The teacher in question is a Catholic, and thus dislikes King Gustav for turning Sweden Lutheran. Oh, and apparently a bunch of his ancestors were slain when rebelling against King Gustav. This means the teacher hates King Gustav.

(We decided to crosspost this new lesson of the Latin Epigraphy series to r/AncientCoins, in the hope that both r/latin and r/AncientCoins find this interesting.)

Previous lesson.

Foreword

Since this series focuses on epigraphy, we thought it would be interesting to make a little detour via numismatics. Let it be known though, that we have never received formal training in this specific field, although we consider it a seriously and own a couple pieces.

Our goal is to help both Latinists and Numismatists read coins, and get information pertaining to their identification. You don’t necessarily need to speak Latin to understand most of the content.

More skilled numismatists should feel free to correct, comment, share resources, we will happily amend this lesson.

Numismatics

Numismatics, from the Latin word nomisma (“coin”), is “the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money and related objects”.

There is no definite boundary between numismatics and epigraphy, and there exists a rich relationship between the two. Reading the inscriptions found on coins has a lot in common with reading other kinds of supports, as we will see.

This lesson will focus on Roman coins.

Roman coins

Many types of coins were minted in the Roman empire, the most famous ones being probably the aureus (gold), as (bronze), sestertius (silver/brass) and denarius (silver). The last one had a lasting influence in many countries under different names either as a currency, or as a synonym for money (Italian ”denaro”, Arab “dinar”, Macedonian “denar”, French “denier”, Spanish “dinero”…). The word “mint” (and “money”) come from Juno Moneta, a Roman goddess, because the coins were originally produced in her temple in Rome.

Let’s look at the proverbial two sides of a coin.

One is the obverse, the front side or “heads'' since it often (but not always) displays the portrait of a god, a famous "politician", or, later, an emperor. The usual abbreviation for the obverse is O. Very often, especially in imperial coinage, it is surrounded b

The lousy weather, ongoing plague and work commitments made our sacred barbequeue a rather modest affair this year but I did jot down some prayers and had a stab at translating them into Latin for the ritual. Notes welcome from actual Latin scholars.

These were partially composed in the dream-state between waking and sleeping. I don't tend to get visions in dreams but occasionally when I sleep extremely lightly I am able to carry some of the content back into the waking world. The below invocations were hashed out in conversation between me and the hallucination of a former co-worker in a pub that no longer exists. Anyway, Ave Polyhymnia!

Previous lesson.

Imperial titulature

A great number of surviving inscriptions can be found on monuments dedicated to an emperor, or commissioned by them. They can seem difficult to read, but they are actually very regular, and give us a lot of information.

We will start with a typical imperial inscription, on a triumphal arch in Benevento, Italy (CIL 9, 1558).

IMP CAESARI, DIVI NERVAE FILIO
NERVAE·TRAIANO·OPTIMO·AVG
GERMANICO·DACICO·PONTIF·MAX·TRIB
POTEST·XVIII·IMP·VII·COS·VI·P·P
FORTISSIMO·PRINCIPI·SENATVS·P·Q·R

This looks long and complicated, but the structure is actually very simple. The inscription accumulates the titles of the honored emperor, something also called their titulature. This will give us their name, and very often help us date the monuments. It ends with the nominative Senatus P Q R, an interesting variation of SPQR where Senatus is plainly written, but Populus isn’t, for “some” reason.

Let’s now look at the titulature. It is as usual written in the dative form.

IMP(eratori) CAESARI, DIVI NERVAE FILIO / NERVAE TRAIANO

To the imperator Caesar, son of the divine Nerva, Nerva Trajan.

This is therefore the Arch of Trajan. There is nothing difficult, but let’s remark the first NERVAE is a genitive, corresponding to Trajan’s adoptive father, Nerva, and the second NERVAE is a dative because Trajan had taken the same name after his adoption. FILIO was also not abbreviated, contrary to what we have seen so far.

From here, we have a list of all his titles. Latin will not be enough, and we will need to know Trajan’s life a little bit.

OPTIMO AVG(usto)

[To] the greatest August

Germanico Dacico

Germanicus [winner of the Germans] Dacicus [winner of the Daces]

Pontif(ici) Max(imo)

Pontifex Maximus

TRIB(unicia) / POTEST(ate)·XVIII·IMP(eratori)·VII·CO(n)S(uli)·VI·P(atri)·P(atriae)

[tribune](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribune_of_the_plebs#Erosion_of_the_tr

The first lesson can be found here.

Public buildings

This is another famous category of epigraphs: Roman temples, triumphal arches, and even bridges proudly display big finely chiseled capitals that unfortunately modern tourists don’t understand—but you will!

Arches and temples were often built to honor a god or an emperor. As such they are dedications, and closely resemble funerary inscriptions. One can read on a famous Roman triumphal arch the following inscription (CIL 6, 945):

SENATUS
POPVLVSQVE·ROMANVS
DIVO·TITO·DIVI·VESPASIANI·F  
VESPASIANO·AVGVSTO

A map of Rome will of course indicate to whom the arch was dedicated, but it is easy to find out ourselves. Just like in tombstones, we should look at the dative: DIVO TITO VESPASIANO AVGVSTO. The problem is, both Vespasian and Titus had these praenomen and cognomen. This is where the embedded genitive DIVI VESPASIANI F will prove useful. The Titus Vespasianus of the arch dedication is the son (remember: F) of another Vespasianus who was also divus: emperors were most of the time deified after their death. It can only be the emperor we now know as Titus. This is the Arch of Titus.

SENATVS POPVLVSQUE ROMANVS, famously abbreviated as SQPR, is a nominative. There is no verb. It is implicit: they “did” it. They are the ones who erected the arch as a gift to Titus. In some inscriptions, the verbs is explicit: FEC(it), CVR(auit), RESTITVIT, DEDICAVIT, ORN(auit), RENOVAVIT, REPARAVIT, etc. and of course conjugates to -erunt if the subject is plural. Another frequent abbreviation is EX S C, for ex senatus consulto: (it was done) because a senatus consultum had been issued.

We will pause a little bit here. Although the example above is quite easy, dedications to emperors are sometimes very complex and will be the topic of a separated lesson. Emperors are often accompanied by their titles (Germanicus, Dacicus, Britannicus…) and their titles (Consul, Pater Patriae, Tribune…). This is why the inscriptions can be very long, but

Phil

Sudden Lee

Go post NSFW jokes somewhere else. If I can't tell my kids this joke, then it is not a DAD JOKE.

If you feel it's appropriate to share NSFW jokes with your kids, that's on you. But a real, true dad joke should work for anyone's kid.

Mods... If you exist... Please, stop this madness. Rule #6 should simply not allow NSFW or (wtf) NSFL tags. Also, remember that MINORS browse this subreddit too? Why put that in rule #6, then allow NSFW???

Please consider changing rule #6. I love this sub, but the recent influx of NSFW tagged posts that get all the upvotes, just seem wrong when there are good solid DAD jokes being overlooked because of them.

Thank you,

A Dad.

So far nobody has given me a straight answer

..... Will get a reward.

Well, toucan play at that game.

Windows

Martin Freeman, and Andy Serkis.

They also play roles in Lord of the Rings.

I guess that makes them the Tolkien white guys.

She said apple-lutely

'Eye-do'

This is my first post pls don't kill me lol.

The people in the comment section is why I love this subreddit!!

Cred once again my sis wants credit lol

Keep in mind, my son is 4 years old, so everything is an original to him.

I had to work late into the evening yesterday, and he was just going to bed when I got home. I had left home for the office nearly 14 hours prior, had a long day, lots of meetings, traffic, etc.

When I walked through the door, I was exhausted, run down, and starving. My wife hugged me and asked how my day was, and I replied, "Done. It was a good day, but has got me exhausted. I just want to grab a bite and go to bed. I'm hungry."

From my son's bedroom, I hear him shout, "Hi Hungry! Nice to meet you!"

Not only did it make me laugh, but I completely forgot about how hungry and tired I was. I went to his bedroom, and we laughed together about it. It was exactly what I needed.

Edit: Thanks for all the awards, kind strangers! I'll let my son know y'all enjoyed his joke too!

I heard parents named their children lance a lot.

First post please don't kill me

Edit: i went to sleep and now my inbox is dead, thank you kind strangers for the awards!

Japan.

To get to the... Bottom...

(as told by my 5yo son, I'm so proud)

"No, the regular kind!" I laughed.

second hand stores!

it's Hans free now..

Old Neeeeiiiiighvy

In 1759, the American Latin teacher Nathaniel Gardner wrote a poem, "The Teacher," in which he praised and described the task of teaching the classics. This poem is a rich historical resource for reconstructing the attitude of early American educators, as well as curricular content and the unfolding of a typical school day. Particularly noteworthy is the thorough Christianization of classical education.

Here are some excerpts I think may be of interest:

Surgunt, ecce, scholae, collegia, templa per urbes

saevities qua olim late imperitaverat agris,

oppida religio et laetum caput extulit inter.

...

Qui formet pueros paucis schola nostra monebo.

Paeniteat tantum versare modosque loquendi

et genus et nomen, quaecunque et Lillius egit.

Majus opus moveam interdum, et majora laborem!

Interdum doceam quid turpeque quidque decorum,

quo sit amore parens, sacrum quo numen amandum,

quae neglecta quidem et pueris senibusque nocerent.

Est tantae molis pueriles fingere mentes!

Mane scholam petimus quum sepitma ducitur hora.

...

Principio Deus ille parens in vota vocatur,

qui genti humanae corpusque animumque creavit,

qui formae totique suos afflavit honores,

conceptum mentis qui conscius inspicit omnem

necdum formatum, cunctos aperitque recessus.

Jam prece finita, lecto sermone Deique,

diversis studiis incumbunt protinus omnes.

Prima abs classe novum legitur nunc foedus Iesu;

sic Christus chartae et Graiae discuntur in unum:

purius et latices ipso de fonte bibuntur.

...

Ethnica nunc pueros quoque pagina lecta juvabit

Graecia quam retulit vel quam Romana vetustas.

...

Detinet interdum numerosus Horatius aures

ille tuus, tu quem sequeris prope passibus aequis.

...

Nunc, en! Caesar adest, de stirpe creatus Iuli,

Marte ac Mercurio pollens et utraque Minerva.

Exarat is calamo quae fortia gesserat ense,

artibus an melior dubium dicatur an armis.

Ipse virum, Caesar, victor per et ora volasses

dilectus, modo si dira ambitione careres.

Ambitione, Iuli! quo te perduxit iniquum?

Ut Bruti gladium persensit pectus amici!

"Et tu, mi Brute!"

...

Allicit et pueros comoedia pura Terenti;

pagina te appello non usquam purior extat.

...

Exercet magnus pueros nunc Tullius ille,

ille pater patriae, Romanae gloria linguae,

laude omni major, Romanae gloria gentis;

quid verum atque decens, quid

A buck-an-ear!

I Thank ye kind Matey for the booty! I be truly overwhelmed! Thank you!

Holy cow! Thank you everyone for the upvotes and awards! I wasn’t expecting this!

and not:

Salvete!

Part of the game material of one of our Catan games are these coins. I transcribed them and had these ideas:

Small coin:

>FLIVL CONSTANTIVS NOBC
>
>CAESS PROVIDENTIAE / DSIS

FLIVL CONSTANTIVS should refer to Flavius Iulius Constantius.

Could NOBC be the same as "NC" for Nobilissimus Caesar?

CAESS could mean caesar. What does the 2nd s do?

PROVIDENTIAE is from providentia.

What does DSIS mean?

Bigger coin:

>IMP DIOCLETIANVS PFAVG
>
>SACRA MONET AVGG ET AESS NOSTA SIS

IMP should be for imperator and DIOCLETIANVS was an emperor again.

What could PFAVG mean? AVG for Augustus. And the PF? Is it maybe a PP and stands for Pater Patriae or has someone a better idea?

SACRA MONET[A] translates to sacred money.

AVGG for Augustus? What does the 2nd g do?

[C]AESS NOSTA means our caesar? Again: two s?

And what does SIS stand for?

I have no problems with translating the few words by myself but maybe someone could help me with these abbreviations. ^^ Thanks!

He should have a good vowel movement. His next diaper change could spell disaster though.

Like: Imperator Ceasar Marcus Aurelius Severus Antonius Pius Felix Augustus Parthicus Britannicus Germanicus Pontifex Maximus Tribuniciae Potesatis XX Imperator 3 Consul 4 Pater Patriae

10+10 is twenty and 11+11 is twenty too