The Functions and Use of Roman Coinage

Commemorating the Past and Performing Power: Parades of Ancestors on Caligula's Coinage

“…21 16 Caligula's precious metal coinage almost exclusively promotes his ancestry, while his aes coinage showcased his father Germanicus, his mother Agrippina, his brothers, his sisters, and his grandfather Agrippa in addition to his other messaging connected to the army, the dedication of the temple of Divus Augustus, and other types (Wolters [2012] 343). 17 The debate about whether coins should be understood as propaganda or not has been succinctly summarised in Wallace-Hadrill (1986) with updated discussions in Cheung (1999), Noreña (2011), andKemmers (2019). Other key works in the debate are: Levick (1982); Sutherland (1983) and; Jones (1956).…”

“…For a discussion of this passage and its importance as a model for Caligula's later actions, seeBarrett (2015) 31-2.14 Tacitus (Ann. 3.2) mentions Drusus, Claudius, and the 'children of Germanicus who had remained in the city' (liberisque Germanici qui in urbe fuerant).15 See Wallace-Hadrill (1986) 86-7,Cheung (1999) 58-60, andKemmers (2019) 29-30 for a summary of the discussion and bibliography.Kemmers (2019: 29) argues that it is unlikely that the princeps was directly involved given that coin production did not cease in his absence from Rome but that there must have been some sort of imperial guidelines or approval process.Barrett (2015: 322) suggests that it makes little difference whether the princeps was responsible for the images or the moneyers as those officials overseeing the mint would have 'at the very least been sensitive to what the princeps would have considered appropriate'. Yet, Suetonius states that Augustus 'struck a silver coin with the sign of the constellation of Capricorn, under which he was born' (nummumque argenteum nota sideris Capricorni, quo natus est, percusserit, Suet.…”