus' depiction of this presumably Elagabalus-inspired sun god as a standing figure with raised hand.

Fast forward another couple of decades, and it seems to be Gordian III who first introduces what'll become the standard depiction of Sol Invictus, still with raised right hand, but now holding a celestial globe in his left hand, although pairing this new depiction with the same ORIENS legend that had previously been associated with Sol Indiges.

Another decade goes by, and we now have Gallienus for the first time introducing the numismatic legend of SOLI INVICTO, paired with the now standardized image of this eastern inspired Sol with raised hand and globe, and on this Asian mint coin also depicted wearing long eastern robes (as also later shown on coins of Maximinus II).

Gallienus also issues coins with this same depiction of Sol Invictus, but paired with the ORIENS legend, seeming to confirm what we had seen under Elagabalus that ORIENS is now associated with this eastern-inspired cult figure.

Immediately following Gallienus we have Aurelian, following the Battle of Emesa where he experienced some manifestation of Elagabalus, returning home to Rome and elevating the cult of Sol Invictus with a new temple, and new traditions such as Pontifices and the Natalus Invictus Dec 25th holiday.

So, it seems the cult of Sol Invictus does owe a lot to that of Elagabalus though the actions of Severus, Elagabalus and Aurelian, while at the same time evolving it's own standardized image for this specific cult, and own roman traditions. Of course we don't know how the Roman's themselves thought of Sol Invictus - as a new face/aspect of an old god (Sol Indiges), or as an imported and adapted eastern cult, or perhaps a bit of each.

To complete this overview of the emergence of Sol Invictus, we should also at least mention Roman Mithraism which seems to have grown largely alongside it. A key point of connection is the common mithraic inscription of DEO SOLI INVICTO MITHRAE, which correctly translates to "[to the] god Sol Invictus of Mithras". MIthras isn't an alter ego of Sol Invictus, but rather appears to be a god of time, with the bull of the Tauroctony scene likely representing the cyclic killing of the old sun to be replaced with the new.

There's a fascinating article by Peter Georgiev "Deo Soli Invicto Mithrae", from 2021, that analyzes the iconography of Mithraism and makes fascinating connections between the Tauroctony and the equally mysterious Danubian rider plaques.

[Sulla80]

On 9/25/2024 at 1:55 PM, Heliodromus said:

I think the answer depends at least in part on exactly what one means by the question! Are we really talking about the god(s), or about the associated cult(s) and practices, or does such a question even make sense?

This second century BC coin from the Roman Republic described by Crawford (from 108 BC) as representing nothing more than a "predilection for the cult of sol and luna". Catholic Sol or Anglican Sol? Roman or Greek Orthodox? perhaps a fair question.

Thanks for the reference :https://www.academia.edu/45008955/DEO_SOLI_INVICTO_MITHRAE

Edited September 27 by Sulla80