CIMRM 827 Denarius recut with inscription. St.

Albans,Britain
From:Verulamiummuseum:
Thiscouldbeaprotectiveamulet(luckycharm)oran
admissionpasstoatempleofMithras.....Ithasbeen
madebyrubbingoffsomeofthedetailsofanearlier
silvercoinoftheEmperorAugustus.

See Roger Beck, "Mithraism since Franz Cumont", ANRW 2,

p.2049:

Bothsides.

SeealsothisphotobyCaroleRaddato,2014.

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VerulamiumMuseumimage.

ImagebyRogerPearse,13082013.

Cautesand
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Thelion
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(Aion?)
Mithrasand
Phanes

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For"Phr",seeH.D.Betz,TheGreekmagicalpapyriintranslation,
vol.1.,p.338:
"Phre: See Ra." "Ra (Re, Phr): The Egyptian god
of the sun (P)r, without the definite article. Re
means simply 'sun', while Pr, the form of the god's
name from the New Kingdom onward, means 'the
sun'.SeeBonnet,RARG62630,s.v.'Re'."

Arimanius

Modern
myths:
"Mithrasand
Jesus"

Finally one should mention the most interesting

adaptation of a denarius of Augustus found at
Verulamium(CIMRM827)(Pl.XXII).Theobversehas
beenentirelyobliteratedandreplacedwiththeGreek
legend MITHRAS OROMASDES in a circle with PHREN
inthecentre,whilethesceneofTarpeiaoverwhelmed
with shields on the reverse has been left (without its
legend) as a representation of the rockbirth.
Presumablyitwasthechancesimilarityofmotifsthat
suggested the adaptation. The equation of Mithras
with Ohrmazd, the supreme Iranian god, is of course
highly significant, as is the use of what is most
probably the solar epithet from GraecoRoman magic
Phre(n).Unfortunately,though,onecannotgeneralise
to a universal Mithraic doctrine on the equation from
what may be just the speculation of a single rather
imaginativeinitiate.

Anexampleoftheoriginalcoin,1716B.C.,from
here.

827.

Round silver denarius of Augustus (diam. 0.022 w.

2.38 gr.), found in St. Albans under the walls of the
building IV, 1, dating from the second half of the
secondcenturyA.D.VerulamiumMuseum.

Anotherexampleoftheoriginalcoin.

Mattingly in Num. Chron. (S. V) XII, 1932, 54ff with fig.

Wheeler, Verulamium, 211ff No. 8 and Pl. LXVI Corder, Ver.
Mus.,17andfig.10.Seefig.22l.

"A silver denarius of Augustus, the reverse of which

borethefigureofTarpeiaoverwhelmedbytheSabine
shield,hadhaditslegendsmoothedaway.Inplaceof
the obverse a fresh inscription had been incised:
MIRAC ROMASDC, around a circle, and RHN
acrossthecentre,therepresentationofTarpeiabeing
lefttodepictthebirthofMithrasfromtherocks."
I.e.MITHRASOROMASDESandPHREN.
SeealsoSpockingFivesandaMithraictoken.Currencydefacement
ancientandmodern,4Mar2015,whichadds:

Ancientparallelsforthepracticedoexist,however.During
excavationsofaRomanbuildinginSt.AlbansinBritain
(ancientVerulamium),anobject(shownleft)wasfound
underBuildingIV(thefloordatedtothesecondcentury
AD).Itwasasilvercoin(denarius)thathadbeenaltered,
similartotheCanadiannoteabove.Thecoinhadoriginally
beenadenariusoftheemperorAugustusdatingfrom194
BC,showingtheportraitoftheemperorononeside,and
partofanancientRomanlegendontheother:Tarpeia
beingcrushedtodeathbyshields.Whatthecoinoriginally
wouldhavelookedlikeisshownbelow.

The writing on the coin (naming the moneyer

responsible)hasbeenerased,ashastheobverse.The
portrait of Augustus was removed, and instead a
Greeklegendwasinscribedonthecoin(RIB2408.2):
C CDHC (Mithras Oromoasdes
(Ormuzd) Phren). The edge of the coin is inscribed D
M (D(eo) M(ithrae)): 'To the God Mithras'. The coin
was thus converted into an object in honour of the
godMithras,agodwhichcametoRomefromtheEast
(Ormuzd was the chief Persian god, and Phren was
likely a sun god). The reason this coin in particular
was chosen for conversion was again because of its
imagery:mythtoldthatMithraswasbornfromarock,
andsotheimageofTarpeiabeingcrushedbyshields
couldeasilybereappropriatedintoanimageshowing
the deity's birth. The date of the find (well after the
coin was struck) suggests that the coin may have
been quite old when it was converted, though it still
will have been legal currency. The process of
conversion, however, would have meant that this
silver coin could no longer function as money in the
Romanworld.Theobjectthusrepresentsasacrificeof
wealth: Mattingly suggests it was perhaps a token to
gain admission to Mithraic worship, or to show
membershipofaparticularleveloftheMithraiccult.
Bibliography:H.Mattingly(1932)."AMithraictessera
fromVerulam."NumismaticChronicle12:547.