|
Antoninus Pius
–
Roman Emperor
: 138-161 A.D.
Bronze 21mm (5.97 grams) of
Amphipolis
in
Macedonia
Reference: RPC IV online 5018
ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑ ΚΑΙСΑΡ ΑΝΤωΝΙΝOС, Laureate head right, with slight drapery.
ΑΜΦΙΠOΛΙС, Tyche seated left on throne, holding patera and cornucopia.
Very rare
You are bidding on the exact
item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime
Guarantee of Authenticity.
Tyche (Greek for luck; the Roman equivalent was
Fortuna
) was the presiding
tutelary deity
that governed the fortune and
prosperity of a city, its destiny. Increasingly during the Hellenistic period,
cities had their own specific iconic version of Tyche, wearing a
mural crown
(a crown like the walls of the
city).
The
Greek historian Polybius
believed that when no cause can be
discovered to events such as floods, droughts, frosts or even in politics, then
the cause of these events may be fairly attributed to Tyche.
Stylianos Spyridakis concisely expressed Tyche’s appeal in a
Hellenistic world of arbitrary violence and unmeaning reverses: “In the
turbulent years of the
Epigoni of Alexander
, an awareness of the
instability of human affairs led people to believe that Tyche, the blind
mistress of Fortune, governed mankind with an inconstancy which explained the
vicissitudes of the time.”
In literature, she might be given various genealogies, as a daughter of
Hermes
and
Aphrodite
, or considered as one of the
Oceanids
, daughters of
Oceanus
and
Tethys
, or of
Zeus. She was connected with
Nemesis
and
Agathos Daimon
(“good spirit”).
She was uniquely venerated at
Itanos
in Crete, as Tyche Protogeneia,
linked with the Athenian
Protogeneia
(“firstborn”), daughter of
Erechtheus
, whose self-sacrifice saved the
city.
She had temples at
Caesarea Maritima
,
Antioch
,
Alexandria
and
Constantinople
. In
Alexandria
the Tychaeon, the temple of
Tyche, was described by
Libanius
as one of the most magnificent of the
entire Hellenistic world.
Tyche appears on many
coins
of the Hellenistic period in the three
centuries before the Christian era, especially from cities in the Aegean.
Unpredictable turns of fortune drive the complicated plotlines of
Hellenistic romances
, such as
Leucippe and Clitophon
or
Daphnis and Chloe
. She experienced a
resurgence in another era of uneasy change, the final days of publicly
sanctioned
Paganism
, between the late-fourth-century
emperors
Julian
and
Theodosius I
who definitively closed the
temples. The effectiveness of her capricious power even achieved respectability
in philosophical circles during that generation, though among poets it was a
commonplace to revile her for a fickle harlot.
In medieval art
, she was depicted as carrying a
cornucopia
, an
emblematic
ship’s rudder, and the
wheel of fortune
, or she may stand on the
wheel, presiding over the entire circle of fate.
The constellation of
Virgo
is sometimes identified as the heavenly
figure of Tyche, as well as other goddesses such as
Demeter
and
Astraea
.
Amphipolis was an
ancient
Greek
city
in the region once inhabited by the
Edoni
people in the present-day
periphery
of
Central Macedonia
. It was built on a raised
plateau overlooking the east bank of the
river
Strymon
where it emerged from Lake Cercinitis,
about 3 m. from the
Aegean Sea
. Founded in 437 BC, the city was
finally abandoned in the 8th century AD. The present municipality Amfipoli,
named after the ancient city, occupies the site. Currently, it is a municipality
in the
Serres Prefecture
,
Central Macedonia
with a population of 3,623
(2001 census).
Origins
Archaeology
has uncovered remains at the site
dating to approximately 3000 BC. Due to the strategic location of the site it
was fortified from very early.
Xerxes I
of Persia
passed during his invasion of Greece
of 480 BC and buried alive nine young men and nine maidens as a sacrifice to the
river god. Near the later site of Amphipolis
Alexander I
of Macedon
defeated the remains of Xerxes’ army
in 479 BC.
Throughout the 5th century BC,
Athens
sought to consolidate its control over
Thrace, which was strategically important because of its primary materials (the
gold and silver of the
Pangaion hills
and the dense forests essential
for naval construction), and the sea routes vital for Athens’ supply of grain
from Scythia
. After a first unsuccessful attempt at
colonisation in 497 BC by the
Miletian
Tyrant
Histiaeus
, the Athenians founded a first colony
at Ennea-Hodoi (‘Nine Ways’) in 465, but these first ten thousand colonists were
massacred by the
Thracians
. A second attempt took place in 437
BC on the same site under the guidance of
Hagnon
, son of
Nicias
.
The new settlement took the name of Amphipolis (literally, “around the
city”), a name which is the subject of much debates about
lexicography
.
Thucydides
claims the name comes from the fact
that the Strymon flows “around the city” on two sides; however a note in the
Suda (also given in the lexicon of
Photius
) offers a different explanation
apparently given by
Marsyas
, son of
Periander
: that a large proportion of the
population lived “around the city”. However, a more probable explanation is the
one given by
Julius Pollux
: that the name indicates the
vicinity of an isthmus
. Furthermore, the
Etymologicum Genuinum
gives the following
definition: a city of the Athenians or of Thrace, which was once called Nine
Routes, (so named) because it is encircled and surrounded by the Strymon river.
This description corresponds to the actual site of the city (see adjacent map),
and to the description of Thucydides.
Amphipolis subsequently became the main power base of the Athenians in Thrace
and, consequently, a target of choice for their
Spartans
adversaries. The Athenian population
remained very much in the minority within the city. An Athenian rescue
expedition led by strategist (and later historian) Thucydides had to settle for
securing Eion
and could not retake Amphipolis, a failure
for which Thucydides was sentenced to exile. A new Athenian force under the
command of Cleon
failed once more in 422 BC during a
battle
at which both
Cleon
and
Brasidas
lost their lives. Brasidas survived
long enough to hear of the defeat of the Athenians and was buried at Amphipolis
with impressive pomp. From then on he was regarded as the founder of the city
and honoured with yearly games and sacrifices. The city itself kept its
independence until the reign of the king
Philip II
despite several other Athenian
attacks, notably because of the government of
Callistratus
of Aphidnae
.
Conquest
by the Romans
In 357 BC, Philip removed the block which Amphipolis presented on the road to
Macedonian control over Thrace by conquering the town, which Athens had tried in
vain to recover during the previous years. According the historian
Theopompus
, this conquest came to be the object
of a secret accord between
Athens
and Philip II, who would return the city
in exchange for the fortified town of
Pydna
, but the Macedonian king betrayed the
accord, refusing to cede Amphipolis and laying siege to Pydna.
After the conquest by Philip II, the city was not immediately incorporated
into the kingdom, and for some time preserved its institutions and a certain
degree of autonomy. The border of Macedonia was not moved further east; however,
Philip sent a number of Macedonians governors to Amphipolis, and in many
respects the city was effectively ‘Macedonianized’. Nomenclature, the calendar
and the currency (the
gold stater
, installed by Philip to capitalise
on the gold reserves of the Pangaion hills, replaced the Amphipolitan
drachma
) were all replaced by Macedonian
equivalents. In the reign of
Alexander
, Amphipolis was an important naval
base, and the birthplace of three of the most famous Macedonian
Admirals
:
Nearchus
, Androsthenes[6]
and
Laomedon
whose burial place is most likely
marked by the famous lion of Amphipolis.
Amphipolis became one of the main stops on the Macedonian royal road (as
testified by a border stone found between
Philippos
and Amphipolis giving the distance to
the latter), and later on the ‘Via
Egnatia’, the principal
Roman Road
which crossed the southern Balkans.
Apart from the ramparts of the low town (see photograph), the gymnasium and a
set well-preserved frescoes from a wealthy villa are the only artifacts from
this period that remain visible. Though little is known of the layout of the
town, modern knowledge of its institutions is in considerably better shape
thanks to a rich epigraphic documentation, including a military ordinance of
Philip V
and an
ephebarchic
law from the gymnasium. After the
final victory of
Rome
over Macedonia in a
battle
in 168 BC, Amphipolis became the capital
one of the four mini-republics, or ‘merides’, which were created by the Romans
out of the kingdom of the
Antigonids
which
succeeded
Alexander’s Empire in Macedon. These
‘merides’ were gradually incorporated into the Roman client state, and later
province, of Thracia
.
Revival
in Late Antiquity
During the period of
Late Antiquity
, Amphipolis benefited from the
increasing economic prosperity of Macedonia, as is evidenced by the large number
of Christian Churches
that were built.
Significantly however, these churches were built within a restricted area of the
town, sheltered by the walls of the
acropolis
. This has been taken as evidence that
the large fortified perimeter of the ancient town was no longer defendable, and
that the population of the city had considerably diminished.
Nevertheless, the number, size and quality of the churches constructed
between the fifth and sixth centuries are impressive. Four
basilicas
adorned with rich
mosaic
floors and elaborate architectural
sculptures (such as the ram-headed
column
capitals – see picture) have been
excavated, as well as a church with a hexagonal central plan which evokes that
of the
basilica
of
St. Vitalis
in
Ravenna
. It is difficult to find reasons for
such municipal extravagance in such a small town. One possible explanation
provided by the historian
André Boulanger
is that an increasing
‘willingness’ on the part of the wealthy upper classes in the late Roman period
to spend money on local
gentrification
projects (which he terms ‘’évergétisme’’,
from the Greek verb εύεργετέω,(meaning ‘I do good’) was exploited by the local
church to its advantage, which led to a mass gentrification of the urban centre
and of the agricultural riches of the city’s territory. Amphipolis was also a
diocese
under the
suffragan
of
Thessaloniki
– the Bishop of Amphipolis is
first mentioned in 533 AD.
From
the reduction of the urban area to the disappearance of the city
The
Slavic invasions
of the late 6th century
gradually encroached on the back-country Amphipolitan lifestyle and led to the
decline of the town, during which period its inhabitants retreated to the area
around the acropolis. The ramparts were maintained to a certain extent, thanks
to materials plundered from the monuments of the lower city, and the large
unused cisterns of the upper city were occupied by small houses and the
workshops of artisans. Around the middle of the 7th century AD, a further
reduction of the inhabited area of the city was followed by an increase in the
fortification of the town, with the construction of a new rampart with
pentagonal towers cutting through the middle of the remaining monuments. The
acropolis, the Roman baths
, and especially the Episcopal
basilica were crossed by this wall.
The city was probably abandoned in the eighth century, as the last bishop was
attested in 787. Its inhabitants probably moved to the neighbouring site of
ancient Eion
, port of Amphipolis, which had been
rebuilt and refortified in the
Byzantine period
under the name “Chrysopolis”.
This small port continued to enjoy some prosperity, before being abandoned
during the
Ottoman period
. The last recorded sign of
activity in the region of Amphipolis was the construction of a fortified tower
to the north in 1367 by
Grand Primicier
Jean and the
Stratopedarque
Alexis to protect the land that
they had given to the monastery of Pantokrator on
Mount Athos
.
Archaeology
The site was rediscovered and described by many travellers and archaeologists
during the 19th century, including E. Cousinéry (1831) (engraver), L. Heuzey
(1861), and P. Perdrizet (1894–1899). In 1934, M. Feyel, of the
École française d’Athènes
, led an
epigraphical mission
to the site and uncovered
the remains of a funeral lion (a reconstruction was given in the, a publication
of the EfA which is available on line). However, excavations did not truly begin
until after the Second World War. The
Greek Archaeological Society
under D. Lazaridis
excavated in 1972 and 1985, uncovering a necropolis, the rampart of the old town
(see photograph), the basilicas, and the acropolis.
Amphipolitans
-
Demetrius of Amphipolis
, student of Plato’s
- Zoilus
(400 BC-320 BC), grammarian, cynic
philosopher
-
Pamphilus (painter)
, head of
Sicyonian
school and teacher of
Apelles
- Aetion
, sculptor
-
Philippus of Amphipolis
, historian
- Nearchus
, admiral
- Erigyius
, general
- Damasias
[disambiguation
needed] of Amphipolis 320 BC
Stadion
Olympics
-
Hermagoras of Amphipolis
(c. 225 BC), stoic
philosopher ,follower of
Persaeus
- Xena
, the Warrior Princess of Amphipolis.
Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus (19 September 86 – 7
March 161), generally known in English as Antoninus Pius was
Roman emperor
from 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the
Five Good Emperors
 and a member of the
Aurelii
. He
did not possess the
sobriquet
“Pius” until after
his accession to the throne. Almost certainly, he earned the name “Pius” because
he compelled the
Senate
to deify his adoptive father
Hadrian
; the
Historia Augusta
, however, suggests that he may have earned the name by
saving senators sentenced to death by Hadrian in his later years.
//
He was the son and only child of
Titus Aurelius Fulvus
,
consul
in 89
whose family came from
Nemausus
(modern Nîmes
)
and was born near
Lanuvium
and his mother was Arria Fadilla. Antoninus’ father and paternal grandfather
died when he was young and he was raised by
Gnaeus Arrius Antoninus
, his maternal grandfather, a man of integrity and
culture and a friend of
Pliny the Younger
. His mother married to Publius Julius Lupus (a man of
consular rank),
Suffect
Consul
in 98, and bore him a daughter called Julia Fadilla.
As a private citizen between 110 and 115, he married Annia Galeria
Faustina the Elder
. They had a very happy marriage. She was the daughter of
consul
Marcus Annius Verus
and
Rupilia
Faustina (a half-sister to Roman Empress
Vibia
Sabina
). Faustina was a beautiful woman, renowned for her wisdom. She spent
her whole life caring for the poor and assisting the most disadvantaged Romans.
Having filled with more than usual success the offices of
quaestor
and praetor
,
he obtained the consulship in 120; he was next appointed by the Emperor
Hadrian
as
one of the four
proconsuls
to administer
Italia
, then greatly increased his reputation by his conduct as
proconsul
of
Asia
. He acquired much favor with the Emperor Hadrian, who adopted him as
his son and successor on 25 February, 138, after the death of his first adopted
son Lucius Aelius
, on the condition that Antoninus would in turn adopt Marcus
Annius Verus, the son of his wife’s brother, and Lucius, son of Aelius Verus,
who afterwards became the emperors
Marcus Aurelius
and
Lucius
Verus
(colleague of Marcus Aurelius).
Emperor
On his accession, Antoninus’ name became “Imperator Caesar Titus Aelius
Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pontifex Maximus”. One of his first acts as Emperor
was to persuade the
Senate
to grant divine honours to Hadrian, which they had at first refused; his efforts
to persuade the Senate to grant these honours is the most likely reason given
for his title of Pius (dutiful in affection; compare
pietas
). Two other reasons for this title are that he would support his
aged father-in-law with his hand at Senate meetings, and that he had saved those
men that Hadrian, during his period of ill-health, had condemned to death. He
built temples, theaters, and mausoleums, promoted the arts and sciences, and
bestowed honours and financial rewards upon the teachers of
rhetoric
and philosophy
.
In marked contrast to his predecessors
Trajan
and
Hadrian
,
Antoninus was not a military man. One modern scholar has written “It is almost
certain not only that at no time in his life did he ever see, let alone command,
a Roman army, but that, throughout the twenty-three years of his reign, he never
went within five hundred miles of a legion”.[2]
His reign was the most peaceful in the entire history of the
Principate
;
while there were several military disturbances throughout the Empire in his
time, in Mauretania
,
Iudaea
, and amongst the
Brigantes
in Britannia
, none of them are considered serious. The unrest in Britannia is
believed to have led to the construction of the
Antonine Wall
from the
Firth of Forth
to the
Firth of Clyde
, although it was soon abandoned. He was virtually unique
among emperors in that he dealt with these crises without leaving Italy once
during his reign, but instead dealt with provincial matters of war and peace
through their governors or through imperial letters to the cities such as
Ephesus (of which some were publicly displayed). This style of government was
highly praised by his contemporaries and by later generations.
Of the public transactions of this period we have scant information, but, to
judge by what we possess, those twenty-two years were not remarkably eventful in
comparison to those before and after his; the surviving evidence is not complete
enough to determine whether we should interpret, with older scholars, that he
wisely curtailed the activities of the Roman Empire to a careful minimum, or
perhaps that he was uninterested in events away from Rome and
Italy
and his
inaction contributed to the pressing troubles that faced not only Marcus
Aurelius but also the emperors of the third century. German historian Ernst
Kornemann has had it in his Römische Geschichte [2 vols., ed. by H. Bengtson,
Stuttgart 1954] that the reign of Antoninus comprised “a succession of grossly
wasted opportunities,” given the upheavals that were to come. There is more to
this argument, given that the Parthians in the East were themselves soon to make
no small amount of mischief after Antoninus’ passing. Kornemann’s brief is that
Antoninus might have waged preventive wars to head off these outsiders.
Scholars place Antoninus Pius as the leading candidate for fulfilling the
role as a friend of Rabbi
Judah
the Prince
. According to the
Talmud
(Avodah
Zarah 10a-b), Rabbi Judah was very wealthy and greatly revered in Rome. He had a
close friendship with “Antoninus”, possibly Antoninus Pius,
who would consult Rabbi Judah on various worldly and spiritual matters.
After the longest reign since Augustus (surpassing
Tiberius
by
a couple of months), Antoninus died of fever at
Lorium
in
Etruria
,
about twelve miles (19 km) from Rome, on 7 March 161, giving the keynote to his
life in the last word that he uttered when the
tribune
of
the night-watch came to ask the password—”aequanimitas” (equanimity). His body
was placed in
Hadrian’s mausoleum
, a
column
was dedicated to him on the
Campus Martius
, and the
temple
he had built in the Forum in 141 to his deified wife Faustina was
rededicated to the deified Faustina and the deified Antoninus.
Historiography
The only account of his life handed down to us is that of the
Augustan History
, an unreliable and mostly fabricated work. Antoninus is
unique among Roman emperors in that he has no other biographies. Historians have
therefore turned to public records for what details we know.
In
later scholarship
Antoninus in many ways was the ideal of the landed gentleman praised not only
by ancient Romans, but also by later scholars of classical history, such as
Edward Gibbon
or the author of the article on Antoninus Pius in the ninth
edition of the
Encyclopedia Britannicaca:
A few months afterwards, on Hadrian’s death, he was enthusiastically
welcomed to the throne by the Roman people, who, for once, were not
disappointed in their anticipation of a happy reign. For Antoninus came
to his new office with simple tastes, kindly disposition, extensive
experience, a well-trained intelligence and the sincerest desire for the
welfare of his subjects. Instead of plundering to support his
prodigality, he emptied his private treasury to assist distressed
provinces and cities, and everywhere exercised rigid economy (hence the
nickname κυμινοπριστης “cummin-splitter”). Instead of exaggerating into
treason whatever was susceptible of unfavorable interpretation, he
spurned the very conspiracies that were formed against him into
opportunities for demonstrating his clemency. Instead of stirring up
persecution against the Christians, he extended to them the strong hand
of his protection throughout the empire. Rather than give occasion to
that oppression which he regarded as inseparable from an emperor’s
progress through his dominions, he was content to spend all the years of
his reign in Rome, or its neighborhood.
|
