Roman sacrificial implements and priestly symbols continue to make occasional
but regular appearances on Roman imperial coins down to the late third centuryad.
By contrast, after the final demise of the western provincial coinages in the reign of
Claudius, they seem all but absent from the provincial coinages in the east. Unlike
the depiction of temples, this particular aspect of Roman religious iconography clearly
did not resonate there. What we see instead is the depiction of objects relating to
the festivals and games that sprang up in the eastern provinces: agonistic tables, crowns,
and wreaths (Klose 2005; fig. 11.19). In parallel with their quest for neocoric titles,
the cities competed with one another to secure imperial permissions to celebrate
prestigious festivals. Ninety-four different cities are known to have issued coins with
agonistic types. The roots of this provincial style lay in the Roman sensitivity to depic-
tions of cultic realia. Its subsequent development in the realm of festivals and games
in the Greek east is a function of the manner in which the cities related to the emperor,
and to one another.
Since the introduction of varying types in the late second century bc, scenes of
sacrifice and offering played an increasingly significant part on the Roman coinage.
They make a slow start in the republic with a scattering of mythological scenes
(fig. 11.20). Interestingly, and in contrast to the use of priestly symbols, none of
the late republican figures mentioned above is shown in the act of sacrifice.
Sacrificial scenes are also rare on the coins of Augustus (fig. 11.21), though he often
appears in a sacrificial context on other visual media. Thereafter, emperors are
regularly shown sacrificing throughout the imperial series, one of the earliest, from
the reign of Caligula, being also one of the most complex (fig. 11.22).
Apart from emperors, there is another category of persons regularly shown in the
act of pouring sacrificial libations, namely divinities. From the depictions of ApolloReligion and Roman Coins 153Figure 11.19 Bronze coin of Ephesus, reign of Elagabalus (ad218 –22), showing athletic
prize-crowns. 34 mm.
Figure 11.20 Roman silver denarius of c. 97 bc, made by L. Pomponius Molo, showing
King Numa sacrificing. 19 mm.