The rostral crown, made of gold, and resembling the prows of gallies connect ed, was exhibited by Agrippa on his coins, who also appears in the mural, as signed to those that distinguished theta selves in first scaling the walls of a besieg ed city; the crown of oak branches, con sidered as a civic one, was adjudged to him who saved the life or lives of citi zens; this frequently appeared on re verses, and particularly on the coins of Galba. Grecian princes adopted the crown of laurel, and added it to the dia dem; and the kings of Parthia wore dra pery folded round the head, and over their hair, curled in several ranges. The kings of Armenia had the tiara, the an cient eastern badge of imperial power ; and Juba, the father, is shown in a conic cap set with pearls.
The vanity of the successors of Alexan der the Great was conspicuous in each of their emblems, which induced them to take the lion's skin of Hercules; the horn, as a badge of their power, or probably as an intimation that they were the succes sors of the pretended son of Jupiter Am mon ; and the wing, as a symbol of the rapidity of their military successes, or their descent from Mercury ; the helmet is besides sometimes perceived on the heads of coins, particularly in the instan ces of Alexander and Constantine I.
The Grecian queens have the diadem, and the generality of those of Egypt the sceptre ; in some cases placed near the upper part of the head, and in others transversely behind the neck ; hut the Roman empresses never had the diadem the most remarkable part of the head dress of the ladies of the latter nation, was the golden ornament called the sphendona, worn on the crown of the head, and sufficiently large to be noticed on a medal; the hair was dressed as fash ion dictated, and the emblematic figure of a crescent sometimes accompanied the bust of an empress.
When the toga is exhibited drawn over the head, the person so represented bore the pontificate or the augurship ; the veil, the sign of consecration, is common on the coins of empresses ; but those coins are rare and valuable on which emperors are presented in this manner. The more modern saints have now usurped the nimbus or glory with which ancient mo narchs adorned their heads. "Haver camp gives a singular coin, which has upon the reverse of the common piece, with the head of Rome, vans-noNA, in large brass, Constantine I. sitting amid victories, and genii, with a triple crown upon his head, for Europe, Asia, and Afri ca : legend SECVILITAS nom.m." The most usual method of exhibiting portraits on ancient coins was by the bust; but there are instances of half lengths, and even more, of the person, in which case the hands are frequently introduced holding emblems of power.
The reverses of medals present an in finite variety of subjects ; consequently they afford a proportionate degree of pleasure in the study of them ; indeed there is scarcely any peculiarity in the manners, dresses, or religion of the an ients, Which they do not serve to illus trate and explain; the habits and symbols of their deities, the allegorical allusions common to their time, their religious ceremonies, the insignia of their magis trates, are given with so much truth, that, added to the historical events they were intended to record, it is impossible to feel indifferent when viewing them ; ex clusive of these, they furnish matter for curiosity, as sketches of various branches of natural history, by the representations of animals and plants.
A sufficient number of medals has been preserved, of each age, to observe the progress of taste in decorating them, and it appears that the most ancient are with out any other mark on the reverse, be yond the indenting of the instrument on which the metal was supported when im pressing the obverse ; those are four points calculated to secure it firmly : the deformity thus occasioned did not pass unnoticed by the artist and his employer, and invention suggested the insertion of small fish or animals between the points, which were gradually improved upon, till the difficulty was entirely removed, and the figures became beautiful, correct, and highly-finished performances, that will bear critical examination, even fur nishing studies for the proportions and muscles of men and animals. The re verses of some Greek medals of great an tiquity are concave, and the obverses in a few instances are convex, and the time at which the engravers of their dies be came adepts in their art, and capable of making a complete reverse, was about 500 veers before Christ. The Romans, sensible of their inferiority to the Greeks in this particular, had the good sense to invite skilful persons to Rome, where they executed the best Roman medals, and taught the artists of that nation to emulate their excellence. None of the above, or Etruscan coins, have been dis covered, which are globular, or with an indented reverse similar to , those al ready mentioned ; the earliest Greek specimens are universally of silver, whereas the Roman are of copper, cast in moulds, and large, in which they great ly differ from the diminutive size of the Greek.