132 | Roman Empire

Automatically generated translation

MAXIMIAN, Hercules. Medallion. (Ae. 40.99g / 41mm). AD 297-298 Rome. Anv: VIRTVS MAXIMIANI AVG. Laureate bust with breastplate with Aegis of Maximiano on the right carrying a shield decorated by a she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, behind the head of a horse. Rev: MONETA AVGG. The three Moneta shelves facing left, all three carrying scales and cornucopia. (Cohen 405; BMC Medallions 4; Gnecchi 18). VF. Obverse field reviewed. Very rare.

In the same way that Diocletian did with Jupiter, Maximiano appears identified with Hercules in a magnificent portrait of great strength and realism. The intimate association of the person of the ruler with the divine nature of the hero is inserted in the imperial propaganda program, which found in coins and medals one of its best ways of diffusion. This medal does not lack another detail of great symbolic weight: the representation of Rome and its foundation in the images of the she-wolf, Romulus and Remus. On the reverse, and with the representation of the goddess Moneta, we find another scene with a powerful symbolic charge; It seems that the cult of this goddess was established due to the influence of the Greek religion and that this was the equivalent of the Greek cult of Mnemosyne. The allegory on the reverse of this medallion is therefore related to the very origins of Roman civilization. It is not the only reference to Greek culture present in this medallion. Back to the obverse we can see in the center of the cuirass the mythological figure of the Medusa, probably the most recognized villain in all of Greek mythology, capable of petrifying any living being with her simple gaze.