Coins | In Focus | Silver Denarius, c. 37 BC
Silver Denarius
“Their story is no less in pity than his glory which brought them to be lamented.”
(Shakespeare, Anthony and Cleopatra, Act 5, Scene 2)
This wonderful coin mirrors a passionate affair, which shook the society of ancient Rome, and led to a military expedition and the tragic death of two lovers, of which one was the last pharaoh of Egypt.
Mark Anthony was an able military commander and administrator. In 44 BC he became a reconciliatory figure when he persuaded the Roman Senate to grant general amnesty to all involved in the murder of Julius Caesar. But later he saw his fortunes change, when Octavian, Caesar’s adopted son and an equally ambitious man, appeared in the political scene. This did not prevent the two men from forming an alliance and fighting together against Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in 42 BC.
Anthony’s first encounter with Cleopatra VII, queen of Egypt and mistress of late Julius Caesar, happened during the reorganisation period after the victory at Philippi. Anthony became as much enchanted with the queen as Caesar had been. Far from being a classical beauty, Cleopatra was an intelligent, cultivated and seductive woman, well versed in mathematics, literature, astronomy, and medicine and fluent in several languages. She represented the perfect link between Egyptian tradition and Greek culture, as her family line derived from Ptolemy I, one of Alexander III’s generals, who became king of Egypt in 323 BC.
Anthony and Cleopatra enjoyed a blissful time in Alexandria, capital of the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt, until Anthony’s departure in 41 BC, when he went back to his tasks as one of the rulers of Rome. During a four-year gap, Cleopatra was busy raising her twins by him, Cleopatra Selene (Cleopatra the Moon) and Alexander Helios (Alexander the Sun), while Anthony made a marriage of convenience with Octavian’s half-sister, Octavia, with whom he had three children. However, the old flame proved impossible to extinguish, and, in 37 BC, Mark Anthony, on his way to a military expedition against Armenia, raced back to Cleopatra, married her, and settled in Alexandria.
Our silver denarius was struck shortly after Mark Anthony’s victory over Armenia, and his reunion with Cleopatra. The obverse inscription advertises the military triumph by announcing that Mark Anthony conquered Armenia (ANTONI·ARMENIA·DEVICTA). The conqueror’s portrait stands out proudly, the only allusion to his role as the new master of Armenia being an Armenian tiara to the left. The reverse motif is an attempt by Mark Anthony to legitimise his new wife and honour her in the eyes of his Roman troops. Modelled on the reverse of one of his previous coins which pictured his Roman wife Octavia, the coin shows – contrary to our modern perception about Cleopatra’s beauty – a rather masculine profile of the Egyptian queen, with double chin and a hooked nose. The accompanying inscription declares Anthony’s decision to grant regal honours to Cleopatra and her children (CLEOPATRAE·REGINAE·REGVM·FILIORVM·REGVM).
In Rome meanwhile, people did not exactly share Anthony’s obsession with Cleopatra and his idea to call himself and her gods. Bigamy was a serious offence, and the outcry by Romans provided Octavian with enough justification for a naval expedition against his brother in law. At the naval battle of Actium in 31 BC, Mark Anthony was defeated, and the fate of the two lovers was sealed. They both committed suicide, Egypt became a Roman province, and Cleopatra and Anthony’s story has since moved from history to myth, inspiring beautiful pieces of literature, music and art.