A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



The name of the king appears but rarely in an extended form upon 

 his own coins ; but on those of his son Cunobelinus it is sometimes given 

 at full length. Both he and Epaticcus were proud of being the sons of 

 their father, and make use of Tasciovani films in some abbreviated form 

 as a title of honour. On No. i of the coins in the plate the name of 

 TASCIOVAN is given at full length, on No. 3 the spelling TAXCI 

 occurs, and on No. 2 is seen the form TASCIAV, with an A instead of 

 the O, a form which not unfrequently appears on his coins in silver and 

 copper. 



Nos. 13 to 24 on Plate i. show the silver coins of Tasciovanus, all 

 of which, with the exception of No. 23, were probably struck at Veru- 

 lam. On Nos. 1 3 and 1 4 the name of the town, in an abbreviated form 

 VER, occupies the post of honour on the obverse, the name of the king 

 being, in the case of No. 14, entirely absent. On No. 15 the cruciform 

 ornament, the direct but almost unrecognizable descendant of the head of 

 Apollo on the Macedonian rPhilippus, is to be seen. In the angles are 

 the letters VERL. In the nearly corresponding small gold coin No. 9, 

 the fourth letter is an O, unless possibly it is merely a kite-shaped orna- 

 ment. The boar of the reverse occurs also on some of the copper coins 

 of Verulamium. 



The coins with TASC on a tablet, Nos. 16, 17, are closely con- 

 nected with the small gold coin No. 7, but the horseman on the reverse 

 of No. 1 6 seems more nearly allied to the warrior on the coin struck at 

 Riconium, No. 12. 



The type of the coin No. 1 6 is manifestly copied from that of a 

 denarius of the Emperor Augustus struck between B.C. 12 and B.C. 10. 

 It probably belongs to the latter part of the reign of Tasciovanus. 



The art displayed on Nos. 19 and 22 is of no contemptible order, and 

 the dies for these coins were probably engraved by a foreign artist. The 

 eagle occurs on the small copper coins of Verulamium, PI. ii., No. 24, 

 and in a somewhat different attitude on the silver coins of Epaticcus the 

 son of Tasciovanus. The Pegasus is seen on other coins of this king, 

 and the griffin, which can hardly be regarded as indigenous to Britain, is 

 to be found on many coins of Greek and Roman origin, and seems to be 

 significant of a foreign engraver having been employed to produce the 

 dies. The three concentric circles, that in the centre being beaded, 

 suggest the possibility of Nos. 16, 22 being the work of the same artist. 



Nos. 20, 21 seem also to be the products of the same engraver, 

 who, however, hardly deserves to rank as an artist. The dotted work of 

 the obverse is peculiar, and though extremely rude, by no means ineffec- 

 tive. The horseman on the reverse of No. 2 1 seems to wear the same 

 kind of embossed cuirass as that on No. 1 2. The legends TASCIA and 

 TASCIO respectively show that the spelling of the period had not been 

 reduced to a monotonous level. 



The coin No. 23, though probably struck at the city of Segontium, 

 and not at Verulamium, bears upon the reverse a horseman in all respects 

 identical with that on the silver coin of Verulamium, No. 14. 



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