DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26205#0035
33
space, the author is unable to analyse this problem here in a more detailed
way, yet he points out the existence of such a possibility.
It has been mentioned that numismatic material provides us with the
greatest number of river personifications, as in the case of pre-Roman Greek
world. The rivers on the coins issued in the West rank among rather rarely
encountered representations, yet at the same time they enjoy widespread
popularity in the East. Based on the most exhaustive list of such images
made by Imhoof-Blumer, it is possible to draw some conclusions. Namely,
he enumerates 28 types of western coins and up to more than 360 coming
from the east part of the Imperium Romanurn. This is an enormous dispro-
portion, influenced by several facts, one of which is the tradition rooted in
the Greek world of minting coins adorned with the image of a river (136 types
extant in pre-Roman times in Greek cities), unfamiliar to the Romans before
the 1st century A. D. The coins struck by Greek cities under the Empire were
symbolic of the autonomy of a polis, which met with a lively response from
the Greeks esteeming freedom and civil liberty (even when merely seeming).
These cities emitted coins on the occasion of both military and peacetime
events (the ruler’s visit or privileges bestowed by him, the erection of new
temples or public services’ edifices etc.), having decorating them with a cha-
racteristic emblem, which was the figure of a river flowing across the city.
Their emission was often associated with the cult and religious ritual, thus
emphasizing the worship rendered to the city’s patron deity. The problem
touched upon in Introduction and Chapter 1 should be kept in mind, that is,
the mutual relation between the deity and personification which was not
sharply separated in the ancient world and the image of a river mostly made
at the same time that of a god abiding in its waters.
The vast territorial range of the Roman empire contributed to the intro-
duction of the personifications of such rivers at the Nile, the Danube, the
Rhine, the Euphrates and the Tigris, which is justifiable considering their
economic or political and administrative role. However, in Roman times
the personifications of Greek rivers begin to appear which had received cult
already earlier or had been mentioned and described by the poets, yet not
possessing their images. Here come, among others, the images of the Pleistos 29, * 39 * * *
Blumer, No. 225); the Propomtis (?) on the coin of Kyzikos, on the obv. the bust of Marcus Aurelius
(Imhoof-Blumer, No. 243; cf. note 27); the Tenbris on the coin of Midaeion, on the obv. the head
of Lucius Verus (Imhoof-Blumer, No. 387); the Anthios on the coin of Colonia Antiocheia,
on the obv. the bust of Gordianus (Imhoof-Blumer, No. 409); the Liparis on the coin of Pompeio-
polis, on the obv. the head of Ponpeius (Imhoof-Blumer, No. 453) and many others, particularly
the coins of Syrian cities, adopting as decoration the statue of Tyche modelled upon the work of
Eutychides.
39 On the coins of Delphi from the times of Hadrian (Imhoof-Blumer, No. 200, PI. 7, 9),
riev. standing Apollo, beside him a tripod, at his feet the reclining bearded Pleistos provided with
inscription.
3 — Prace archeologiczne 47
space, the author is unable to analyse this problem here in a more detailed
way, yet he points out the existence of such a possibility.
It has been mentioned that numismatic material provides us with the
greatest number of river personifications, as in the case of pre-Roman Greek
world. The rivers on the coins issued in the West rank among rather rarely
encountered representations, yet at the same time they enjoy widespread
popularity in the East. Based on the most exhaustive list of such images
made by Imhoof-Blumer, it is possible to draw some conclusions. Namely,
he enumerates 28 types of western coins and up to more than 360 coming
from the east part of the Imperium Romanurn. This is an enormous dispro-
portion, influenced by several facts, one of which is the tradition rooted in
the Greek world of minting coins adorned with the image of a river (136 types
extant in pre-Roman times in Greek cities), unfamiliar to the Romans before
the 1st century A. D. The coins struck by Greek cities under the Empire were
symbolic of the autonomy of a polis, which met with a lively response from
the Greeks esteeming freedom and civil liberty (even when merely seeming).
These cities emitted coins on the occasion of both military and peacetime
events (the ruler’s visit or privileges bestowed by him, the erection of new
temples or public services’ edifices etc.), having decorating them with a cha-
racteristic emblem, which was the figure of a river flowing across the city.
Their emission was often associated with the cult and religious ritual, thus
emphasizing the worship rendered to the city’s patron deity. The problem
touched upon in Introduction and Chapter 1 should be kept in mind, that is,
the mutual relation between the deity and personification which was not
sharply separated in the ancient world and the image of a river mostly made
at the same time that of a god abiding in its waters.
The vast territorial range of the Roman empire contributed to the intro-
duction of the personifications of such rivers at the Nile, the Danube, the
Rhine, the Euphrates and the Tigris, which is justifiable considering their
economic or political and administrative role. However, in Roman times
the personifications of Greek rivers begin to appear which had received cult
already earlier or had been mentioned and described by the poets, yet not
possessing their images. Here come, among others, the images of the Pleistos 29, * 39 * * *
Blumer, No. 225); the Propomtis (?) on the coin of Kyzikos, on the obv. the bust of Marcus Aurelius
(Imhoof-Blumer, No. 243; cf. note 27); the Tenbris on the coin of Midaeion, on the obv. the head
of Lucius Verus (Imhoof-Blumer, No. 387); the Anthios on the coin of Colonia Antiocheia,
on the obv. the bust of Gordianus (Imhoof-Blumer, No. 409); the Liparis on the coin of Pompeio-
polis, on the obv. the head of Ponpeius (Imhoof-Blumer, No. 453) and many others, particularly
the coins of Syrian cities, adopting as decoration the statue of Tyche modelled upon the work of
Eutychides.
39 On the coins of Delphi from the times of Hadrian (Imhoof-Blumer, No. 200, PI. 7, 9),
riev. standing Apollo, beside him a tripod, at his feet the reclining bearded Pleistos provided with
inscription.
3 — Prace archeologiczne 47