The term contorniate derives from the Italian contorno (surround) and was applied in the eighteenth century to describe these coin or medal-like objects which are surrounded by a solco di contorno (surrounding furrow). Contorniates were produced in the late 4th through 5th centuries and may have been used as presentation pieces or as counters in a board game, such as calculi, or both. A connection with the circus and amphitheatre is obvious for they are generally of a popular historical, imperial, or agonistic character, the most common being the busts of Emperors and scenes of chariot racing. The legends often give the names of charioteers. It is also significant that the emperors who appear most frequently on the obverse are the ones who gave the most enthusiastic patronage to the games: Nero, Trajan, and Caracalla.
CONTORNIATE, In the name of Divus Augustus. Circa late 4th century AD. Æ 37mm (26.68 gm). Laureate head of Divus Augustus right; engraved grape bunch before / Aerial view of the Circus Maximus: spina with obelisk of Augustus flanked by metae and surrounded by colonnaded arcade; triumphal arch surmounted by quadriga and carceres at either end; terrace with statues below. Alföldi, Kontorniat, Tafel 215, 5 (this coin).
