Silver denarius of Salonina, minted in Antioch (Syria), 256-257 CE
Diameter: 1.9 cm
Description
Obverse:
SALONINA AVG
(Salonina Augusta)
Bust of Salonina facing right, wearing diadem with pointed top, with a robe draped around her shoulders. Crescent behind. Border: ring of dots.
Reverse:
CONCORDIA AVGG
(Concordia Augustorum)
Concordia seated on a throne, facing left, holding a patera in her right hand and a cornucopia in her left. Border: ring of dots.
Other notes: There is evidence of heavy wear on the center of the reverse.
Commentary
Salonina was the wife of Gallienus, who was emperor from 253-268 CE. From 253 to 260, Gallienus ruled with his father, Valerian, and then he became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire from 260 until his murder in 268. Salonina had three sons, Valerian II, Gallienus II, and Saloninus. It is believed that Salonina was murdered with her husband. Coins of Salonina and Gallenius were created and given out to the troops to secure their loyalty. Overall, there were 33 different reverses for coins of Salonina (Horster 2007, 292). This was more than the number of different reverses for Faustina the Younger, Julia Domna, and Geta Caesar (Horster 2007, 292). The significance of having Salonina on a coin circulated around the empire is that it asserted her and her husband’s rule and made it clear who the leaders were. When a new emperor took over, it was common for them to release a lot of coins with their image and their wife’s image and spread them all over the territory. The idea behind this was to make it known who was the new emperor and empress by phasing out coins with the previous ruler’s image on them.
The obverse legend reads simply “SALONINA AVG,” short for “Salonina Augusta” or “Julia Cornelia Salonina, Augusta.” The adjective “Augusta” means “sublime, revered,” and it had been applied to the emperor and his wife since the time of Rome’s first emperor, Octavian Augustus, and his wife Livia Augusta (Strothmann 2006). Though the details of the obverse portrait are here difficult to discern, comparison with other versions of this type clarify that she is wearing a crown or diadem with pointed top and a cloak draped around her shoulders. Her hair appears to be pulled back into a shorter style. Extending behind her back to the left is one side of a crescent, the other side of which is barely visible to the right. Her coin portraits, like those of other third-century imperial wives, usually have this crescent moon in the background, referencing the moon goddess, Selene, in the same way that radiate crowns on emperors’ portraits in this period reference the sun god, Sol (Rovithis-Livaniou and Rovithis 2018).
Inscribed around the top of the reverse face is “CONCORDIA AVGG,” short for Concordia Augustorum,” or “Harmony of the Augusti.” The repetition of the letter ‘G’ indicates the plural form, Augustorum. “Harmony of the Augusti” implies that the two rulers are in harmony, and consequently this stability extends to the empire as well. In this case, however, “Augustorum” is referring to the emperor and his wife, the Augustus and Augusta (Horster 2007, 302). Previously, AVGG referred to two men as co-rulers, but during the reign of Gordian III and his wife, Sabinia Tranquillina, the concept was applied to the emperor and his wife (Horster 2007, 302). A coin in the collection of the American Numismatic Society, 1944.100.30687, further supports this meaning since it uses the same legend, “CONCORDIA AUGG,” and shows Salonina and Gallienus facing one another. The legend seems to be a comment on the harmony of Gallienus and Salonina’s marriage, in addition to the harmony their rule should bring to the empire.
Following the legend, it can be concluded that the reverse of the coin depicts a personification of Concordia. Because of the level of wear, it is difficult to tell what exactly is being shown, but comparison with better-preserved coins of Salonina with the same legends, like one in the British Museum, 1927.1105.3, clarifies the imagery: Concordia is seated with her right leg extending in front of her. She wears a long, draping cloak with defined folds and holds a libation bowl, called a patera, in her extended right hand. The faint outline of a cornucopia (or possibly a double cornucopia) appears in her left hand, located slightly underneath her head (compare, for example, an antoninianus illustrated on the Wildwinds website, Göbl 1567g var). In her hair there appears to be a crown, and her legs are outlined underneath her clothing. Concordia had been represented in this position with these attributes since at least the Julio-Claudian era, when she appeared on coins of Nero such as RIC I Nero 48.
In Roman religion, Concordia represents the idea of harmony, or “concord,” whether familial harmony or harmony between different socio-political groups of the Roman state, namely the plebeian class and the patrician class (Bloch 2006). On coins, Concordia represents a stable society and general agreement within political discourse. brought to the empire. Concordia was also worshipped as the bringer of marital harmony within the imperial family, and for this reason was called Concordia Augusta; her presence on this coin probably alludes to the matrimonial agreement between Gallienus and Salonina. Marital harmony suggests that Salonina was a “good” wife who was able to support her husband as he brought peace and harmony to the empire. A later coin of Salonina in the American Numismatic Society, 1978.64.494, features a similar image of Concordia, with double cornucopiae and patera, though now with the legend “Concordia Aeterna” (“Eternal Harmony”).
The overall message reflected on this coin is that the empire should be in harmony under the rule of Gallienus and Salonina. Additionally, the future seems optimistic since Salonina has produced multiple potential heirs to be emperor. The comparison between Concordia and Salonina could also be suggesting that Salonina is honorable and represents the ideal Roman woman. Other coins of Salonina depict figures such as Juno, Pietas, and Felicitas on the reverse. These are all strong goddesses that are associated with desirable things such as love, marriage, piety, good luck, unity, and defending the empire. A similar coin in the British Museum, R.4193, contrasts Salonina with the Roman goddess, Pietas, on the reverse. Associating Salonina with Pietas is suggesting that Salonina is honoring the gods and has a strong relationship with them and with her children. This also conveys the message of the unity and harmony that Salonina and Gallienus have brought to the empire. Salonina was using the imagery of important Roman goddesses to support her husband’s rule and the direction in which he was guiding the empire.
Works cited:
Bloch, René (Berne). 2006. “Concordia”. In Brill’s New Pauly, edited by Hubert Cancik Helmuth Schneider, and Christine F. Salazar. Leiden: Brill. Accessed December 5, 2020. https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/concordia-e303820.
Encyclopædia Britannica. 2020. “Concordia”. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Accessed December 5, 2020. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Concordia-Roman-goddess.
Horster, Mariette. 2007. “The emperor’s family on coins (third century): Ideology of stability in times of unrest”. In Crises and the Roman Empire. Leiden: Brill. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004160507.i-448.78
Kurth, Dane. n.d. “Roman Imperial Coins of Salonina.” WildWinds. https://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/salonina/i.html
Manders, Erika. 2012. “Gallienus.” In Coining Images of Power. Leiden: Brill. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004224001_011
Portable Antiquities Scheme. 2020. “Gallienus: Joint reign.” Emperors of the Roman Empire. Portable Antiquities Scheme, The British Museum. Accessed November 30, 2020. https://finds.org.uk/romancoins/emperors/emperor/id/75
Rovithis-Livaniou, Eleni, and Flora Rovithis. 2018. “Stellar Symbols on Ancient Coins of the Roman Empire, Part IV: 235-285 A.D..” Romanian Astronomical Journal 28(3): 189-212.
Strothmann, Meret. 2006. “Augusta [0].” In Brill’s New Pauly, edited by Hubert Cancik, Helmuth Schneider, and Christine F. Salazar. Leiden: Brill. https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/augusta-e208550?s.num=0&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.brill-s-new-pauly&s.q=augusta
Struck, Peter T. 2020. “Concordia.” Greek & Roman Mythology – Tools, University of Pennsylvania. Accessed December 5, 2020. https://www2.classics.upenn.edu/myth/php/tools/dictionary.php?method=did®exp=1314&setcard=0&link=0&media=1
Williams, J. 2007. “Religion and Roman Coins”. In A Companion to Roman Religion, edited by J. Rüpke. Malden, MA: Blackwell. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470690970.ch11
Coin type: Göbl 1576h; RIC 72 var.
Research by: Addison Swackhammer, Class of 2021; Janis Lee, Class of 2021; Jordan Bendura, Class of 2024