Greco-Roman Coins Showcased in a Boston Museum

choi

Alexandra Wolfe, Heads and Tails. Wall Street Journal, Aug 10, 2013.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 52170794308246.html

Note: Clockwise from right left corner:
(a) "rivers around the city of Akragas. The female monster is the sea goddess Scylla."
(i) Agrigento
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrigento
(renowned as the site of the ancient Greek city of Akragas;  
(ii) Scylla
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scylla
(Strait of Messina between Italy and Sicily; the idiom "between Scylla and Charybdis")
(iii) Strait of Messina was named after City of Messina
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messina
(In the early 5th century BC, Anaxilas of Rhegium renamed it Messene in honour of the Greek city Messene)

(b) "The two eagles * * * represent Zeus"

eagle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle
(Zeus was said to have taken the form of an eagle in order to abduct Ganymede[, a boy, to serve as cup-bearer in Olympus])

(c) Constantine the Great
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great
(c 272-337; reign 306-337; also known as Constantine I; was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity)

(d) "the nymph Arethusa, who fled to Sicily to escape aghressive male pursuers. She begged the Greek god Artemis to protect her, so he turned her into a fountain on a Syracuse peninsula"
(i) Arethusa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arethusa_(mythology)
(her name means "the waterer")
(ii) Syracuse, Sicily
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syracuse,_Sicily
(capital city of the present-day province of Syracuse; founded [in 734 or 733 BC] by Ancient Greek Corinthians and Teneans and became a very powerful city-state; mentioned [by Paul] in the Bible in the Acts of the Apostles book at 28:12; patron saint of the city is Saint Lucy; section 1.1 Greek period: discussion of name origin)
(iii) Syracuse. Online Etymology Dictionary, undated
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Syracuse
("from a pre-Hellenic word, perhaps Phoenician serah “to feel ill,” in reference to its location near a swamp")
(iv) "Greek god Artemis to protect her, so he turned her into a fountain"

It is incomprehensible that Ms Wolfe, the reporter, makes such a fundamental mistake. Everybody, except her, knows Artemis is a goddess, a she.

Artemis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis
(Her Roman equivalent is Diana; section 1 Etymology)


(e) "This Roman coin, showing Hadrian's adopted son Aelius Verus"
(i) Hadrian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadrian
(76-138; Roman emperor 117-138; Latin: Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus Augustus)

Quote: "In 136 an ailing Hadrian adopted Lucius Aelius as his heir, but the latter died suddenly two years later. In 138, Hadrian resolved to adopt Antoninus Pius if he would in turn adopt Marcus Aurelius and Aelius' son Lucius Verus as his own eventual successors. Antoninus agreed, and soon afterward Hadrian died

(ii) Adrian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian
(a form of the Latin given name Hadrianus (see Hadrian))

(iii) I wonder if the preceding Wiki page misspells the name of adopted son ("Lucius Aelius")--as the Wiki is at variance with the WSJ. No, Wiki does not. See the NFA Web page:

Michael C Ruettgers Gallery for Ancient Coins; Gallery 212C. Museum of Fine Arts, undated
http://www.mfa.org/collections/f ... llery-ancient-coins
("Mr Ruettgers has given 14 rare and important Roman gold coins to the MFA, including Aureus with the bust of Aelius Verus (AD 137)")
(iv) Lucius Aelius
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Aelius
(101-138; He is often mistakenly referred to as Lucius Aelius Verus, though this name is not attested outside the Augustan History and probably arose as a manuscript error)

, where Verus was supposed to be cognomen.

(v) Roman naming conventions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_naming_conventions
(By the end of the Republican era, a name for an aristocratic male citizen comprised three parts (tria nomina): [I] praenomen (given name), [II] nomen (or nomen gentile or simply gentilicium, being the name of the gens or clan) and [III] cognomen (name of a family line within the gens))