The rape of Britannia

I shall be rather sad if Britannia does indeed, as the Prime Minister plans, disappear from British coins. After all, it’s part of the point of a modern coin design that it should include some hoary old symbol that is simultaneously easily recognisable and also not fully comprehensible (or not comprehensible without a bit of research, anyway).

After all one of the Greek Euros has the Rape of Europa on it:  a frisky bull, about to run off with -- and worse – an innocent young maid. (Imagine what the New Labour moral police would have done with that one.) And what on earth was that little bird on the old farthing. Was it a wren or a robin? And why?

So Britannia fits the bill rather nicely. An appropriately antique goddess, invented by the Romans, as a symbol of their new province, and used on British coins since the seventeenth century. If she goes, I don’t hold out much hope, long term, for that nice bit of Virgil (decus et tutamen -- from Aeneid Book V) around the pound coin. I have a sneaking suspicion that Mr Brown isn’t much of a fan of Latin.

But while the traditionalists lament Britannia’s disappearance, they might like to reflect on her first appearance in Roman art. As rape victim of the doddery old emperor Claudius.

She is first used on a coin under the emperor Hadrian in the second century CE, sitting on her usual rock. But her premiere, so far as we know, was on a large building put up in the town of Aphrodisias (in modern Turkey, not all that far from Ephesus): the so called “Sebasteion”, a building complex of temple and porticoes, probably finished in the reign of the emperor Nero, and dedicated to Aphrodite and the Roman emperors/gods (the ‘sebastoi’ in Greek).

It’s loaded with sculpture (in fact Aphrodisias, which is still being excavated, is the place where some of  the best ancient sculpture has been discovered over the last few decades). There are personifications of the tribes and peoples of the Roman empire, scenes from myth (from Leda and the Swan to Orestes at Delphi). And then there are more specifically Roman images. One panel shows a heroically nude emperor Claudius shaking hands with his wife (and murderess, if you believe the stories) Agrippina. Another (on the right) has Agrippina crowning her son Nero with a laurel wreath.

Yet another is the Britannia panel (seen at the top). Claudius, naked again apart from a bit of weaponry is about to do something very nasty to a sprawling Britannia, whom he’s pulling back by her flowing hair. She’s dressed in a tunic already falling away from her breasts, and some little barbarian boots. We know it’s Claudius and Britannia because there’s an inscription going with it that names them both.

As a commemoration of Claudius' conquest of Britain, it's about as classic a version of the erotics of military victory as you could wish for. And it goes with another panel from the monument, which is an even more titillating picture of Nero having his way with Armenia (left).

It’s a useful antidote to the confident, bellicose Britannia, ruling the waves on British coins. She who is victor was once victim; empires rise and fall; power comes and goes.

Of course it’s exactly these ambivalences and mixed messages that make such old classical symbols so good for the coinage. Pity we cant celebrate that, rather than just chuck them out.

Comments

[Breast Enhancement]

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[Michael Igoe]

Back we go again to the reductio ad absurdum. So the centuries-old Britannia is set to vanish? Joe Public, it seems, doesn't understand it. Did anyone ask JP?
Impressive coin, the Europa 2 Euro coin in Greece. The single Euro is impressive too, with just the same design as after Marathon in 490. Is UK J.P. thought more stupid than Greek J.P? It seems, though, we're back to 'Cool Britannia' again. At least my own suggestion for a replacement for Britannia, a portrait of Guy Fawkes, was broadcast on radio. Next (possibly) to go is Decus et Tutamen? Not surprising: neither present nor past chancellor could be so described. Has somebody told them what it means, and left them embarrassed?

[Tony Francis]

It seems the variations of the "Rape of Britannia" theme are political art. They picture political leaders unrealistically, as a "cult of personality". Compare with "socialist realism" and the "Cultural Revolution" art styles.
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_realism
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_revolution
Look at propaganda through the centuries:
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda
Note Britannia is not being raped by Uncle Sam, but they are arm in arm. I guess they are dating. Is art possible without making a political comment? Was Mao a communist dictator, or the last Chinese Emperor? Is the only legitimate role of art to further the political aims of the state?

[Tony Francis]

Casinos in the Northeast US have their own tokens for use in slot machines. A clever forger made his own slugs which looked and weighed the same as the casino's. He would play the slots, and cash in the tokens he won. I wonder why he didn't just cash in his own homemade chips? The machines will only return about 93 cents on the dollar, on average. He was caught in 1998, and served about 2 years. He was caught again in 2006. I heard he had made over $16 million with this scam. He was caught because he could never get the metal alloy duplicated, so I was told. He had the metal analyzed, but could never reproduce it. Note how much it looks like the Euro design:
http://www.beloblog.com/ProJo_Blogs/newsblog/archives/2006/11/police_pawtucke_1.html
A man was arrested in Baltimore at a Best Buy for trying to pay his bill with $2 bills. The clerks didn't know this was legal tender, and had him arrested. The police apparently didn't know this, either.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43685

[Tony Francis]

The $2 bill is a handsome currency.
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_two_dollar_bill
These are mainly found around race tracks that accept $2 bets. The largest currency (since 1969) is the $100 bill featuring Benjamin Franklin. This has given rise to variations of "show me the Benjamins". It was supposed to cut down on crime to have this be the largest currency. It takes 10,000 bills to make a million dollars. A study showed that most $100 bills have traces of cocaine on them:
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_one_hundred-dollar_bill
In the old days, there was a $100,000 bill, along with other large currency:
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_denominations_of_United_States_currency
Joke stores have sold $1,000,000 bills which have occassionally been passed for legitimate currency. One woman was arrested in a Walmart in Georgia trying to pay a tab with a million dollar bill:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4489683/

The two-dollar bill is jolly handsome too. I keep one in my wallet all the time when I am in the U.S. of A..

[Tony Francis]

Unlike the Euro, recent efforts to make a US Dollar coin have been met with little enthusiasm. The idea was to eliminate the paper $1 bill, but this has not been successful. The Eisenhower Dollar was easily confused with the Kennedy Half Dollar. The Susan B. Anthony Dollar never caught on, and was disparaged as the "Suzie". The only time I ever saw this coin was once when I got one in change. I didn't know what it was. It is about the size of a quarter, and easily confused as the same. I have never seen a Sacagawea Dollar. Now they are talking of issuing a dollar coin based on the presidents. All these coins are just too heavy to lug around.
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_%28United_States_coin%29
My favorite of these is the Peace Dollar which is a beautiful coin in mint condition. Most are badly worn. None are in circulation any more.
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_dollar
The US quarter dollar is by far the most common one encountered in commerce. There has been a ten year program to commemorate all 50 states (5 states a year) with its own coin. The Kansas quarter is unispired. The other choice was an American Indian shooting a bow and arrow to the stars. It would have made a better coin, but high school kids were given the choice and they made the prosaic one.
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_state_quarters
Some of the designs are really striking:
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_State_Quarters_designs

[Tony Francis]

FG and Jenny are correct: The Italian Commemorative 2005 Two Euro coin features Europa and Zeus as a Bull:
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E2%82%AC2_commemorative_coins
Spain issued a a Ten Euro Silver coin in 2003 with Europa and the Bull:
http://www.blackmountaincoins.com/p/BMC/c-/2003_ESP_01186.html
So called "Nordic Gold" is really a euphemism for a mixture of 89% copper, 5% aluminum, 5% zinc and 1% tin, but no gold.
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_coins
The identifying marks on the Euro are plethoric:
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identifying_marks_on_euro_coins

My favorite US coins are half dollars. The Kennedy, Franklin and Walking Libery are beautiful coins. The half dollar is rarely seen in commerce, having been replaced by the quarter.
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_dollar_%28United_States_coin%29

http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_Half_Dollar

The Walking Liberty hasn't been minted since 1947. Most are badly worn, but in mint condition, it is beautiful.
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_Liberty_Half_Dollar
The Ben Franklin is also a striking coin, but was superceded by the Kennedy Half Dollar.
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Half_Dollar

[F.Gamberini]

Jenny:
actually you're right, and I'm the one who has to apologize for my efficientist manner: on this blog we never fail to learn something new. It was an Italian E2 commemorative coin issued in 2005 (rather hastily) on the 1st anniversary of the signing of the European Constitution. Like all other Euros it can be seen on the ECB website ("E2 commemorative coins"):
http://www.ecb.int/bc/euro/coins/comm/html/comm_2005.en.html.
Once again the image was engraved by a woman.

[F.Gamberini]

Dear Tony Francis:
the format of Euro coins is common to all participating contries; the metallic composition is given in the description of the common sides in the ECB website
(http://www.ecb.int/bc/euro/coins/common/html/index.en.html).
The 50, 20, and 10c coins which appear to be gold are made from an alloy indeed called "Nordic gold" -see under "Security Features": "The material of the 10, 20 and 50 cent coins is a unique alloy (Nordic gold), which is difficult to melt and used exclusively for coins".

[Jenny]

I know the Greeks have Europa on their coins, but there's one other country that did, and that's what I can't remember! The (100% reliable) website I got it from has taken all their links down, but there's a picture on wiki that looks like it's an Italian special edition one or something. Sorry for the red herring everyone.

[Michael Bulley]

It looks as if Britain could keep decus et tutamen if it wanted to, when it finally takes the plunge and adopts the euro. I've just spread my loose change in front of me and I see that, whereas the French 2 euro has no writing on the rim, the Netherlands one has. I also notice that, among these 30 or so coins, at least two nations are represented for each denomination. So that's another good thing about the euro: it puts internationalism into practice. I can go out tomorrow and buy things in the town with the solid metal currency of half a dozen countries all mixed together. Pax Romana the second!

[Tony Francis]

Dear F Gamberini: the site concerning Italian coinage shows the 2 Euro piece to be a gold center with the image of Dante Alighieri, surrounded by a silver rim. The 1 Euro has the Da Vinci image in a silver metal surrounded by gold. The 10 cent Botticelli appears to be gold. The one, two and five cent pieces appear to be copper. Do you have any idea what these metals really are?

[F.Gamberini]

Mary's article had already pointed out the Europa on the Greek Euro coinage. And I don't know what all this is about "all Western govts., etc" -I have just been saying that all the Italian Euros are Italian-themed, and if you look at the coinage of the other Euro countries on the ECB website (http://www.ecb.int/bc/euro/coins/2euro/html/index.en.html)
you will see that all countries have opted for their own national themes on the national sides of the coins.
Interesting, in view of Mary's article, are the French cents, which depict Marianne (caption for the smallest denominations: "1, 2 and 5-cent coins: these depict a young, feminine Marianne with determined features that embody the desire for a sound and lasting Europe. The design was the work of Fabienne Courtiade, an engraver from the Paris Mint") and the Austrian 2E coin, which depicts the pacifist Bertha von Suttner (1843-1914).

[Gary Blyth]

This is typical of all Western governments since the 1950's! All politicians no matter what particular party seem to be intent on destroying our civilizations and their histories as soon as possible without the public knowing.

[Eileen]

It is the Greeks who put the Rape of Europa on one of their euro coins.

[FG]

The Italian Euros,as shown on the Bank of Italy's website, are all Italian-themed (http://www.bancaditalia.it/bancomonete/monete/facceit;internal&action=_setlanguage.action?LANGUAGE=en).
The equestrian figure you can see there represents the statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitol.

[Jenny]

Looks like the coin was probably Italy actually.

[Jenny]

There's one other European country that opted for Europa on its coins. Something's telling me it was France, but I researched this all for a quiz last year and it's a little hazy. I'll go look it up and come back...

[arindam bandyopadhaya]

Zeus the champion fornicator, had taken the shape of a bull and ran away with the unsuspecting Europa on his back. Women's breasts were then a delight to behold unlike those of today's, with or without silicones.

Regards

Arindam

[anthony alcock]

One of my students, an amateur numismatist, has just told me that the writing on the outer edge of a coin is to decorate it (decus) and to protect its integrity (tutamen).
I've always thought that the passage in Virgil was mickey-taking: this is what you get if you come second, on the lines of "The first prize is a week in Butlins, the second prize is two weeks."

[anthony alcock]

Decus et tutamen: It might have been thought of by someone who'd been at Imperial College, London.

[Xjy]

Boudicca, Godiva, Matilda, Castlemaine, Emily Brontë, Eleanor Marx and Christine Keeler on future coins and notes, please!

[Tom Benford]

Oh dear! I think that Oliver Nicholson must be right, and I was wrong. Something new learned every day.

[Chas S. Clifton]

Why did ancient sculptors do such a poor job with women's breasts? It is as though they anticipated today's fake-looking breast-enhancement surgery.