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Theta- the symbol of death

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Victor:
This coin is from the 9th workshop, but rather than use Θ (theta), which is Greek for nine, the engraver used delta (Greek for 4) and epsilon (Greek for 5) which add up to nine. Theta was considered by some to be the symbol of death, so it was best to avoid using it.

There are other examples of this practice, however, on some LRB’s, Θ is used to denote a workshop, so perhaps there was an overly superstitious supervisor at Antioch during this period.


The second picture (courtesy of wikipedia) shows a mosaic from the Villa Borghese in which dead gladiators have a symbol (a sloppy theta) below their names to show that they are dead.



Constantine I
A.D. 327- 328
18x19mm     3.2gm
CONSTAN-TINVS AVG; head with rosette diadem.
PROVIDEN-TIAE AVGG; camp gate with two turrets and star between them, in left delta and right epsilon.
in ex. SMANTE
RIC VII Antioch 78

tjaart:
Thanks for that Victor. Very interesting. I always wondered about the delta and epsilon on some of my campgates.

Any reason they didn't use say gamma and S?

Tjaart

Victor:

--- Quote from: tjaart on April 06, 2015, 10:53:25 AM ---Any reason they didn't use say gamma and S?

--- End quote ---

That's a good question, but I don't know why they chose delta and epsilon. Perhaps there was some symbolism associated.

Genio popvli romani:

--- Quote from: Victor on April 06, 2015, 09:56:55 AM --- Theta was considered by some to be the symbol of death, so it was best to avoid using it.

--- End quote ---

Probably because Thêta is the first letter of greek Thanatos (Θάνατος/ Death) who was rarely named because of the fear that something bad would happen.

Alisdair:
Thanks Victor, fascinating stuff. On the other hand, the Thessalonica issues of the VRBS ROMA type often have a Theta on the wolf's shoulder. Maybe the mint officials were less suspicious in Thessalonica!

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