AS a coin collector who has bid atmany auctions both in the flesh and

via the Internet I have occasionally comeacross items that are not coin-relatedbut because they seemed particularlyinteresting I bought them. As a result Ihave a small collection of antiques andantiquities. Antiques are things olderthan about a hundred years and antiq-uities are things much older, e.g. fromancient Greece or Rome. Recently Ibought two wooden panels (Figures 1and 2) which the dealer, an Indian manwho seemed to know what he was talkingabout, informed me were from a woodencart like the one in Figure 3. He said thepanels were made in South India in the18th century. Presumably the panels weresold by the temple authorities when thecart disintegrated with age. They are inthe style of Indian art that is typical ofthe region, and to me they seem to in-corporate the spirit of Hinduism. Thecarts, called rathas, are a feature of thatregion where Hinduism has been thereligion of the people for many centuries.The images of various Hindu gods areon the carts, which are pulled throughthe streets during religious festivals.Some of these carts are huge. The one atUdupi is enormous (Figure 4) but theone at Tiruvarur is gigantic (Figure 5). Sacred carts have played a part in reli-gious festivals for thousands of years,probably since the invention of the wheel,and they have appeared on ancient coins.A good example is the cart of Astarte(Figure 6). Astarte was a goddess of thePhoenicians and she had a temple atSidon. The Greeks equated her withAphrodite, and the Romans with Venus.At Sidon she was worshipped as a baetyl,i.e. a stone that contained the spirit of thedeity. The word comes from the Semiticbet el, meaning “house of god.” The stonewas probably a meteorite which wasseen to come down to earth from theheavenly realm above. On the coins ofSidon the baetyl can be seen in an elab-orate shrine with wheels. Judging bythe size of the human figures on the cart,it must have been enormous, like thecarts of South India. Apart from thecoins little is known about it, but it isthought that on special occasions thebaetyl would be carried through the cityon the cart. Although there is nothingon the coins to indicate who the deityis, scholars have assumed that it isAstarte. On a coin of Sidon Julia Paula, the

wife of the Roman emperor Elagabalus(218-222 AD), appears on the obverse,and the cart of Astarte is shown on thereverse in the centre of the signs of thezodiac and between the sun and the moon

Figure 1 – Wooden panel showing the Hindugod Vishnu. The head above him is that ofGaruda, the fantastic bird on which he flies.(Author’s Collection)

Figure 2 – Wooden panel showing Laxmi, theconsort of Vishnu. Garuda hovers above.Length 50 cms. (Author’s Collection)

Figure 3 – Old temple cart with wooden panels. (Photo courtesy of Mukesh Kumar Solanki)

TEMPLE CARTS by PETER E. LEWIS

(Figure 7). Obviously it must have beenof astrological significance to the Sido-nians, perhaps taking Astarte on a jour-ney through the heavens. The cart wasimportant to the people because on aseries of tetradrachms minted at variouscities by the Roman emperor Caracalla(198-217 AD) it was the symbol of thecity (Figure 8). Another example of a sacred cart is

seen on coins of Krannon, an ancient cityof Thessaly in northern Greece. Duringtimes of drought a large bronze watervessel called a hydria was put on a dec-orated cart and wheeled around as thepeople prayed for rain. Some of the coinsof Krannon show only the hydria on thecart (Figure 9). Some show it with a crow(Figure 10) and some show it with twocrows. So one could not tell from the coinsexactly what occurred. Fortunately theGreek writer, Antigonus of Carystus, inthe 3rd century BC mentioned the eventin his Collection of Wonderful Tales, Sec-tion 15. His words are recorded byBarclay Head in Historia Numorum:“The device (ensign) of the city consistedof two crows seated on a chariot, andwhen there occurred a great drought itwas customary to agitate, or drive about,the chariot whilst petitioning Zeus forrain.” The testimony of Antigonus isconfirmed by the coin with two crows onthe reverse and the head of Zeus on theobverse (Figure 11).

Figure 4 – Enormous temple cart in procession at Udupi, Karnataka, India. Notice the ancient woodencart which forms its base and the panels in it. (Image Wikimedia Commons. Photo by Rayabhari.)

Figure 5 – Gigantic temple cart in procession at Tiruvarur (also spelt Thiruvarur), which wasone of the capitals of the Chola Empire in the tenth century AD.( Image Wikimedia Commons.Photo taken by SriniG at the festival in 2010.)

Figure 6 – Bronze coin of Elagabalus (218-222AD) minted at Sidon showing a bust of Elaga-balus on the obverse and the car or cart of As-tarte on the reverse. Diameter 26 mms.(Author’s Collection)

In ancient Rome a tradition developedof having an image of the previous de-ceased emperor enthroned on an elabo-rate cart pulled by elephants. The firstemperor, Augustus, was so honoured byhis successor, Tiberius, and the cart isshown on a sestertius issued by Tiberiusin 36 AD. (Figure 12) Judging by thesize of the cart compared to the elephantsit must have been enormous. When theemperor Claudius died in 54 AD a very

elaborate cart was made and pulled byfour horses, and it is shown on a denariusand an aureus issued by his successor,Nero, in 54 AD. (Figure 13) The cart isnot surmounted by a statue of Claudius,but it might have been inside the cart.

The attributes of his office as high priest(the simpulum or ladle, the lituus ordivining staff, and the patera or libationbowl) are shown prominently in the tri-angle at the front of the cart. Below thecart is EXSC, which means “by decree of

Figure 7 – Bronze coin of Elagabalus minted at Sidon. The bust of his wife, Julia Paula, is on the obverse. Diameter 30 mms. On the reverse the cart of Astarte is surrounded by the signs of the zodiac. (Triton XV, Lot 1433)

Figure 8 – Silver tetradrachm of Caracalla withthe symbol of the city below the eagle’s legson the reverse. Diameter 26 mms. (ClassicalNumismatic Group, Auction 97, Lot 515)

Figure 9 – Bronze dichalkon of Krannon, circa 350-300 BC. Diameter 17 mms. There is a Thessalianhorseman on the obverse and a hydria on a cart on the reverse. (Nomos Auction 4, Lot 1086)

Figure 10 – Bronze dichalkon of Krannon, circa 350-300 BC. Diameter 18 mms. There is a Thes-salian horseman on the obverse and a hydria on a cart on the reverse. A crow sits on the cart.(Nomos Auction 4, Lot 1085)

the Senate.” Before he died he was fav-ourably regarded by the people, and thecart and commemorative coins wouldhave been the Roman Senate’s tributeto him. Nero himself probably could nothave cared less. His later behaviourshowed him to be a very unsavourycharacter. When the emperor Vespasian died in

79 AD his son and successor, Titus, builta cart like the one that Tiberius madefor Augustus. A statue of Vespasian sits

enthroned on top of an elaborately dec-orated cart. He holds a long sceptre andthe goddess Victory stands on his lefthand. (Figure 14) Before becomingemperor in 70 AD he had been a suc-cessful general, his greatest victory beingover the Jews who rebelled againstRoman rule in 66 AD. When Vespasianwas Augustus and Titus only Caesar acoin was issued showing Titus on theobverse and a chariot pulled by four

Figure 11 – A bronze chalkous of Krannon, 3rd century BC. Diameter 15 mms. There is thehead of Zeus on the obverse and a hydria on a cart on the reverse. Two crows sit on the cart.(Nomos Auction 4, Lot 1088)

Figure 12 – Sestertius of Tiberius (14 -37 AD). On the obverse a cart with a statue of Augustus ontop is being pulled by 4 elephants each with its own mahout. The Latin inscription means “Tothe divine Augustus from the Senate and people of Rome.” On the reverse SC means “by decreeof the Senate.” (Author’s Collection)

Figure 13 – Gold aureus issued by Nero (54 -68 AD). It has the head of Claudius on the obversewith a legend meaning “Divine Claudius Augustus.” On the reverse there is an ornate cartsurmounted by a statue of 4 horses between 2 Victories. (Stack’s Bowers Galleries, AuctionJanuary 2013, Lot 2015)

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horses on the reverse. On top of thechariot is an object, the nature of whichis unknown. Some numismatists havesaid it is ears of corn, and others a flower(Figure 15). In any case it is an exampleof a sacred cart, the idea of which waspart of Greco-Roman culture. The emperor Antoninus Pius was

devoted to his wife Faustina, and whenshe died in 141 AD he was grief stricken.He had her deified, i.e. she was made agoddess, and he built a cart like the onethat Titus made for Vespasian, but on a

smaller scale. Instead of four elephantsshe has only two. (Figure 16) One won-ders where the elephants for theseprocessions came from and how theRomans were able to look after themand train them, but it should be remem-bered that the Carthaginian general,Hannibal, gave them an awful fright inthe 3rd century BC when he invaded Italywith 37 elephants. This would havemotivated the Romans to learn aboutelephants. Temple carts have long since disap-

peared from Western culture but theyare still a vital part of the Hindu cultureof India. According to Wikipedia, in 2004there were 515 wooden temple carts inthe district of Tamil Nadu in South India,and of these 79 needed repairs. Hugenumbers of Hindus attend the festivalsheld in South India when the carts carrythe gods through the streets of the cities.One could argue that in Australia theequivalent is the Gay Mardi Gras wherehighly decorated floats process throughthe streets of Sydney where the “gods”are the liberal attitudes of the secularcitizens. When considering these ancient vehi-

cles it is interesting to note connectionsbetween the cultures of the East and theWest, which are to be expected becausethere was much communication betweenthem in ancient times. For example,the cart of Astarte at Sidon looks likethe stone cart at the Vittala Temple atHampi in Tamil Nadu. (Figure 17) Theyboth have pillars as in a Greek temple,and the stone cart is being pulled by twoelephants (their trunks have brokenoff) like the ones that pull the cart ofFaustina in Figure 16. Ancient coins areinvaluable because they give us snap-shots of events in the distant past.

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Figure 14 – Sestertius issued by Titus (79-81 AD) in honour of his father, Vespasian, who is shownon a cart pulled by 4 elephants. The letters SC are on the reverse. (Stack’s Bowers Galleries,Auction January 2013, lot 6121)

Figure 16 – An as issued by Antoninus Pius in honour of his deceased wife, Faustina. Her bustappears on the obverse, and on the reverse a statue of her is on top of a cart pulled by two ele-phants. (Classical Numismatic Group, MBS 60, Lot 1704)

Figure 15 – Silver denarius issued by Titus as Caesar when his father, Vespasian, was Augustus.The obverse shows the head of Titus, and on the reverse there is an unknown object on top ofa chariot drawn by 4 horses. (Ira and Larry Goldberg Coins, Auction 80, Lot 3135)

Figure 17 – Stone chariot at the Vittala templeat Hampi. It was Vishnu’s vehicle, and inside isthe Garuda bird. When it was built in the 16th

century its wheels could turn. (WikimediaCommons)

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