No\-EMBEB 1, 1895.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



245 



an allusion to victoriea won by Lucius Cieciliua Metellus 

 in Sicily in 250 B.C. Elephants were a formidable feature 

 of the army of the Carthaginian Hasdrubal, whom 

 Metellus defeated at Panormos (Palermo), ami the cap- 

 tured animals figure on the coins of his descendant, as 

 they had figured in his own triumphal procession. The 

 shield, on the other hand, must refer to the victories won 

 by another Cipcilius Metellus in Macedonia from 148-1-16 

 B.C. These " family " denarii were imitated by the 

 Italian generals who headed the revolt against Eome, 

 known as the Social War of 91-88. The obverse of Fig. 

 13 bears a head resembling that of Eoma on Fig. 9, but 

 with the legend ITALIA. On the reverse of another coin 

 (Fig. 11) are a bull trampling on the Eoman she-wolf, 

 and the name of the general Gaius Papius (in the local 

 alphabet). The later denarii of this period bear the name 

 not only of the moneyer but of his superior ofiicer. Thus 

 a coin (Fig. 12) probably struck in Macedonia under 

 Brutus, the murderer of Cfesar, bears on the obverse the 

 name of his subordinate Lucius Sestius and the head of 

 Liberty, on the reverse the name of Brutus himself and 

 sacrificial instruments. The improved style of this period 

 is partly due to the fact that many of the pieces were 

 struck in Greece and the dies engraved, in all probability, 

 by Greek artists. Rome could no longer resist the influence 

 of Greek art, and with the commencement of the Empire 

 there was a great influx of Greek workmen into Rome. 

 Now begins a splendid series of coins with unsurpassable 

 portraits of the rulers of the world (Figs. 16, Augustus ; 

 17, Vespasian; 18, Faustina II.; 21, Trajan, «!■<•;■«■, the 

 Forum ; 25, Hadrian, rci-fisc, Justice). For about two hun- 

 dred and fifty years the art of portraiture maintains a high 

 level, rising perhaps highest in the time of Hadrian (Fig. 

 25, rei-frst', .Justice) and his immediate successors. The 

 reverse types are often of great interest. No. 27 gives a 

 view of the Coliseum ; No. 28 shows .Tudfea seated under a 

 palm and guarded by a Roman soldier (referring to the 

 subjugation of the Jews by Titus). The increased diameter 

 of the copper and brass coinage reintroduced by Augustus 

 provided room for an art which is almost medallic. What 

 are called Roman medallions (Fig. 26, Marcus Aurelius, 

 /•f!r>-s«, Neptune), were pieces of an even larger size, struck 

 in all three metals, and probably serving for memorials 

 and not for currency. 



Augustus had abolished the Board of Moneyers in b.c. 3. 

 The right of coinage in gold and silver now resided in 

 the Emperor, whose portrait and title appeared on the 

 obverse of the coins. The details given in the titles often 

 enable us to date a coin more or less accurately. Thus 

 No. 21 was struck, not before the fifth consulship of 

 Trajan (a.d. 103), but before a.d. 112, when he was consul 

 for the sixth time. After the third century, however, the 

 titles cease to be given in full. As regards the bronze 

 coinage of the second or provincial class, it is to be noted 

 that the cities struck large numbers of coins without the 

 head of the Emperor, but with some ideal type, most 

 frequently the head of the Roman Senate, of their own town 

 council, or of the " People." The reverses of the coins were 

 occupied by a great variety of designs, allegorical, mytho- 

 logical, historical, architectural, or merely ornamental. 

 The interpretation of these designs in the case of the Greek 

 provincial coins is most important as illustrating the life 

 of the time. A vast mass of information of historical 

 importance, relating to the religion, politics, and external 

 aspect of the Greek cities, is being gradually gathered from 

 this interesting, though not very artistic series. 



We may notice here four coins. The first ( No. 29) was 

 struck at Ephesus,and represents the cultus-statue of Diana 

 of the Ephesians in her temple. The idol is mummy-shaped 



up to the breast, and wears on her head a tall head-dress, 

 from which falls a veil. Her arms stick out sideways 

 from the elbows, and from the hands hang fillets. The 

 lower parts of the columns of the temple were decorated 

 with sculptures in relief, traces of which may be perceived. 

 In the gable we also see a representation of the pedimental 

 sculptures of the temple. No. 30 was struck at Cnidus in 

 Caria, a town adorned by a famous statue by Praxiteles of 

 Aphrodite going down into the bath. The work of the 

 coin is very poor, but is valuable, in connection with the 

 known Roman copies of the statue in Rome and Munich, 

 as giving the pose of the lost original. No. 31 (struck at 

 Elis) represents the famous statue of Zeus at Olympia, by 

 Pheidias. He is seated on his throne, bearing on his 

 right hand a statue of Victory, and holding his sceptre in 

 his left. Finally, No. 32, of Samos, shows us the goddess 

 Hera, in a guise not quite so hieratic as the Ephesian 

 Diana, but still formal. Beside her stands the goddess 

 Nemesis. These coins, though we cannot here discuss 

 their types in greater detail, suffice to show the interest 

 attaching to the class. 



After the second century all pretence to artistic merit 

 on the part of Roman coins vanishes. AVe have space 

 here for only three coins of this later period; No. 21, of 

 Allectus, the usurper who reigned in Britain from 293 to 

 296 A.D. (reverse, figure of Peace, carrying flower and 

 sceptre) ; No. 22 of Constantine the Great {reverse. Victory 

 carrying a trophy and palm branch ; in the field the Chris- 

 tian monogram) ; No. 23, a triens (^ solidus) of Romulus 

 Augustus, the last Emperor of Rome (475-6 a.d.). This 

 last coin bears the simple cross ; but the solidus of 

 Constantine shows the Christian monogram in combination 

 with the distinctly pagan type of Victory, illustrating the 

 fact that the transition from paganism was not a complete 

 and sudden change, but a gradual grafting of the new 

 ideas on the old stock. 



Note. — The various metals are distinguished in the plate as 

 follows: — A/, Aurum, gold; .4?, Argentuin, silver; /E, Acs, bronze 

 or copper. 



ALABASTER. 



By Eicu.uiD Beyxon. 



ALABASTER does not hold a very high place in 

 popular taste at the present day. It is admittedly 

 a delicate and pretty stone ; but that is all. 

 Time was, however, when its translucent beauties 

 were universally admired, and the " whitish 

 stone," as the Arabic al haUtraton denominates it, was 

 keenly sought after. The alabaster so highly prized by 

 the ancient inhabitants of the Nile valley does not seem 

 to have been a true alabaster at all, but rather a species 

 of stalagmitic limestone, beautifully clouded and prettily 

 banded, and now generally known as Oriental alabaster, 

 or onyx ma.rble. Alabaster boxes or bottles were con- 

 sidered the most fitting receptacles for the costliest of 

 Eastern drugs and perfumed ointments. In fact, the 

 term alcihastra came to be applied to any valuable vessel 

 in which the rarer perfumes were contained. 



Among the Romans alabaster was as highly esteemed 

 as among the Egyptians. They looked upon the chaste 

 purity of the white variety as peculiarly fitting it to 

 contain the ashes of the dead, and hence the fact that the 

 cinerary urns were so largely constructed out of this 

 material. But the Romans were specially favoured in 

 the matter of alabaster. In the province of Pisa are 

 deposits of the mineral, which were doubtless being worked 

 upwards of four thousand years ago. The true alabaster, 

 the hydrated gypsum, or sulphate of lime, is found in 



