All entries for Sunday 02 June 2013

A medallion showing the arrival of Asclepius in Rome

Writing about web page http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/classics/research/coinage

As often in ancient history, the decision to bring Asclepius, the god of Medicine, to Rome was made in order to avert a pestilence against which remedies of the time were powerless. In 293 BC, following an oracle from Delphi, the Roman senate decided to bring the cult of Asclepius to the Urbs. For this purpose, they sent delegates to Epidaurus, the most famous Asclepius shrine of the time, in order to fetch one of the sacred snakes of Asclepius and carry it back to Rome on a ship. Similar epidemic outbreaks, combined with human helplessness in the face of disease explain the spread of the cult of Asclepius from the 5th c. BC onwards.

Upon arrival to Rome, it is said the sacred snake jumped out of the boat into the Tiber, and landed on the island (today Isola Tiberina). The temple of Asclepius was built on this very site, for, it was thought, the god himself had chosen the location of his future home! The ‘medical’ function of the island has survived to our day: where the temple of Asclepius stood now lies a hospital.

This fine bronze medallion illustrates that famous episode of Roman history. A rare, precious piece in itself, this medallion dating from Antoninus Pius’ reign (138-161 AD) can in fact be connected with a wide range of visual representations of the Asclepian cult and of Roman legendary history. Like other medallions of Antoninus Pius, it refers to famous Roman events in an attempt to connect the present with the distant, heroic past. Not all details are perfectly visible here, but the image has several striking features, such as the archs of a bridge over the Tiber, the Tiber itself in the shape of a bearded river-god, and several buildings which may or may not have stood on the island – the snake seems to gaze at them, which could indicate that they were placed on the Isola Tiberina. At the centre of the medallion, the artist has captured the very moment when the snake, ‘standing’ at the prow of the galley bringing him to Rome, is about to jump into the Tiber and swim across to the shore of the island where the temple is to be built. Other representations of the same event exist in a variety of formats (notably a famous relief on the island itself, shown below right), and they reflect a more general pictorial theme of the gods’ arrival in a given place. Above left is a famous 2nd c. AD mosaic in Cos that shows Asclepius setting foot on the shore of the island, with Hippocrates sitting there, to welcome him.

This month's coin is chosen by Dr. Caroline Petit, a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow in Classics at Warwick who works on ancient medicine.

(Coin image above reproduced courtesy of Baldwin's Auctions Ltd, New York Sale XXV, lot 185)

Clare Rowan : 02 Jun 2013 09:01 |  Tags: Coin Of The Month |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem