Denarius of C. Fonteius, Rome c. 114

Curator: Let's turn our attention to this Roman coin, the Denarius of C. Fonteius, currently residing in the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: There's a quiet intensity to it, the worn metal humming with untold stories. The portraits are so crisp given its age. Curator: Absolutely, we see Janus, the two-faced god, a potent symbol within Roman ideology, embodying beginnings, transitions, and the cyclical nature of time. Editor: Janus, yes, the original two-faced politician! I wonder what C. Fonteius was trying to say by putting him on the money. Power looking both ways, perhaps? Curator: Perhaps. It speaks to the materials and production of power. The coin, made of silver and meticulously struck, acted as currency, facilitator for trades, and communicator of power and status. Editor: I imagine the hands it has passed through, each leaving a little bit of themselves, their dreams, their anxieties, absorbed into the metal itself. Curator: It's a tangible link to the past, isn't it? A beautiful, and very useful, artifact. Editor: It’s more than that; it whispers secrets to those willing to listen.