CROCODILES ON ROMAN COINS

Silver denarius of Octavian

Crocodiles must have been just as exotic and fearsome to the people of the ancient world as they are to us today. To the Romans, the crocodile was most familiar as the emblem of Egypt, and its appearances on Roman coins were in reference to that province.

The first time a crocodile appeared on a Roman coin was in about 37 B.C. by an official who had authority over the Greek island of Crete and the North African region of Cyrenaica. He issued copper pieces signed CRAS or KPAΣ, leading most scholars to identify him as M. Licinius Crassus, the eldest son of the wealthy triumvir Crassus, who in 53 B.C. infamously had led about 20,000 Roman soldiers to their death in a poorly executed campaign against the Parthians.

As might be expected, crocodiles appear most often on coins produced in Egypt. Though the Romans struck untold millions of Egyptian coins with crocodiles, very few use this creature as the principal design. Indeed, those instances are limited to a minor denomination, the copper dichalkon.

These dichalkoi were issued by at least eight emperors from about 3 B.C. to A.D. 158, with the Emperor Hadrian supplementing the general issues with special dichalkoi honoring the administrative districts (nomes) in Egypt. All of these coins, however, are so rare that they must have been struck in small quantities.

The most common appearance of the crocodile on Egyptian coins was as a companion of Nilus, the god of the great river Nile, the main source of Egypt’s prosperity. Though crocodiles are not always present in coin designs portraying Nilus, they appear on many issues. The crocodile also accompanies Nilus on gold, silver and base metal coins struck in Rome by Hadrian to honor Egypt.

Copper coin of Nemausus

To read the complete article, see:
Crocodiles on Roman coins most familiar as the emblem of the province of Egypt (www.coinworld.com/insights/Crocodiles-on-Roman-coins-familiar-as-the-emblem-of-Egyptian-province.html#)

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