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Auction: 23007 - Ancient Coins Including the 'Kyrios' Collection of Greek Coins and featuring the 'Ostorius' Collection of Roman Gold
Lot: 182

Roman Republic, Mark Antony and Cleopatra AR Denarius, ANTONI ARMENIA DEVICTA head of Mark Antony right, Armenian tiara behind rev. CLEOPATRAE REGINAE REGVM FILORVM diademed and draped bust of Cleopatra right, prow of galley right at point of bust, 3.29g (Crawford 543/1; Sydenham 1210; CRI 345; BMCRR East 179-181; RSC 1), toned, light softening to higher points but a well-centred example for type and about good very fine, rare and iconic

PROVENANCE
G. H. Abbott Collection, Glendining, 11 October 1951, lot 437 - 'fine and rare' - £21

Leak(?) Collection, 25th October 1911, no. 122

Purchased from Lincoln Coins, July 1904


"What of her who has disgraced our armies, a woman who sleeps even with her slaves, who demands the walls of Rome and the Senate made over to her dominion as a reward from her disgraceful husband (coniugii obsceni)?" So Propertius thunders in his famous elegy about the corrupting influence of women. After a series of mythological examples, we get to the climax of Cleopatra and her corrupting influence over Mark Antony. Cleopatra comes last, seemingly outdoing all previous mythological examples. Propertius does not even have to mention either of their names for the reader to be fully aware of who he has in mind. Such was their infamy.

The reality of this corrupting influence and the shame and scandal of it as presented by Propertius has been thoroughly challenged by historians, however, it is undeniable that Antony displayed a dramatic shift of allegiances whereby he ditched Octavian (the future Emperor Augustus) and aligned himself fully with Cleopatra. Lot 180, dating to almost a decade earlier, signals Antony's alliance with Octavian placing both of their portraits on the coin. The stability of this makeshift triumvirate was further underpinned by Antony's marriage to Octavia, Octavian's sister, in 40 BC. She too frequently appeared on his coins, both featured in individual portraits on the reverse and double portraits with Antony on the obverse.
This denarius from 32 BC, however, marks the dramatic break. Gone is Octavian and Octavia - instead we find Cleopatra herself accompanied by bold royal titles. Antony himself appears in the legend without title save only for the rather optimistic claim that he conquered Armenia, the marginal victory he achieved in the broader context of his failed Parthian campaign.
This represents a complete break with Roman tradition, despite the pair of portraits seeming rather conventional numismatically. The reference to the royal sons alarmingly referred to their two children, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene (literally the Alexander 'the Sun' and Cleopatra 'the Moon'). These names not only defy Roman tradition, but they help to establish the notion of a royal dynasty of which Antony is the head. This royal ambition represented an existential threat to the Republic, at least according to Octavian and many of the writers of the period. Never before had Antony seemed less like a Roman Imperator and more like a foreign king. Antony appears 'un-Romaned' by Cleopatra, something which was ultimately played into Octavian's hands. After defeating the pair only, a year later at Actium, he could present himself as the sole defender and restorer of the res publica concealing his own transformation of the Roman state from democracy to autocracy.


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Sold for
£6,500

Starting price
£2700