Amata - Legend and Legacy in Ancient Rome

This article is for readers of my novel Amata, which is the third and final book in The First Vestals of Rome Trilogy, a series set during the founding and earliest years of Rome. Many of the characters and legends that you’ll read about in my books are found on ancient Roman coinage, so I’ve included some relevant coins from my collection for readers to take a peek at. Just a heads up, though—there are SPOILERS ahead, so please do finish the novel before you read. I think you’ll find these images more interesting that way as you’ll be able to see how certain elements have been dramatized. *Also, if you’re following the trilogy, you may wish to read the articles for Rhea Silvia (book one) and Tarpeia (book two) before this one.

Two Vestals. Nikolaas Verkolje, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The first coin I want to show you, below, is a coin from 56 BCE, so the time of the Republic. This shows the face of Romulus, the first legendary king of Rome, and if you’re reading the books, he is a person who is very familiar to you by now. 

Romulus is clearly an older man here - so in this series of articles, we’ve seen Romulus being conceived by Rhea Silvia and Mars, we’ve seen him as little baby suckling the she-wolf, and now we seen him as a mature king. This coin actually depicts him as the god Quirinus, who he becomes upon his death. You can see he is shown wearing a laurel crown, with long hair and a long beard in ringlets. He looks very regal, but also very god-like. You can also read the name Quirinus here - so this is basically the deified Romulus.

Romulus appearing to Proculus Julius. Peter Paul Rubens, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Moving on, another major character in the novel Amata is Numa Pompilius who is the second legendary king of Rome. And we can see Numa in the foreground of the below denarius, minted 88 BCE.

You can see Numa’s beard making him look very regal, very wise.

It’s a bit tricky to see, but there is a second figure in the background of this coin, and you might find it interesting if you’ve read Amata. This is actually the fourth king of Rome by the name of Ancus Martius – he is the son of Marcius, who is a fairly big character in the novel. Marcius is the first Pontifex Maximus of Rome, and someone who obviously works closely with Amata. So this character in the background, Ancus Marcius, isn’t actually in the novel but his father, Marcius, is.

Next up we have what is unfortunately a fairly low-quality coin. Below is a second century CE bronze coin of Antoninus Pius that has on the reverse an image of two very special shields.

The classical telling is that one divine shield fell from the heavens during the reign of Numa, presumably thrown down by the god Mars, and that Numa had eleven copies made so that any would-be thieves wouldn’t know which one was the real one. You may already know from the novels and elsewhere that both the Palladium and the sacred fire of Vesta were protective items –they protected Rome and her ruler, and her people. Well, there are a few other of these sacred tokens, or divine objects, and this shield, the ancile, is one that becomes relevant during the time period of this book series. So we can assume that one of these oval shields is the original sacred shield, and the other is a copy. A counterfeit. 

The next thing I want to show you isn’t a coin...not yet. But readers might remember that it’s the job of a certain character to clear the horse track, and for this work, he gets paid; however, at this time in Rome, the time of the very early kingdom in the 8th century BCE, there are no coins (at least not there). So I’ve used in the series what is basically proto-currency or very early Roman money, and you’ll see an example of this below.

This is what’s called aes rude, which is Latin for “rough bronze,” and it’s basically a bronze nugget used as money before coins. It’s hard to tell from the image, but it’s about the size of a large grape. This piece is dated a little later, more like the 5th century BCE, but still, very old. So not a coin, not exactly, but valuable as a form of currency nonetheless and since it’s featured in the novel I wanted to show you that this kind of thing really was used.

Moving on. There are a few times in this trilogy where characters mention the Eleusinian mysteries – they’re especially important to Numa and Marcius as two men who have travelled to Greece, which is where the mysteries were held, to witness them. And we say mysteries, because these were very secretive religious rites. We know they were greatly respected and those who participated lost their fear of death. We know they had something to do with the myth of Persephone, that they symbolized the eternal nature of life, and that at least part of them took place underground.

So that’s a quick idea of what the Eleusinian Mysteries were, and before I show you a relevant coin, just take note of the chariot and figure painted on the below Greek vase…

Triptolemos. Louvre Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

…because we can see the same chariot and figure on the obverse of this old Greek coin, below. This is from Attica and it’s estimated to be from the 4th century BCE.

You can make out the figure of a Greek demi-god who is involved in the rites – Triptolemos, shown in his chariot. You can see his body, his arm outstretched here, and a chariot wheel right down to the right. What you can barely see, sadly, is that this chariot is being pulled by serpents - you can see a little bit of one on the left. Obviously a snake or serpent is a very symbolic animal, symbolizing secrets and rebirth, which are important themes in the novel as well.

Now, if we flip this coin over, we see a pig on the reverse, as below.

That’s because piglets were apparently sacrificed during the rites. And above that, written in Greek, is the word Eleusis - that’s the town where the rites were held and where they got their name, so this coin was minted there no doubt as a matter of civic and religious pride. I’ve long been fascinated by the Eleusinian Mysteries, and I’m not alone. Many people are fascinated by them, and it seems it’s always been that way. They seem to have been a very moving and empowering experience, and it’s really special to think that this coin was circulating at a time in our world where these rites were still going on.

Moving on. We’re at our last coin now, and this is a real beauty. Below is one of my favorites - a 2nd century CE reverse of the empress Julia Domna and it really shows the Vestal order proper.

King Numa is often credited with creating the Vestal order – I don’t know how that really can be, since we know there was an order at Alba Longa and Bovillae, at least, but certainly under Numa we see the various institutions and religious orders of Rome starting to really get organized and become more recognizable to us.  

Here we see four Vestals – which was the original number of priestesses before it was increased to six. You can see some really beautiful detail of the priestess’s dresses – their stolas (dresses), their pallas (type of shawl), and their veils. The priestess on the left is holding a simpulum and offering a libation into the flames of a lit altar. In the background we see the temple of Vesta as it was in the Forum – that’s a pretty nice roof on there, but again, this is a relatively late depiction of the temple. Of course, the Palladium is safe and sound inside. 

So there we have it – these are a handful of coins that feature some characters and ideas from the novel Amata. As always, I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing them and I especially hope it’s added an extra dimension to the books if you’re a reader (and remember to read the articles for Rhea Silvia and Tarpeia if you are). I am very much an amateur when it comes to ancient coins, but I really love collecting. I feel like each coin is a little piece of art and history that you can hold in your hand and connect with the past, and with people in the past, in a very unique way. If you’re at all interested, I really encourage you to do some research and get involved. In any case, thank you for reading.