Featured Republican Denarius that has it all: Great Story, Interesting Type and Old Provenance

Al Kowsky · Nov 13, 2021

Curtisimo said: ↑

I am very excited about this coin but it was a hard one to write up because it has so many different points of interest in its favor. I chose to break the write up into 4 parts: The Moneyer, The Trial, The Temple and The Provenance. Thanks for reading!

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Roman Republican
Q. Cassius Longinus, moneyer
AR Denarius, Rome mint, struck 55 BC
Dia.: 20.2 mm
Wt.: 3.95g
Obv.: Head of Libertas right, wearing hair collected into a knot, decorated with jewels, and falling down neck, and wearing single-drop earring and necklace of pendants; LIBERT upward to left, Q • CASSIVS downward to right.
Rev.: Temple of Vesta, circular, surmounted by figure holding scepter and patera, flanked by antefixes; curule chair within; urn to left, tabella (voting tablet) [inscribed AC (Absolvo Condemno)] to right.
Ref.: Crawford 428/2; Sydenham 918
Ex Prof Dr Hildebrecht Hommel Collection, acquired from Hirsch, Auction 63, 1969, lot 2454, Ex Minotaur Coins

The Moneyer
Q. Cassius Longinus was a supporter of Caesar in the Roman Civil War against Pompey. After serving as moneyer in 55 BC he became Tribune in 49 BC but was forced to flee to Caesar’s camp. Caesar made him governor of Hispania Ulterior where he exercised his power with such cruelty and incompetence that both his subjects and part of his legions rebelled. He was allowed to board a ship to flee back to Italy but he drowned when his ship was caught in a storm and sank at the mouth of the Ebro River ca. 47 BC.

The Trial
As moneyer, Longinus chose to reference his ancestor L. Cassius Longinus Ravilla (offices ca. 137 – 113 BC), who had served as Consul, Tribune, Censor as well as special inquisitor in one of the most famous trials in Roman history.

In 115 BC, three Vestal Virgins (Aemilia, Licinia and Marcia) were accused of having broken their sacred vow of chastity. Aemilia, first entered into a relationship with a young Roman aristocrat and then served as a matchmaker between the friends of her lover and the other two Vestal Virgins. The women were turned in and Aemilia was sentenced to death by the Pontifex Maximus. The lower class was outraged that the other two Vestals were not punished. On top of the sacrilegious element to the crime the lower classes felt that the Vestals (as members of rich senatorial families) were being held to a different standard than the general populous for such a serious breach of religious law.

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Statue showing the attire of a Vestal Virgin during the imperial period. I took this photo in the House of the Vestals in the Roman Forum. (Author's Photo)

In 113 BC one of the tribunes reopened the case for trial and assigned Ravilla to oversee it. Ravilla held the trial in the Temple of Vesta as seen on the reverse of this coin. On the reverse we see the temple. Inside there is a curule chair from which Ravilla oversaw the proceedings. On the right we see a tabella (wax covered wooden tablet) that the jurors used to inscribe their vote and on the left we see the amphora where the jurors would deposit their tabella during voting. On these coins the tabella typically has an “A” for Absolvo and “C” for Condemno but mine is too worn to identify these. However, I did read that it was legitimate for jurors to cast a blank tabella as a form of “I don’t know” which would tend to favor the defense since tie votes were decided in favor of the defendant.

In this famous trial the Vestals were found guilty and sentenced to the traditional punishment for a Vestal breaking her vows… to be buried alive!

The obverse of liberty on the front might seem strangely out of place but it too is meant as a reference to an action of Ravilla. During his tribunate in 137 BC, Ravilla had sponsored a law (the lex Cassia tabellaria) that made jury voting anonymous. This was a big deal because without it the lower class would be subject to intimidation by the great families in trials such as the Vestal Trial of 113 BC. By sponsoring this law, the Cassia gens had liberated the people from the influence of the elite and so Libertas was seen as an appropriate theme. This imagery can be seen as meaning to bolster Longinus’s Populares credentials.

The Temple
The Temple of Vesta was probably one of the oldest buildings in the city of Rome. The original pre-historic temple was probably a circular wooden hut which housed the communal village fire. It is likely that the young women of the village were responsible for looking after the fire while the older men and women were out hunting or performing other necessary tasks. Over time these young women became the Vestal Virgins and the circular hut became the refined temple of the republican and imperial periods. All to house and look after the sacred fire.

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Models showing what the Palatine and surrounding area may have looked like in pre-historic Rome. The circular huts were likely a precursor to the elegant round temples of the later city, particularly the Temple of Vesta. (Author's Photos)

The building shown on this coin is probably the fourth building to stand on the site. It was built ca. 241 BC after the previous building had burned in a fire. This fourth temple was rebuilt or remodeled by Augustus after sustaining flood damage. The remains of the temple seen in the forum today are probably the seventh iteration of the structure whose remodeling was undertaken by Septimius Severus around AD 204.

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Top Right: Remains of the Temple of Vesta as seen from the Roman Forum. Top Left: View of the courtyard of the House of the Vestals looking toward the Palatine Hill. Bottom: The remains of the Temple of Vesta as seen from the Palatine Hill. (Authors Photos)

To get a rough idea of what the structure on the coin might have looked like we can compare to the nearby Temple of Hercules Victor which is better preserved and dates back to the late 2nd century BC.

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Temple of Hercules Victor. This is the oldest marble building in Rome and is relatively well preserved thanks to it being converted to a church in the early medieval period. (Author's Photo)

The Provenance
This coin was part of the Prof Dr. Hildebrecht Hommel Collection (1899-1996) and was purchased from Hirsch Auction 63 in July of 1969. Dr. Hommel was a classical philologist at the University of Tubingen.

As such I was very interested to see that Dr. Hommel used a scrap piece of paper to write out his tag for this coin. Judging by the words that can still be seen on the tag I think this was some type of philological work regarding Euripides’ play Medea. I can make out the following.

[Sty]chomythien – An ancient technique where sequences of lines are given to alternating characters.

Handeln – German for “Act”

Medeia – The protagonist of Euripides play

I did some searching through some of Dr. Hommel’s work that is available online but couldn’t find a document this might have been taken from. Still interesting… at least to me.

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Tag from the Hildebretcht Hommel Collection

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Unidentified tag. Does anyone recognize this tag? It is handwritten and looks like it could be fairly old. It mentions Hirsch so that could mean that this coin was sold by Hirsch multiple times or it could be a tag that post-dates the 1969 sale.

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Hirsch 63 Aution Catalogue

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Q Cassius Longinus Denarii

Coins from the allies of Caesar

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Curtis, Wow ! What a great article & coin . The follow-up article by Donna is outstanding too .

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John Anthony · Nov 13, 2021

Great coin and great read, Curtis. Bravo! This is the sort of thing that keeps me up late at night reading CT.

Curtisimo · Nov 18, 2021

akeady said: ↑

Very nice - here's mine of the type:

ATB,
Aidan.
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Beautiful coin @akeady ! Thanks for sharing.

zumbly said: ↑

As usual, Curtis, an enlightening and entertaining thread! Here's my L Censorinus denarius with the Hommel Collection tags it came with.

View attachment 1392159
ROMAN REPUBLIC
AR Denarius. 3.89g, 17mm. Rome mint, 82 BC. L. Marcius Censorinus, moneyer. Crawford 363/1d; Sydenham 737. O: Laureate head of Apollo right. R: Marsyas standing left, holding wineskin over shoulder; to right, column surmounted by statue of Minerva(?) standing left; L • CENSOR down left.
Ex Prof Dr Hildebrecht Hommel Collection

The smaller one seems to be in the same handwriting as the older tag that came with @Orielensis's Caecilius Metellus denarius, so perhaps this too came from Fritz Hommel's collection.
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Thanks @zumbly . That’s a beautiful coin and interesting type. I agree that the handwriting looks the same as Orielensis’ coin so it likely is a Fritz Hommel coin. CT is a great place to find information you couldn’t possibly get just searching online or in a book.

Cucumbor said: ↑

I've shown that before, but think it belongs in here too

From my secret Saturn last year I received, among others, the following antoninianus with a very old provenance, considering it's a modest coin, where you usually expect pedigrees to be related to the rare and/or prestigious ones. Never have I encountered an obscure, modest and plebeian coin with a provenance going back as far as 1849 (at least) !
It's a Tetricus II antoninianus with its original holder, from the Netherlands National collections, stating it has been in the "old cabinet" (i.e. pre 1849, when the two main collections merged) since.

Q
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That provenance is awesome and that old museum holder is so cool. That was an excellent Saturnalia gift Q.

Al Kowsky said: ↑

Curtis, Wow ! What a great article & coin . The follow-up article by Donna is outstanding too .
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Thanks Al. I agree Donna’s reply was great and full of good info. I always appreciate all the replies, thoughts, pile on comments and coins that get posted to threads I start... including yours my friend!

John Anthony said: ↑

Great coin and great read, Curtis. Bravo! This is the sort of thing that keeps me up late at night reading CT.
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Thanks John! I take that as a great compliment coming from you. I have spent much time reading through some of the threads you have posted over the years. I’ve been very glad to see you posting more the last month or two!

Sulla80 · Nov 15, 2021

Curtisimo said: ↑

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Q Cassius Longinus Denarii

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No shortage of reasons to be excited about that coin: beautiful example, interesting provenance and the history. Congratulations! I enjoyed your writeup and I will add this example to the pile in appreciation:

Q. Cassius Longinus, 55 BC, AR denarius, Rome mint
Obv: Head of Libertas right, wearing hair collected into a knot, decorated with jewels, and falling down neck, and wearing single-drop earring and necklace of pendants; LIBERT upward to left, Q • CASSIVS downward to right
Rev: The temple of Vesta, circular, surmounted by figure holding scepter and patera, flanked by antefixes; curule chair within; urn to left, tabella (voting tablet) inscribed AC ( Absolvo Condemno ) to right
Ref: Crawford 428/2; Sydenham 918; Cassia 8

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Featured Republican Denarius that has it all: Great Story, Interesting Type and Old Provenance

Al Kowsky Well-Known Member

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Featured Republican Denarius that has it all: Great Story, Interesting Type and Old Provenance

Al Kowsky Well-Known Member

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Curtisimo the Great(ish)

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