| DOMITIAN AE orichalcum quadrans. Struck circa 83 AD. Double-horned
Rhinoceros walking right. Reverse - IMP DOMIT AVG GERM around SC. 16mm, 1.8g. A rare and popular type, much less often found with rhino
advancing right instead of left.
Struck to commemorate the
opening of the Colosseum a few years prior. According to Martialis, a
single white or black rhinoceros was brought to Rome for the inaugural
games of the Colosseum - one of the only times in pre-modern history
that a Rhino was successfully transported and showcased in Europe. The
spectacle rivaled that of the single giraffe Julius Caesar had brought
over for his victory games over a hundred years prior, in 46 BC. A
famous frieze in the Temple of Vespasian and Titus shows the rhino
facing off against a bull.
"...at length the
fury we once knew returned. For with his double horn he tossed a heavy
bear as a bull tosses dummies from his head to the stars. [With how sure
a stroke does the strong hand of Carpophorus, still a youth, aim the
Norcian spears!] He lifted two steers with his mobile neck, to him
yielded the fierce buffalo and the bison. A panther fleeing before him
ran headlong upon the spears" - Martialis |
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