A Companion Roman Religion - Spiritual Minds

silver coins in the late second century bcmade at Tarsus illustrated the altar of a
local deity, Sandan, in a new monumental style (fig. 11.5). The focus on the build-
ing perhaps emphasizes the connectedness between the king and the place and
institution of the god’s cult, rather than the abstraction of the divine person as
patron or ancestor. It certainly prefigures any number of designs on provincial coins
of the Roman east featuring the temple or cult object of the city in question, as we
shall see below.
One of the earliest of the new monumental types foreshadows many of the typ-
ical features of the religious imagery on later Roman coinage. A denariusof about
135 bcin the name of C. Minucius Augurinus shows a column identifiable as the
Columna Minucia, a monument mentioned in scattered literary sources (fig. 11.6).
It has an Aeolic capital, from which hang bells. There are two crouching lions at

Religion and Roman Coins 145

Figure 11.3 Etruscan cast bronze coin, third century bc(Historia Nummorum Italia

68), with priestly accoutrements. 38 mm.

Figure 11.4 Roman gold stater, c. 220 bc, showing oath-taking scene. 19 mm.

Figure 11.5 Seleucid silver tetradrachm, Demetrius II (second reign), 129 –125 bc,
depicting the altar of Sandan. 31 mm.