Ma-Shops: Jupiter On Coins.

Roman Coinage - Jupiter / Greek equivalent Zeus
The first god I want to discuss is Jupiter. I came to the conclusion when I started to investigate the coins on MA-Shops with Jupiter on it, that almost 1500 coins have a iconographic reference to Jupiter.
To be honest I was little surprised, I know that Jupiter was an important god on Roman coins but that such a big part of all the Roman coins on MA-Shop have a reference to Jupiter amazed me. It is possible that it reflect the amount of coins minted with Jupiter on them but to make that conclusion I should do more research.
Jupiter can be seen on coins since the beginning of the Roman coinage until the appearance of Christianity.

Jupiter in the Roman period
Jupiter was above all the king of the gods in the Roman period. Besides this he was also the god of the sky and of course the god of thunder. On a lot of coins he has a thunderbolt in his hand. For example on this Aureus of Hadrian. Here he has a thunderbolt in his right hand. Besides the thunderbolt he wears a cloak and has a sceptre in his left hand. The sceptre refers to his upper status. This was normally a symbol of a ruling monarch but it was now the symbol of the ruling god. Jupiter was the equivalent of the Greek god Zeus. On a lot of Greek coins you can detect Zeus as well. For example on the many Tetradrachms and Drachms of Alexander the Great. Zeus is here seated on a throne.

Jupiter with the Roman emperor
On a lot of Roman coins and medals we see Jupiter in combination with the emperor himself. The question is why does the emperor illustrate himself in this way? For example we see this by this fantastic medallion below. On the reserve we see Jupiter and flanked to him Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. What Marcus Aurelius tries to do is to legitimate himself and his co-emperor Lucius Verus. He shows this to illustrate himself and the co-emperor side by side with Jupiter. In this way is seems that Jupiter gave his approval to this emperors to rule over Rome.

Visit the website for more Jupiter Coins in this category: https://ma-shops.com/s/mc122

Written by Joël van Dam, Owner of Joëlnumismatics.

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