for the coinage of Egypt made at Alexandria, which in this, as in other, respects
tends to follow the pattern of the mint of Rome (Bland 1996; fig. 11.29).
The emperor came to be regarded as the effective author of the Roman public
coinage and the regulator of its system of production at the imperial mint at Rome.
Both the institution itself and its output were represented on the coinage as Moneta
Augusta(“the mint of the emperor”), a recurring reverse legend that first appears
in the reign of Domitian inad 84, accompanied by a standing female figure hold-
ing a balance for equity and a cornucopia for plenty (fig. 11.30). The emperor was
a figure, or an idea, capable of provoking a strong religious response in a variety
of ways. So indeed could his image. In the early principate, the appearance of his
revered profile on the coins provoked an uncertain response from some users of these
otherwise mundane objects. In the heightened atmosphere of denunciation and accu-
sation under Tiberius, taking a ring or a coin bearing the emperor’s head into a latrine
or brothel could be regarded as a capital crime (Suet. Tiberius58.3). Suetonius clearly
regarded this as a monstrous absurdity, and we hear of nothing similar from later
Religion and Roman Coins 157Figure 11.28 Denariusof Commodus, ad187, with an image of Pietas sacrificing on
the reverse. 19 mm.
Figure 11.29 Bronze coin from Alexandria of the reign of Domitian (ad81–96), with
the figure of Elpis Sebaste, modeled on the Roman type Spes Augusta(“the imperial
hope”). 24 mm.
Figure 11.30 Copper as of Domitian, ad84, showing the figure of Moneta Augusta.
28 mm.