Tiberius' Cucumbers

Wandering again from Sulla, and the Roman republic, I stumbled on a debate amongst botanists about Tiberius' favorite food. The ancient coins for today feature the emperor Tiberius. The two coins that began these notes were issued in Roman provinces. The first coin was issued during his reign in the Iberian peninsula, in what is now Spain. Tiberius was the second emperor, followed by Caligula, then Claudius.

SPAIN, Calagurris, C. Celer and C. Rectus duoviri, AE As, 14-37 AD

Obv: TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS, laureate head of Tiberius right

Rev: C CELERE M C I RECTO, bull right; to right, II / VIR

The second coin was issued under the fifth Julio-Claudian emperor, Nero, in Alexandria, Egypt. This coin comes with a puzzling question: "Why would Nero issue coins with a reverse of Tiberius?", theories include:

• The legend was once read as referring to Claudius, whose full name was Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. RPC identifies the portrait as Tiberius, and Nero's year 13 issues include separate types inscribed ΚΛΑΥΔΙΟΣ ΚΑΙΣΑΡ for Claudius, so the two men are distinguished within the same series.

• Nero associates himself with Tiberius and Augustus as a reinforcement of his divine right to power

• Nero issues coins with Augustus and Tiberius to reinforce the continuation of philhellenic policy of these first emperors

Roman Provincial Coinage (RPC) notes that this may have been a response to demonetization of the coins of Tiberius and the purpose to maintain his portrait in circulation.

Roman Provincial, Egypt, Alexandria, Nero, AD 54-68, BI Tetradrachm, dated RY 13 (AD 66/67)

Obv: NEPΩ KΛAV KAIΣ ΣEB ΓEP AV, radiate bust of Nero left, wearing aegis; L IΓ (date) before

Rev: TIBEPIOΣ KAIΣAP, laureate head of Tiberius right

Ref: Köln 187-9; Dattari (Savio) 185; RPC v.1 5295

This span from Egypt to Spain is a reminder of the scale of Roman rule in the Mediterranean. From here my notes take a detour with a comment from Pliny. He describes the development of farming practices to satisfy the demands of the emperor. The cucumber is often described as a favorite vegetable of Tiberius and as the reason the first forcing frames were built. A wheeled bed, roofed on cold days with frames of lapis specularis, a translucent form of gypsum quarried in Spain and cut into thin sheets, was an innovative solution to supply the emperor with his favorite food year-round.

"XXIII. Belonging to the class of Cartilaginous vegetables: the cucumber. plants and growing on the surface of the ground is the cucumber, a delicacy for which the emperor Tiberius had a remarkable partiality; in fact there was never a day on which he was not supplied with it, as his kitchen-gardeners had cucumber beds mounted on wheels which they moved out into the sun and then on wintry days withdrew under the cover of frames glazed with transparent stone."
-Pliny, Natural History, Book XIX, 23 (Latin)​

There is scholarly debate on the true plant behind the latin vengetable "cucumis". In an article entitled "What the Roman emperor Tiberius grew in his greenhouses" Paris & Janick attempt to set the record straight:

"We believe the almost universal association of cucumber with the cucumis of Pliny and Columella, the sikyos hemeros of Dioscorides, and the qishu’im of Hebrew scripture and commentary results from mistranslations, misattributions, and wrong assumptions."
Paris & Janick, Cucurbitaceae 2008, Proceedings of the IXth EUCARPIA meeting on genetics and breeding of Cucurbitaceae (Pitrat M, ed), INRA, Avignon (France), May 21-24th, 2008

BNF Latin 6823 14th Century, Manfredus de Monte Imperiali, Liber de herbis et plantis

Paris & Janick offer compelling evidence from ancient mosaics and descriptions by Pliny, Dioscorides, and Columella, with the hairy exterior and variety of shapes being key attributes that are not a good to fit with cucumbers vs. melons. They conclude that the plant was the snake melon, Cucumis melo subsp. melo Flexuosus Group, grown today across the eastern Mediterranean as faqqous. Perhaps it is time to recognize the snake melon as the favorite food of the emperor Tiberius. C. melo comes in many shapes and sizes as illustrated in this picture from the an article in the Journal of Experimental Botany on genetics and morphology:

Addendum - 4/27/2024

Given the inspirations for these notes are ancient coins, perhaps it would be appropriate to end with this coin from Tiberius. This type often referred to as the "tribute penny" from the Bible where Jesus tells the Pharisees and Herodians in the Gospel of Matthew (22:15-22) English Standard Version to "render to Caesar":

“Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him [Jesus]in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.”

This is the coin most commonly associated with this quote (although there are other candidates - see more on this at Forvm Ancient Coins).

Tiberius, 14-37, AR denarius (18mm, 3.61g), group 4, Lugdunum

Obv: TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS, laureate head of Tiberius to right

Rev: PONTIF MAXIM, a seated female figure, usually identified as Livia in the guise of Pax, seated right on a chair with ornate legs, holding long scepter in her right hand and olive branch in her left, her feet set on footstool

Ref: BMC 48. Cohen 16. Giard 150. RIC 30

Notes: this coin was given as a gift by Howard to Loretta, Christmas 1972

References

• The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001.

• Pliny the Elder. Natural History, Volume V: Books 17–19. Translated by H. Rackham. Loeb Classical Library 371. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1950.

• Avital, Anat, and Harry S. Paris. "Cucurbits Depicted in Byzantine Mosaics from Israel, 350–600 CE." Annals of Botany 114, no. 2 (2014): 203–22.

• Burnett, Andrew, Michel Amandry, and Pere Pau Ripollès. Roman Provincial Coinage. Vol. 1, From the Death of Caesar to the Death of Vitellius (44 BC–AD 69). London: British Museum Press; Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, 1992.

• Monforte, Antonio J., Aurora Diaz, Ana Caño-Delgado, and Esther van der Knaap. "The Genetic Basis of Fruit Morphology in Horticultural Crops: Lessons from Tomato and Melon." Journal of Experimental Botany 65, no. 16 (2014): 4625–37.

• Paris, Harry S., Marie-Christine Daunay, and Jules Janick. "Medieval Herbal Iconography and Lexicography of Cucumis (Cucumber and Melon, Cucurbitaceae) in the Occident, 1300–1458." Annals of Botany 108, no. 3 (2011): 471–84.

• Paris, Harry S., and Jules Janick. "What the Roman Emperor Tiberius Grew in His Greenhouses." In Cucurbitaceae 2008: Proceedings of the IXth EUCARPIA Meeting on Genetics and Breeding of Cucurbitaceae, edited by Michel Pitrat, 33–41. Avignon: INRA, 2008.

• Cohen, Henry. Description historique des monnaies frappées sous l'Empire romain. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Paris: Rollin et Feuardent, 1880.

• Geissen, Angelo. Katalog alexandrinischer Kaisermünzen der Sammlung des Instituts für Altertumskunde der Universität zu Köln. Vol. 1, Augustus–Trajan. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1974.

• Giard, Jean-Baptiste. Le monnayage de l'atelier de Lyon: Des origines au règne de Caligula, 43 avant J.-C.–41 après J.-C. Wetteren: Numismatique Romaine, 1983.

• Mattingly, Harold. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum. Vol. 1, Augustus to Vitellius. London: British Museum, 1923.

• Savio, Adriano, ed. Catalogo completo della collezione Dattari: Numi Augg. Alexandrini. Trieste: G. Bernardi, 1999. [

• Sutherland, C. H. V. The Roman Imperial Coinage. Vol. 1, From 31 BC to AD 69. Rev. ed. London: Spink, 1984.

• Forum Ancient Coins. "Tribute Penny." NumisWiki.

• Roman Provincial Coinage Online. Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. RPC I, 5295.