10.04.27: Topic / Level 4; transport [5]: wheeled vehicles (5) carpentum [ii] the carpentum on the coins

The reference to the carpentum would have had cultural resonance amongst the ancient Romans. As a symbol of honour, it appeared on coins:

Image #1

22-23 AD: first depiction on a sestertius of a decorated carpentum drawn by a pair of mules

The coin refers to Livia, the wife of Augustus:

• S.P.Q.R IVLIAE AVGVST(ae); SPQR indicates that she is honoured by the Senate and the Roman people:

[i] Senatus Populusque Romanus

[ii] Iuliae Augustae: dative; honour given to her; IVLIA AVGVSTA were honorific titles given to her by Augustus

It was minted during the reign of her son Tiberius i.e. the immediate predecessor of Caligula:

• TI(berius) CAESAR DIVI AVG(usti) F(ilius) AVGVST(us) P(ontifex) M(aximus) TR(ibunicia) POT(estate) XXIIII (vicesima quarta) | Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus, Augustus, chief priest (Pontifex Maximus), holding tribunician power for the twenty-fourth time.

The coin’s production was authorised by the Senate:

• S(enatus) C(onsulto)

The coin is unlikely to be referring to her death, but to an illness from which she recovered and, in celebration of which, the Senate declared a holiday of thanksgiving.

Image #2

Bearing in mind that, as Suetonius describes, it was Caligula’s aim to reinstate his mother, there is a remarkable similarity in the design of this sestertius commemorating Agrippina the Elder, who had suffered owing to the actions of Tiberius. The coin was minted between AD 37 and 41.

[1] AGRIPPINA M(arci) F(ilia) MAT(er) C(aii) CAESARIS AVGVSTI | Agrippina, daughter of Marcus [Agrippa], mother of Gaius Caesar Augustus

[2] Unlike the previous coin, Agrippina’s image is distributed through currency circulation. In the same way that the ashes of Agrippina were brought to Rome at the busiest time of the day, the coin would have ensured maximium visibility.

[3] S P Q R MEMORIAE AGRIPPINAE | The Senate and People of Rome to the memory of Agrippina; again, there is official recognition of the status of Agrippina.

[4] The same (reversed) depiction of a decorated carpentum pulled by two mules, with its symbolic reverential significance.

What we see here is a physical reinforcement of Suetonius’ account: a deliberate piece of dynastic propaganda, confirming Caligula’s regime as a reversal of Tiberian repression, not unlike the commemorative coin issued by Brutus – with his portrait and its symbols of freedom from oppression – following the assassination of Julius Caesar.