#roman numisimatics

[honorthegods]

Copper alloy coin minted in Rabbath-Moba, ancient Palestine, modern Jordan.  Diameter: 27.5 mm/1.08 in.                                                                    Obverse: Bust of Septimius Severus, laureate, draped and cuirassed, right, seen from behind.                                                                                   Reverse: War-god (Ares) standing facing on plinth, holding sword in right hand and shield and spear in left hand; lighted altars on either side of plinth.    Photo: © The Trustees of the British Museum. License:  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). 

Rabbath-Moba was known in the Roman period as Areopolis, the city of Ares. The town was a major administrative center and the official city seal featured Phanebalos, a warlike Semitic deity (perhaps an epithet of the goddess Tanit) conflated by the Romans with Mars/Ares. This deity may have been worshiped at the tripartite Nabataean temple on the site, which has been surveyed but not yet excavated.

Additional source:

RABBATHMOBA later AREOPOLIS (er-Rabba) Jordan - The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites

[honorthegods]

The Capitoline Geese by Henri Paul Motte, 1889. Image: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons (X).

Today, June 1, marks the dedication of the Temple of Juno Moneta on the Capitoline Hill in Rome in 348 B.C.E., or possibly, even earlier. The epithet Moneta evolved over time, but the earliest meaning seems to be from monere, advisor. This suggests the goddess’ wisdom in guiding public affairs. Juno Moneta acquired a militant aspect with the legend that the sacred geese kept in her temple warned the Romans of an impending attack by the Gauls. The word “money” was later derived from moneta, because the Roman mint was located inside, or nearby, Juno Moneta’s temple. Historians and archaeologists have been unable to definitively locate the temple remains.

Denarius of Juno Moneta, minted in Rome 46 BCE. Obverse: Head of Juno Moneta. Reverse: Tools used to mint coins: tongs, punch, anvil, and hammer. Photo © The Trustees of the British Museum (X). License: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)