The State Grants No Quarter to Freedom

The State Grants No Quarter to Freedom

To promote his own divinity, the Roman emperor Commodus issued coins with his image in the lion-skin headdress of Hercules on one side, and the bow, club, and quiver of Hercules on the reverse. So that the message would not be lost on anyone, an inscription on the reverse dedicated the coin “to the August Roman Hercules.”[1]

History has a proxy in coinage, whether it’s deliberately conveying the fantasies of rulers or subtly reflecting the prevailing sentiments of a people. If symbolism, inscriptions, and metallurgical content convey meanings, what story is told by an examination of the United States’ coinage?

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