NGC Ancients: Dying in Style

October is the time of year when themes of death are explored, thanks to Halloween and other celebrations of the afterlife. Halloween is traced back to an ancient Celtic holiday called Samhain that was held starting on the night of October 31 to mark the end of the summer. It was a time when the dead were believed to be close to the world of the living.

The Greeks and Romans had their own festivals centered on the dead, including the Greeks' late winter holiday of Chytroi (within the Anthesteria festival) and the Romans' Parentalia in February (to honor ancestors) and Lemuria in May (to ward off ghosts).

Greek and Roman funeral practices were not uniform and changed over the centuries, though cremation and burial dominated. Through coins we'll examine some of the ways in which the dead were honored in the ancient world.

This 22mm bronze of Cyrene, issued ca.313-312 B.C. during a time of revolt, show the tomb of Battus I, who founded the first Greek kingdom in northern Africa and died around 600 B.C. Though not in ideal condition, the reverse of this coin clearly shows a mound supporting a tall column, upon which is an urn. This is believed to represent Battus' tomb, which - uncharacteristically - was erected within the city limits. The obverse shows Zeus-Ammon, a syncretic god that merged aspects of Greek and Egyptian mythology.

Coins and coin-like objects sometimes were used in funeral practices. The most famous instance is that of "Charon's Obol," which reputedly was placed in the mouths of the deceased, so they had funds when it was time to pay Charon to ferry them across the River Styx to the underworld. There is no way to prove it, but this small, gold object with a facing head, may have been made with that function in mind. It's tiny and thin, at just 7mm in diameter and merely 0.14 grams (about a sixteenth the weight of a US dime).

This base-metal diobol was struck in Alexandria, Egypt, during the reign of Emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117-138) in the mid-130s BC. A tiny percentage of bronzes from Roman Egypt are altered in a distinctive way with two holes. The prevailing theory is that the holes were drilled to allow such coins to be used in some kind of burial practice, like being sewn into burial fabric or being nailed to a wooden sarcophagus. Curiously enough, this coin depicts Antinous, a young man who Hadrian deified after his death.

Another circumstance in which coins, medallions, or coin-like objects were used in burial practices was when they were cemented into the walls of catacombs, which are underground passages used to bury the dead. Sometimes these coin-like objects were of private manufacture, and even made of non-metallic materials, such as glass, but other times they were official Roman mint products. An example of an item ideally suited for such a purpose is this bronze medallion struck in A.D. 148 or 149 for the Caesar Marcus Aurelius, who's portrayed opposite the god Apollo.

At the time of Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.), cremation was the predominant practice among the Roman elite. This silver denarius issued by his nephew and successor, Octavian, in 36 B.C. shows the Temple of Divus Julius, which is believed to have been constructed over the site of his cremation. Near its top, the temple incorporated Caesar's Comet, an astronomical event that occurred weeks after his death in 44 B.C. and was interpreted as an omen of Caesar's divinity.

Octavian became Emperor Augustus, ruling from 27 B.C. to A.D. 14. This silver denarius was struck in about 17 or 12 B.C. and has a funeral theme on the reverse. It may have been stuck for Agrippa's soldiers in central Europe when Agrippa died suddenly in 12 B.C. The talented general was the heir-apparent to Augustus, and the emperor honored him with a lavish funeral and had his remains placed in the Mausoleum of Augustus, which eventually housed the remains of many prominent Romans, including Augustus himself. Scholars disagree whether the portrait is that of Augustus or one of his grandsons, Caius Caesar.

Also buried in the Mausoleum of Augustus was Agrippina Senior, mother of Emperor Caligula (A.D. 37-41), who issued this brass sestertius in her posthumous honor. She is portrayed opposite a scene of two mules drawing an ornamented carpentum. Agrippina had died in exile in A.D. 33, and Caligula made the restoration of her reputation a priority when he came to power. He reclaimed the ashes of family members who'd been executed or starved to death during his predecessor's reign, with this carptentum carrying a funerary image of Agrippina.

The emperor Titus (A.D. 79-81) issued this silver denarius in posthumous honor of his father, Vespasian (A.D. 69-79), who was declared a god after his death. The reverse shows a funeral urn with his ashes set upon a cippus flanked by laurel branches.

Also issued to celebrate Vespasian's consecration is this brass sestertius struck at the same time as the previous coin. It shows four elephants drawing a cart carrying a statue of Vespasian, which is thought to reflect a scene from his funeral procession. Romans had welcomed the stability of Vespasian's decade-long rule, which followed the terrible civil war of A.D. 68-69.

This silver denarius was struck in A.D. 113 or 114, near the end of the reign of Emperor Trajan (A.D. 98-117), who grew the Roman Empire to its maximum geographical range. The reverse shows Trajan's column, which was built in Trajan's Forum in A.D. 113 to celebrate his victory in the Dacian Wars. His ashes were later interred at the base of the column.

This brass sestertius shows Faustina Senior, wife of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius, who died in A.D. 140 or 141. The reverse shows her elaborate funeral pyre (or crematorium). Faustina was deeply respected by her husband and ordinary Romans alike, and she received some of the greatest honors ever given to a Roman woman after her death, including the construction of the first permanent temple to a woman at the Roman Forum.

When Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138-161) died, he received similar honors as his wife, as shown on this gold aureus struck shortly after his death. The coin's design follows that of his wife's, though his funeral pyre or crematorium has four tiers and is of a different, distinct form. It's decorated with garlands and statues and topped with a four-horse chariot. The depictions of structures like this have been compared to modern wedding cakes.

Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161-180), the last of among the Roman rulers who historians call the "Five Good Emperors," died in A.D. 180. This base-metal sestertius (top) and silver denarius (bottom) were struck by Commodus, his son and successor, who was unable to match the status of his father. These coins echo the designs of ones shown earlier in this column honoring Vespasian and Antoninus Pius.

This silver denarius struck honoring Septimius Severus was struck shortly after his death in A.D. 211 by his son and successor, Caracalla. It reiterates that the tradition of funeral pyres was well established by this time, as was the practice of declaring deceased emperors divine - "DIVO," on the obverse of this coin.

A far-cruder depiction of a pyre or crematorium appears on this billon double-denarius struck in honor of the emperor Claudius II Gothicus (A.D. 268-270). The schematic appearance of the structure on this coin reflects the toll that the crisis of the third century had taken on the Roman Empire and the corresponding decline in the spectacles associated with emperors.

This base-metal nummus was struck shortly after the death of Romulus in A.D. 309. He was the son of Roman Emperor Maxentius (A.D. 307-312), who lost a power struggle to Constantine I "the Great" (A.D. 307-337). Opposite the young heir's portrait is the domed sepulcher in which his remains were laid to rest.

Such were the noble outcomes... Now, we'll finish our survey with three particularly bad endings.

Elagabalus (A.D. 218-222), and his mother, Julia Soaemias, neither of whom were popular among the Romans, are depicted on these two silver denarii of the Rome mint. When powerful figures around them determined they must be removed from power, both were killed by the Praetorian Guards, after which their bodies were mutilated and dragged through the streets before being thrown into the River Tiber.

While leading a campaign against the enemy Sasanians, the emperor Valerian I (A.D. 253-260) found his army itself in such a bad state that he surrendered. The emperor was taken captive and used as a stepping stool by the Sasanian king when he mounted his horse. Worse yet, when he died, Valerian was skinned, stuffed, and his remains put on display in the royal palace. An especially fine portrait of the unfortunate emperor appears on the bronze sestertius shown here, which was issued early in his reign.

Our final story concerns the fate of the Byzantine emperor Nicephorus I (A.D. 802-811), who's portrayed on this gold solidus opposite his son and co-emperor Stauracius. Nicephorus died in battle against the Bulgars, and, according to the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor, their leader decapitated Nicephorus and displayed his head on a pole for several days for visiting tribesmen to admire. After a few days had passed, he cleaned the skull, adorned its exterior with silver and made the chieftain of another tribe, the Sklavinoi, drink from it.

Images courtesy of Classical Numismatic Group