Page 15 - January1960

January, 1960 NATIONAL BUTTON BULLETIN IJ

Imp. for emperor is often the f,rst word on the inscription on a coin button.
Frequently it appears a second time on the same button, this time meaning com-
manding officer. In Roman opinion, a man who did not lead armies was scarcely
qualifled to rule; thus the second Imp is no empty honorary title, it means that
the emperor had led armies in battle.
Other abbreviations often found on buttons include these: A shortening of
Pontifex Maximus to "P M" or suctr longer forms as "Pon Max." It means liter-
ally "head priest" and signifies that the emperor is head of the state religion.
His position as head of the civil government is usually shown by "Tr P," which
stands for Tribunicia PotestaLe. Lonser forms like "Trib P" or "Trib Pot" are
easy to recognize.
"Cos," meaning consul, and "Cens Per," contraction of "Censor Pertetuus" go
back to the Roman Republic. Consuls and censors were men of great imporbance
in the governm€nt then. When trhe empero s assumed the powers once more
widely held, they went thru the motions of being chosen for each task and pre-
served the titles.
Roman numerals following Imp, Cos or T? P serve io dat€ a coin wtren cor-
rectly decoded. We shall see how the dating is done later.
Pater Patriae, Father of his Country, was a title of honor conferred upon
many €mperors by the Roman senate. A similar title "Pius" honored a man for
having been a model son of his country and of his human parents as weII. The
customary abbreviations of these words are the initial letters.

"Div" stands for divus, which means god. In classical mlthology there was
not much difference in kind between the gods and the great heroes. Gods and
men were on close terms with each other. Some number of individuals were half
human, half god. Thns the idea of deifying an emperor was only natural. FYom
Augustus on deification was a part of the funeral rites for many emperors. In the
more distant provinces emperors were sometimes worshiped while they were still
alive.