MEDAL. 
the father, is shown in a conic cap set with 
pearls. 
The vanity of the successors of Alexan- 
der the Great was conspicuous in each of 
tiieir emblems, which induced them to take 
the lion’s skin of Hercules; the horn, as a 
badge of their power, or probably as an in- 
timation that they were the successors of 
the pretended son of Jupiter Ammon; and 
the wing, as a symbol of the rapidity of their 
military successes, or their descent from 
Mercury ; the helmet is besides sometimes 
perceived on the heads of coins, particu- 
larly in the instances of Alexander and Con- 
stantine I. 
The Grecian queens have the diadem, 
and the generality of those of Egypt the 
sceptre; in some cases placed near the up- 
per part of the head, and in others trans- 
versely behind the neck ; but the Roman 
empresses never had the diadem : the most 
remarkable part of the head-dress of the 
ladies of the latter nation, was the golden 
ornament called the sphendona, worn on 
the crown of the head, and siifBciently 
large to be noticed on a medal ; the hair 
was dressed as fashion dictated, and the 
emblematic figure of a crescent sometimes 
accompanied the bust of an empress. 
When the toga is exhibited drawn over 
the head, the person so represented bore 
the pontificate or the augurship ; the veil, 
the sign of consecration, is common on the 
coins of empresses; but those coins are 
rare and valuable on which emperors are 
presented in this manner. The more mo- 
dern saints have now usurped the nimbus 
or glory with which ancient monarchs 
adorned their heads. “ Havercamp gives a 
singular coin, which has upon the reverse of 
the common piece, with the head of Rome, 
VKBs-ROMA, in large brass, Constantine I. 
sitting amid victories, and genii, with a tri- 
pie crown upon his head, for Europe, Asia, 
and Africa ; legend secvritas hom.®.” 
The most usual method of exhibiting por- 
traits on ancient coins was by the bust ; but 
there are instances of half lengths, and even 
more of the person, in which case the hands 
are frequently introduced holding emblems 
of power. 
The reverses of medals present an infinite 
variety of subjects ; consequently they afford 
a proportionate degree of pleasure in the stu- 
dy of them ; indeed there is scarcely any pe- 
culiarity in the manners, dresses, or religion 
of the ancients, which they do not serve to 
illustrate and explain; the habits and sym- 
bols of their deities, the allegorical allusions 
commorr to their time, their religious cere* 
monies, the insignia of their magistrates, 
are given with so much truth, that, added 
to the historical events they w'ere intended 
to record, it is impossible to feel indifferent 
when viewing tliem ; exclusive of these, 
they furnish matter for curiosity, as sketches 
of various branches of natural history, by 
the representations of animals and plants. 
A sufficient number of medals has been 
preserved, of each age, to observe the pro- 
gress of taste in decorating them, and it ap- 
pears that the most ancient are without any 
other mark on the reverse, beyond the in- 
denting of the instrument on which the 
metal was supported when impressing the 
obverse; those are four points calculated 
to secure it firmly : the deformity thus oc- 
casioned did not pass unnoticed by the ar- 
tist and his employer, and invention sug- 
gested the insertion of small fish or animals 
between the points, which were gradually 
improved upon, till the difficulty was en- 
tirely removed, and the figures- became 
beautiful, correct, and highly-finished per- 
formances, that wilt bear critical examina- 
tion, even furnishing studies for the propor- 
tions and muscles of men and animals. The 
reverses of some Greek medals of great an- 
tiquity are concave, and the obverses in a 
few instances are convex, and the time at 
which the engraveis of their dies became 
adepts in their art, and capable of making 
a complete reverse, was about 500 years 
before Christ. The Romans, sensible of 
their inferiority to the Greeks in this parti- 
cular, had the good sense to invite skilful 
persons to Rome, where they executed the 
best Roman medals, and taught the artists 
of that nation to emulate their excellence. 
None of the above, or Etruscan coins, have 
been discovered, which are globular or 
with an indented reverse similar to those 
already mentioned ; the earliest Greek spe- 
cimens are universally of silver, whereas the 
Roman are of copper, cast in moulds, and 
large, in which they greatly differ from the 
diminutive size of the Greek. 
The Romans seem at first to have been 
very deficient in composing their reverses, 
and by no means profited by the rich ex- 
amples before them ; it is, indeed, difficult 
to account for the constant uniformity and 
repetition of cars, and prows of gallies, that 
prevailed till very neat ly the Christian era, 
after which period a variety occurs; and 
during the reign of the emperors they made 
ample, amends for their previous neglect of 
this side of the medal. Mr. Pinkerton ob- 
